Spiritual witness on the road – Memories of Steps for Hope 5K 2025
June 4, 2025
Maracas Valley Parish prays for community nurses
June 4, 2025
By Leela Ramdeen
Consultant, Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ)
On May 15, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, (PM) acknowledged that the United National Congress, during the general election campaigning, had promised to resume hangings if the Party were returned to political power.
At this time, it is not possible to carry out the death penalty, due to the ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) in the November 1993 case of Pratt and Morgan v The Attorney General for Jamaica.
The JCPC ruled that in any case where the execution of a person is to take place more than five years after sentencing, there would be strong grounds for believing that the delay is such as to constitute “inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment” and therefore unconstitutional.
As the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday reported, “The ruling has been adopted in several jurisdictions within the Commonwealth including TT. Once five years have elapsed from the date of conviction and sentencing (of death) the sentence is commuted to life in prison or imprisonment at the President’s/State’s pleasure.”
Our PM stated that the number of inmates on Death Row as of May 10, is 38. Of these 38 inmates, 20 could not be hanged as they had passed the five-year limitation as outlined in the Privy Council’s ruling. The other 18 inmates cannot be hanged since they all have appeals pending before the Courts. All legal avenues of appeal of their sentence must be exhausted within the five-year period.
There have been several other JCPC rulings that have set higher and higher human rights standards, making it even more difficult to carry out the death penalty.
Note that Trinidad and Tobago is the only country in the English-speaking Caribbean that retains the mandatory death penalty. To date, 144 countries, more than two-thirds of the world’s countries, have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu rightly said: “There is no justice in killing in the name of justice and no godliness in exacting vengeance…It is our duty …to break the dreadful cycle of violence and the doctrine of revenge…Universal abolition of the death penalty is not a pipe dream. It is a necessity.”
As a Eucharistic people, as Pilgrims of Hope, where do we stand on this issue? The Catholic Church believes that society has a right to protect itself from persons who commit heinous crimes and offenders must be held accountable for their crimes. However, our Church opposes the death penalty. Pope Francis repeatedly called for the abolition of the death penalty. He urged nations to realise that God’s infinite mercy extends to everyone–including those who have committed heinous crimes.
He said: “For the rule of law, the death penalty represents a failure, as it obliges the state to kill in the name of justice. There is discussion in some quarters about the method of killing, as if it were possible to find ways of ‘getting it right’. But there is no humane way of killing another person… The commandment ‘thou shall not kill’ has absolute value and pertains to the innocent as well as the guilty.”
The Catholic Church believes that human life is sacred, and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society.
Before being elected Pope, Bishop Robert Francis Prevost, of Chiclayo in Peru (now Pope Leo XIV) said in an X post on March 5, 2015: “It’s time to end the death penalty.”
In 2009, Archbishop Patrick Pinder of Nassau, Bahamas, the then President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, expressed solidarity with the victims of crime. Delivering the homily at the Red Mass in Nassau, he said: “It is important to note that while we oppose the death penalty, we embrace the victims of violent crimes; those who are hurting and grieving for their loved ones who have been killed, at times in the most heinous ways. We urge each parish to establish victim support groups and seek to meet their physical, mental, spiritual, financial and other needs… Faithful to the mission of Jesus Christ who came ‘that they may have life and have it abundantly’ (Jn 10:10), we… once again wish to proclaim, celebrate and serve the gift of life.”
CONCLUSION NEXT WEEK
The CCSJ asks for your support.
Please donate: Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Account #: 290 458 025 501
Bank: Republic Bank Ltd. or you can contact us at:
