Jenni Campbell, The Gleaner's managing editor, presents Howard Hamilton with the Silver Pen award at the newspaper's North Street office in central Kingston. - Norman Grindley/Acting Photography Editor

Howard Hamilton, QC, Jamaica's former public defender, is indecisive on the controversial issue of capital punishment, which sparked debate in the House of Representatives last week.

Members of the House are expected to cast 'conscience votes' soon on whether Jamaica should retain or abolish the death penalty.

"My original instinct was against it, but I am forced into indecision when I review the atrocity of some of the death," said Hamilton.

Hamilton was speaking with The Gleaner at the company's North Street headquarters in Kingston shortly after accepting the Silver Pen award for his letter to the editor titled 'Avoiding the pitfalls of mandatory sentences', published Saturday, August 2.

Honoured

The noted lawyer said he was honoured to have received the award, his first since penning such letters in the 1960s.

However, on the issue of the death penalty, Hamilton said the prospect of an innocent man being sent to the gallows was quite chilling.

He suggested that the Government scrap the death penalty, and instead adopt the Scandinavian model of using moral suasion to punish persons convicted of murder.

Within that region, he said, convicts are made to relive the horror they did.

Uneducated

In some cases, they are shown pictures of the scene of crime and the effect the crime had on the family in addition to other strategies.

"But I must confess that the ferocity of some of the killings (in Jamaica) - of children, elders - demonstrate a callousness that makes me wonder if that would be effective on them," said.

He attributes some of the crime wracking Jamaica to the influence of media, particularly violence-filled video games and movies.

"The uneducated may not realise it's theatre," he said.

Hamilton has been practising law locally and regionally for almost 50 years.