If the fear of being killed in a shoot-out with the police has not proven to be a deterrent to crime and violence, why do some people think that the fear of hanging is the solution?

Are the proponents of hanging just seeking to provide some kind of temporary emotional satisfaction to the aggrieved despite the fact that hanging is not a proven solution to crime and violence?

Are we at a loss to find meaningful, sustainable, civilised solutions to the social ills that breed crime and violence and so we will grab at any straw to make it appear that we are doing something?

Are we choosing hanging because it is cheaper than eradicating poverty, retrieving the guns, engaging the minds of youth and channelling them along positive paths, rehabilitating lost souls and creating a society that guarantees a wholesome future to the majority of people? If hanging is okay, why is mob killing wrong? If we reintroduce hanging, will we be hanging the real culprits - the ones who distribute expensive weapons to poor youth to get them to carry out their dirty work?

If we reintroduce hanging, will we be counted among the civilised nations of the world or among the barbaric ones? After hanging someone for murder, what do we do when new evidence later proves that he/she was not guilty? Say we are sorry? Offer compensation to the family? Declare that it was just unfortunate that an error was made in good faith?

-Bobby Johnson

bobbyjohnson6@gmail.com