THE EDITOR, Sir:

I REALLY need to comment on Jamaica's justice system. I was reading Friday's edition of The Gleaner and one particular story caught my interest. Our justice system has gone to the dogs. My question is, how can someone who has been charged for murder and absconded bail, only receive nine months' sentence? That is ridiculous! Are we sending the wrong signal to those criminals who have absolutely no regard for human lives? They have no respect for policemen, the law and our children who are oftentimes caught in their feuds and not even for their families. A man caught on the streets with a 'ganja spliff' is getting more time than that.

Those heartless men and women who commit hideous crimes should be locked away for good. Look at the incident that happened in May Pen; look at what they have done to innocent people ,who were going about their business, killed for no reason at all. The People's National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party have said absolutely nothing satisfying to show how they are going to combat the increasing crime rate in Jamaica. That is where their focus should be.

The criminals are getting younger and younger and I think when they are caught they should be treated as adult because that's exactly how they are acting. Why should they be treated like children when caught? If they cherished their childhood they would be in school learning a skill or something instead of committing offences against the law. Trust me, they know what they are doing, they know it is wrong, they also know the consequence for their actions, but they just don't care.

Those criminals must be hanged and forget about human rights. What about the victims, don't they have rights too?

Mrs. Portia Simpson Miller and Mr. Golding should be working together to figure out how they can fight crime in Jamaica and stop making useless promises. I am sure I can say that all hard-working Jamaicans are tired of the crime and especially those who have lost members of their families to those inhumane persons who really don't deserve to be tried. They really don't give second thoughts to their victims, they celebrate with their cronies about the number of 'duppies' they make. Hang them! And stop wasting taxpayers hard-earned money on them in prison. They have absolutely no remorse for the lives of anyone.

For those criminals, it should be an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. They kill, kill them back; it is not fair to the victim's family. Put them in front of a firing squad and kill them. Jamaica is importing everything else, why not import people from other countries to do the hangman's job? Sometimes the police do give information to the criminals about the identity of witnesses, so if no Jamaican wants to do the hangman's job, bring people fromother countries who will. Their identities will be protected. For every criminal they hang, pay them and send them home.

I am, etc.,

DONNA KINGSLEY

donnakingsley4u@yahoo.com

Olympic Garden

Kingston 11

Via Go-Jamaica