The National, Port Moresby, 4 December 2002

Further debate needed on death penalty

LIKE an old and troublesome sore, the issues of corporal punishment and the death penalty flared into new life during question time in Parliament yesterday.

More than a decade has passed since the House voted for a private member's bill establishing the availability of the sentence of death to the courts of Papua New Guinea.

Much the same problem presents itself with the imposition of corporal punishment.

For example, assuming that flogging is deemed an appropriate penalty for drug dealers, PNG will need to acquire the "A" frames or similar hardware necessary for administering such thrashings.

And will these sentences be carried out in public, the better to deter potential drug dealers, or for that matter, murderers and rapists?

In certain African countries executions and public floggings have become a dubious form of entertainment for thousands.

These are matters that need to be decided upon by Parliament.

In a sense, the House has left the matter unfinished.

There can be little doubt of the present mood of many members.

They want to see murderers, rapists and other proven criminals executed, and many would also support corporal punishment for drug dealers, assaults by armed robbers, aggravated robberies, and a host of other crimes.

Copyright ©  2001 [The National Online]. All reserved.

NOTE BY C.F.: The writer is perhaps unaware that PNG already had judicial CP in the past. See for instance this March 1966 news item.

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