By Riel Major

Tribune Staff Reporter

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

BISHOP Simeon Hall has called for elected parliamentarians to “place more fear in the hearts of gang members and criminals” by implementing life with no parole for murderers and rapists. 

The prominent pastor made the call in a press statement in which he said the criminal mind is hardly impressed or frightened by statistics.  

In an interview with The Tribune, Bishop Hall, pastor emeritus at New Covenant Baptist Church, said politicians need to stop using the murder and crime rates as a political football.  He said: “What a party says about crime in opposition is not the same when (they) get into government and both parties have proven that.

“I’ve personally raised some good children, but they have to interact with your bad child with a gun. I have to try my best to make the whole country as good as possible, so we just need to be wise and proactive.”   

Bishop Hall added: “We boast about the statistical reduction in certain crimes, particularly homicides, then only days later there are multiple slayings. In fact, some persons are so demonic and depraved that the recent announcement of relatively positive crime statistics might have motivated some with criminal intent.

“Both the ghastly act of rape and the nefarious intentional murder of a human being qualifies as the worst of the worst in my book - the United Kingdom’s Privy Council’s position notwithstanding.

“We are far too passive in this country for certain matters and we must not accept wanton acts of crime as our new normal. Anyone rightly convicted through the judicial system of rape and/or murder should be removed from civilised society for the rest of his or her natural life.”

Bishop Hall said he believes in second chances but also believes some men are impervious to change.

“Unfortunately, I am also convinced that there are some who are impervious to the best that society offers, and they should be permanently removed from civilisation,” he added.

“A life sentence without parole protects public safety, while sparing the barbarity of killing our own. It sends the strongest message that violent acts will be severely punished.” 

According to The Tribune’s records, there have been 30 murders so far this year.

Last year, police reported a six percent rise in reported rapes, noting there were 55 cases in 2018 compared with 52 in 2017.