Lewis was convicted of killing golf consultant Vic Higgs in 1992. Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and other Caribbean countries say the death penalty deters crime linked to drug trafficking in the region. Statistics cited by a national newspaper showed that capital punishment does not serve as a deterrent to crimes in many parts of the world. The best proof is our own country. Since the death penalty was revived in 1994, our national penitentiary has been jampacked with close to 900 convicts awaiting execution.
Heinous crimes continue to be committed.
Several factors have been cited as having contributed to the proliferation of crimes in our midst, among them poverty and lack of education on the part of the people. In the final analysis, these are factors that can be traced to the stark failure of our legislative system to adequately provide for the betterment of the people despite the huge amounts of public funds given to our legislators. It is odd that among the more vocal critics of the crime situation which has bred the likes of child rapist Leo Echegaray are the congressmen themselves. Odd because it has been through their neglect and indifference and even distorted sense of priorities that the climate for crime has come to exist. The Echegarays are a product of our legislators' utter lack of concern for the betterment of their countrymen.