TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. OPPOSITION LEADER AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY

it was reported that Trinidad and Tobago’s Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday was against instituting the death penalty for kidnapping.
"We have the death penalty for murder and it does not seem to be having any effect on the murders of this country. So I do not believe that by necessarily introducing the death penalty for kidnapping that that will prevent it."
He said, "What I think the government has got to do is to deal with the whole question of crime in Trinidad and Tobago and that is what it has been unable to do."
"We did not have the death penalty when we kept kidnapping down (during the UNC term in government between 1995 to 2001)," he added, "So the introduction of the death penalty will not necessarily reduce kidnappings as we have seen with the cases of murder".
Pointe-a-Pierre MP Gillian Lucky also declared herself against the death penalty for kidnapping. She said, "Stiffening the penalties for the offence of kidnapping at this stage will not act as a deterrent nor will it solve the problem of escalating crime. This is because there is a low level of detection of criminal activity because the government is not dealing with the situation in a competent, effective, efficient and forthright manner."