Dear Editor,

How many murders were committed last year? Close to 140, I think. I am not quite sure, but I believe that it was somewhere around there. As I understand it, a national record for homicides in The Bahamas was set last year. Like Dr. Bernard Nottage was heard saying recently, it is certainly nothing to brag about.

Even though murders are terrible, I want to examine it from a different perspective, if you don't mind, editor. With all the public knows about these different murders that are occurring in our land, very few people know the finer details of the circumstances surrounding these murders. Those in the hierarchy of national security of this country (the minister, the police, etc.) have offered to the public some credible explanations for the inordinate number of killings we have been witnessing and hearing about in recent times.

They have explained that there are turf wars going on between different factions of the drug and gang cultures by our base societal miscreants. And it is their recalcitrant behavior which causes the rest of us to cry out for justice when the innocent among the murder victims fall prey to these nefarious characters. "Hang 'em all!" we say.

But, I would like for us to take a step back and really analyze some of the circumstances surrounding some of these (what we call) murders. Were some of these killings in the heat of passion or anger? Or just a fight? Or in self-defense? Or defending another? Or premeditated? Are all these situations taken into account when it comes time to send a man to the gallows?

In The Bahamas we have instituted what we call the prerogative of mercy committee, which, among other duties, decides whether or not a man should suffer death for committing the crime of murder within this jurisdiction. Does this committee take into account all these different determining factors of one man killing another? It certainly is their "prerogative" to exercise "mercy" in their deliberations, given the facts of each case.

Personally, I don't believe in the death penalty. To me, the punishment is too barbaric and absolute, and final. There is no room for mistakes when the state utilizes the death penalty to punish those it deems fit to receive it.

I have heard of instances - and I'm sure you have too - where innocent men were put to death. But, there was nothing that could be done about those situations after the fact. The deed had already been done. One cannot bring a man back from the dead.

But still, some people use the Bible to substantiate their stance that the death penalty is sanctioned by God. Deuteronomy 19:21, "And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." This is one of the verses they use to support their position that a man should be killed by the state if he has killed another. I don't believe that. I believe that if you give a man a chance to repent, he might do so. But since murder is such a heinous crime, I would suggest that a man, guilty of murder (premeditated murder), should spend at least 35 years in jail as recompense for his actions.

That should give him enough time to ruminate over what he has done as well as provide him with just a smidgen of hope for the future, a chance to be free again. It is an egregious sin. But we, as a humanitarian gesture, should give him some hope of reintegrating himself within society; even if it is just a little itty bit of hope. Editor, it is the right thing to do.

- Marvin G. Lightbourn

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian