ST LUCIA. PRIME MINISTER WANTS REFORM TO ENSURE DEATH PENALTY

St Lucia's prime minister called for constitutional reforms to ensure convicted murderers received the death penalty as part of a plan to stiffen penalties for violent offenders. The proposal came amid growing worries over violent crime on the tiny Caribbean island, which recorded 37 homicides in 2005, tying a record set the previous year. Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said his government was reviewing St Lucia's 27-year-old constitution and "at the appropriate time" would propose amendments "to ensure that the death penalty is enforced". Under current law, judges in St Lucia had the power to decide whether to impose the death penalty on convicted murderers. St Lucia carried out its last hanging in 1994. "We must cease the vacillation over capital offenses, but comply fully with the rule of law. There must be no exception," Anthony said in a national address.
Anthony said judges would have to implement "the will of the people" when sentencing convicted murderers, suggesting he believed most St Lucians favoured the death penalty.