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| Prime Minister Bruce Golding |
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JAMAICAN PARLIAMENT VOTES TO KEEP DEATH PENALTY
November 25, 2008: Jamaica's Parliament easily rejected a proposal to ban the death penalty in a vote propelled by the country's high homicide rate and a horrific series of recent crimes against children.
Capital punishment has long been on the books in the Caribbean country but recent governments have been reluctant to issue death warrants and the last execution was in 1988.
34 members of parliament voted yes and 15 voted no.
There were 10 absentees. Prime Minister Bruce Golding, whose Jamaica Labor Party took power in 2007 for the first time in nearly 20 years, pledged to resume executions as one response to a homicide rate that has repeatedly ranked among the world's highest in recent years. (Sources: International Herald Tribune, 25/11/2008)
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