United Bermuda Party (UBP) MP Michael Dunkley yesterday issued a call for the reintroduction of the death penalty - a punishment banned in 1999 on human rights grounds.

Mr. Dunkley does not have the full support of all his colleagues, and he stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity.

He said society had become "too tolerant" of wrong and violent behaviour because penalties no longer fit the seriousness of the crime.

He argued that violent crime was on the increase as a result and that people were losing faith in the justice system.

"I'm not saying that it (bringing back the death penalty) will reduce violent crime. But at least it will be there as the ultimate deterrent."

In 1999, life imprisonment was substituted for the death penalty for premeditated murder. The UBP voted against the abolition bill because it contained errors and also because a life sentence effectively meant 25 years behind bars.

"Twenty-five years in Westgate. That's an easy life. Most people live a difficult life," said Mr. Dunkley. "It is not a hard prison. A person could fill their stomachs three times a day, take educational courses and then we let them out. Is that fair? The community should let us know what they think and we (politicians) should listen."

He said the death penalty was abolished without consulting the people. "I don't think that was good government. I am hearing people say they don't agree with it."

Shadow legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt said his position was the party's stance during the 1999 debate and had not changed since.

Capital punishment should have been retained for the most serious cases and decided upon by a jury, he said.

And, he said, "there ought to be cases where life (imprisonment) means life".

Government moved to abolish capital and corporal punishment soon after the publication of a British Government White Paper which urged the colonies to bring their laws up to scratch with international human rights standards.

Mr. Dunkley's parliamentary colleague Kim Young would not say specifically that she disagreed with his call to bring back the death penalty, but she said Bermuda should follow international human rights conventions.

"The European Convention on Human Rights says capital punishment should be abolished... I think we should abide by the European Convention on Human Rights," she said.