JAMAICA: KEEPING DEATH PENALTY WILL NOT CUT MURDER RATES

the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) warned Jamaicans not to expect a reduction in murders because of the recent decision by members of the House of Representatives to retain the death penalty. "Our experience with the death penalty shows two things, and this is not an assessment on Jamaica, but all of the studies that we are aware of and that we have taken into account show that the death penalty does not, in fact, have any measurable deterrent effect on serious crime," Paola Carozza, chairman of the IACHR, said. "The thing that does have a measurable deterrent effect is effectiveness in investigation and prosecution of crime." "It is impunity and the lack of accountability that contribute to serious crime, not the nature of the punishment," the IACHR chairman said.