THERE is no proven data to support that the death penalty leads to a reduction in crime, abolitionist and senior counsel Douglas Mendes told a panel discussion on Monday, in response to political suggestions that the death penalty should be used in the Caribbean to address crime.

At a regional symposium entitled Violence as a Public Health Issue - The Crime Challenge, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves called for the return of the death penalty.

The two-day symposium is aimed at looking at crime as a public health issue in order to adequately address it.

On Monday afternoon the Faculty of Law at UWI, along with the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), held a panel discussion on the topic: Advancing Human Rights: Is Strategic Litigation Necessary?

In his contribution Gonsalves said: 'I am a Roman Catholic. The Catholic Church preaches that we shouldn't have the death penalty. My mother, who was also Catholic, taught me that there should not be the death penalty.

"I happen to think that the Pope and my mother were wrong. For crimes, murder other than a crime of passion, you should get the death penalty.

"I know the Europeans don't like that. They had it for a long time and they might not want to give aid if we bring it back.

"But I am satisfied that most of the people who do the killing are cowards.'

Asked about Gonsalves' comment, Mendes said the death penalty proved not to serve any penological purpose, because there is no evidence that it deters crime. He added that this is nothing new, as it is well rehearsed across the globe in various pieces of literature.

'The death penalty has proved not to serve any useful purpose."

Instead, he said, "(It) seems to me that it is best to focus on the causes of crime, and attempt to remove the causes of crime.'

Mendes said while the rights of the convicted are looked at through human-rights groups, it did not mean the rights of the victims are ignored. Mendes said in society there is polar thinking of either the death penalty or nothing, but with swift justice, both rights are upheld.

'You have to put resources behind detecting crime. You have to put resources behind ensuring that the case comes to trial as soon as is reasonably possible, so that if there is sufficient evidence to bring in a guilty verdict, that it is brought in as soon as possible. Nothing deters crime better than swift justice. If that justice is deserved, that is how the rights of victims are recognised.'

While against the death penalty, Mendes said it is a good principle of law that the death penalty should be used if there are no chances of rehabilitation.

Also on the panel were Dr Carol Gomes, co-chair of CCHR; Stanley Ibe, human-rights attorney; and Diego Morales, director, litigation & legal defence, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Argentina. The discussion was moderated by Dr Timothy Affonso.

Gomes and Ibe commended the organisers