I think hanging should resume as a matter of urgency. The law which stipulates what should be the fate of convicted murderers has not been abolished.

Many people are saying that hanging is not a deterrent to crime. This is a point that many of those who oppose hanging have raised from time to time. No one should be fooled that punishment will ever be a deterrent. If we argue about crime, punishment and deterrence, then we would ask how is it that our prisons are over crowded?

It is not about deterrence, it is about conviction and punishment as the law stipulates.

You have committed murder, were tried and convicted, you have exhausted all due process of appeal, then you should be executed, be it by lethal injection or drink, the firing squad or hanging; the course of punishment as is prescribed by law should be followed.

-C W George, Darb61aol.com, Spring Field Gardens, NY, Via Go-Jamaica

In the words of popular singer Gyptian "these are some serious times". The level of crime and violence in our country is blindingly visible and unfortunately our children are caught in the middle.

It is disheartening that the reality for some children is a life of fear and loss. Our childrenare faced with adversities everyday and as educators, we cannot turn a blind eye. Our children do not deserve the harsh realities meted out to them and, if ever a time they need our support, it is now.Children need our supportive intervention in the classroom and therefore classrooms must exemplify a culture of care. I urge teachers to show our children that there is a place where they can be safe and free to clarify their emotions.

Children know when classrooms are safe, because in these classrooms they do not fear rejection, humiliation and lack of respect. Love has to be the hallmark of our interaction with children.

We must pay keen attention to children's emotional well-being and ensure that we build positive relationships with them. Children need to trust us to make a positive difference in their lives.

- Julene McLaughlin, jmclaughlin28@hotmail.com, Via Go-Jamaica

Doreen McGann of Taffalla, Sweden, whom I presume is a Jamaican, by letter on Monday October 25 claims that I am suggesting that Maroon poverty is something to rejoice about as it is retribution for their past sins.

I am suggesting no such thing, as I do not and would not have the competence to prove such a claim. My reference that the Maroons need forgiveness was simply to the non-Maroon population doing so, provided Maroons are made aware that the long held propaganda that they were defenders of black people in Jamaica can be proved to be just that.

My attitude towards the Maroons was further underlined in my article in the sports section of The Sunday Gleaner, October 24, but no amount of twisting what I have written can change the fact of the Maroons' excessive and sustained brutality against non-Maroon Blacks in Jamaica.

Further, it was the English who, out of fear of Maroons, shipped 600 out to Sierra Leone after the Trelawny Town rebellion of 1795. Stop making excuses that the Maroons could not do any better than to brutalize and betray their Black brothers and sisters during slavery.

I undestand how new information ansd positions can sometime cause mental discomfort, but the Maroon apologists will get over it!