Caribbean is reviving death penalty

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Caribbean is reviving death penalty

St. Kitts hangs first man in 10 years as other islands face increase in crime

By MIKE MELIA Associated Press

Dec. 19, 2008, 9:39PM

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — One Caribbean nation wants to execute criminals who use weapons, even if they haven't killed anyone. Another is seeking the death penalty for murderous pirates. And a third, St. Kitts and Nevis, staged its first hanging in a decade Friday.

A crime wave is fueling a thirst for executions across the English-speaking Caribbean, prompting concern among human rights groups who say better policing would do more.

A bell tolled Friday from inside Her Majesty's Prison on the island of St. Kitts to signal the hanging of Charles Elroy Laplace, condemned in 2006 for killing his wife in a knife attack.

"We have to be certain that there is a deterrent among our people in taking another man's life," Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said as he announced the hanging to the National Assembly.

It was the first execution in the region outside Cuba since the Bahamas hanged a convicted killer in 2000.

But more than 90 prisoners are on death row in the region, including eight more in St. Kitts. Initiatives to ease convicts' path to the gallows have been welcomed by people around the Caribbean, where polls consistently show strong support for capital punishment.

Antigua and Barbuda has proposed expanding the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty to include any that involve weapons and lead to serious injury or death.

In Guyana, which is struggling with piracy, the parliament approved legislation to execute anybody who commits murder during a pirate attack.

Several countries are exploring changes to their constitutions to work around restrictions imposed by the London-based Privy Council, the highest court of review for many former British colonies.

The court says sentences must be commuted to life in prison if the condemned are not executed within five years — a window some consider unreasonably short for appeals.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...ld/6174470.html

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