MONROVIA – The Institute for Constitutional Research Policy and Strategic Development (ICRPSD) has conducted a one-day combined speaker and round table discussion for over 50 students of the Louise Arthur Grimes School of Law.
Report by Victoria G. Wesseh, Contributor
The round table discussion which was held on Monday, May 30, 2022 focused on the topic: “Elimination of the death penalty in the wake of serious and unexplained homicides – implications on deterrence.”
The program was colorful attracting several legal experts including Prof. M. Wilkins Wright, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, and ECOWAS Court of Justice, Cllr. Chan-Chan A. Paegar, Judge of the Commercial Court, Prof. Vulate J. Hage, Prof. Youjay Bright, Cllr. Sumo Kuto-Akoi, State prosecutor; Cllr. Sennay Carlor, public defender; Dr. Cllr. Jallah A Barbu Executive Director (ICRPSD) and Atty. Kebeh S. Freeman Saryon Associate Director, (ICRPSD).
Justice M. Wilkins Wright, delivering the keynote address at the occasion, urged students of the law school to keep reading because reading makes a ready man.
“So read and update yourselves in other to become a ready person and if you’re ready, the world will receive you as a prepared person. But if you are not prepared when the opportunity comes those who are prepared will take advantage of it,” Justice Wright said.
Justice Wright said it is hoped that the students will take advantage of the monthly lectures and studies provided by the Institute for Constitutional Research Policy and Strategic Development.
Cllr. Wright mentioned there is merit on both sides of the argument and he expects students to discuss the merit and demerit in favor or against the death penalty.
Justice Wright stated that the concept of the death penalty is that punishment was to be meted out in proportion to the gravity of the offense and so if you kill, you must also be killed.
According to him, the death penalty has been in Liberia for centuries and it is unlikely to be abolished anytime soon.
He noted that Liberia is among countries across the globe that signed on to the convention for the elimination of the death penalty but the country has not yet domesticate the convention or treaty.
“Therefore, technically and legally, the country has not yet eliminated the death penalty. If a court sitting in any part of the country were to convict an individual and sentence said person to death, the judgment will be supported by law,” he said.
He explained that even though Liberia has not domesticated the treaty to eliminate the death penalty, it has taken steps to observe the tendency of the treaty to the extent that the last time the country executed anybody for capital offense was in 1970 when President Tolbert signed the death warrant of Allen Yancy and others in Maryland County.
We have done our best to avoid executing people. So we got people on the death roll which means they have been convicted and sentenced to death but the government has been careful not to implement the death sentence.
Cllr. Chan-Chan A. Paegar Judge of Commercial Court in special remarks thanked the Institute for Constitutional Research, Policy, and Strategic Development for the program, stating it was not only an academic but talk provoking and policy development initiative.
Judge Paegar praised the law students from both evidence class and applied legal studies for debating the pros and cons of the topic.
The Judge in his observatory statement said the students researched the topic well and as such the debate was intellectually balanced.
He urged the students and organizers to take the debate from argument to a reality in the context of the Liberian culture.