Charles Learmond, the member of the Jamaican parliament...

Charles Learmond, the member of the Jamaican parliament for South West Clarendon, chastised his colleagues saying they were unwilling to take a firm stand on whether the government should hold a referendum on capital punishment.
"If ever there should be a referendum there should be one now on capital punishment, since we as legislators are afraid to enforce capital punishment, let the people of this country decide that when a man or woman kills somebody, takes a life and is found guilty, tried and sentenced to death, he should be put to death as early as possible," said Learmond.
The P.J. Patterson-led administration had been accused in the past of not having the political will to enforce capital punishment which was still on the law books.
But the government had argued that lengthy legal processes as well as recent rulings by the London-based Privy Council, the island's highest court, had prevented it from carrying out the death penalty.
In 2003, Attorney-General A.J. Nicholson called for a conscience vote on the matter in parliament, allowing legislators to have a free to vote on the issue on the basis of their individual feelings instead of conforming to the position of their respective parties.
A conscience vote on the death penalty was taken in 1978.
Opposition spokesman on justice, Delroy Chuck, contended that there was no need to hold a referendum on the death penalty. "The vast majority of the people are in favour of the return of the death penalty, it is present on the statute books. it's the law," he said.
But he said the government "has failed to enforce the law that now exists so there is no need for a referendum, the government can enforce the law and impose the death penalty".