Although the police say that they will have to await the findings of a DNA analysis to declare definitively on the identities of the two bodies discovered last weekend at a Mandeville landfill, they appear more than reasonably certain that they were the remains of Richard and Julia Lyn, the elderly couple who have been missing for more than a fortnight.

That is both bad and good: in the sense that while the discovery may remove what little hope remained that the couple would be found alive, the Lyn family may begin to bring closure and healing to what must be a deeply painful episode. There is something else positive that we take from this matter - the performance of the police. Their investigation was, seemingly, serious, professional, efficient and surprisingly quick.

We note the constabulary's execution of this investigation in the larger context of crime in Jamaica and what, ultimately, is the most efficacious deterrent to criminals. Murders, in the year just past, may, for instance, be down nearly 20 per cent on 2005. In most rational environments, especially in a society with an absence of war or sectarian and civil strife, that would have been a huge cause for celebration. In Jamaica, that is not the case, for with over 1,200 people murdered last year, this nation has one of the world's highest homicide rates: over 46 murders per 100,000 population.

There are complex social, sociological and economic reasons for this Jamaican propensity to violence, but we feel that the significant factor is the weakness of what really is the most effective deterrent to crime: making the criminal pay. If people are seen to be caught and punished for crime, it raises the risk factor for other potential offenders, who might be deterred.

In Jamaica, no more than half of the murders are "cleared-up", which means little that is concrete; perhaps a suspect has been identified or that a killing has been linked to a series of events. But arrests are relatively few, and more rare are convictions. Which is why the apparently effective performance of the police in the Lyns' case is important: It will allow for due process, hopefully speedily, where prosecutors and defenders have their day in court before a jury of peers.

Which raises the issue of the contorted logic of attorney Donald Gittens, who withdrew his offer to represent Lennox Swaby and Kevin Powell, two men held in connection with the disappearance of the Lyns. Mr. Gittens was peeved by the comment of Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green that Mandeville-based attorneys were reluctant to represent the men. Mr. Gittens felt that it could be perceived that he was shamed into coming forward.

So what? The bigger issue is the cause of justice, and the right of an accused person to legal representation and to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That philosophy transcends private peeves, which Mr. Gittens appeared to have forgotten.