Liberians and the Death Sentence

The House of Representatives Tuesday, May 6^th, passed into law an Act seeking to promulgate Armed Robbery, Terrorism and Hijacking as non bailable crimes punishable by death.

Prior to the passage of the Act sponsored by Representative Edward Forh, and co-sponsored by Representatives Rufus Neufville (Montserrado County) and Elijah Seah (River Gee County), some lawmakers blamed the Judiciary Committee for its failure to research as to whether there already exists laws for said crimes; while arguing that if laws were already in place making armed robbery a non-bailable offence, then as such, it was not imperative to implement new laws when the old laws were adequate and if enforce could curtail the commission of the crime, which has resulted in several casualties and the loss of properties.

Section 14.54, 15.32 and 15.33 of the proposed Act provides that individuals convicted of terrorist act, armed robbery and hijacking will be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than 15 years with possibility of parole after 8 years or after serving three quarters of their sentence in cases with longer prison time. According to the Act, in the event of death during the commission of armed robbery, terrorism and hijacking, the accused if convicted under section 14.54, 15.32 and 15.33 shall be sentenced to death by hanging in a public location designated by the trial court or life imprisonment without parole

In a country emerging from years of war, will this be what Liberians need to curtail the crime rate and struggle for survival or will the first enactment of the law awaken hatred which breeds confusion and disarray. Can Liberians deal with the death penalty, especially the execution method described in implementing the death sentence (HANGING IN A PUBLIC LOCATION).  

The question remains, how can we trust those in charge of implementing laws, when lawmakers cannot even research whether current legislature exist to deal with such crimes.