Top government and church officials in the Domican...

Top government and church officials in the Domican Republic rejected a proposal by Senate President Andrés Bautista to reinstate capital punishment. In early September, Bautista said that the death penalty was needed to combat an increase in crime.
"What is needed is more enforcement of laws against those who insist upon violating the rule of law governing Dominican society," said Silverio Manuel Bello Valenzuela, head of the Evangelical Council of the Assemblies of God in the Dominican Republic. Catholic Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez took a similar position.
Both Supreme Court president Jorge Subero Isa and Attorney General Virgilio Bello Rosa said that the country already has stiff laws that must be "applied appropriately." They added that the death penalty, which has been a topic of debate among Caribbean nations in recent years, has not reduced crime in any other country.