The Editor, Sir:

While I was skimming through The Gleaner of Friday, October 26, an item of news from 'International Briefs' caught my eye. It was entitled 'Russian serial killer: 'I felt like God''. The words, credited to the man Alexander Pichushkin, keep coming back to me: "I took the most valuable thing, human life. I didn't take anything else of value from them. Money, jewellery, I didn't need it. I felt like God."

This takes me back to my disagreement with the division of murder into the categories of capital and non-capital. To my mind, this is the biggest mistake that has ever been made in Gordon House. When a human being wilfully takes the life of another human being, it doesn't matter if anything else is taken.

Wrong message

The dead can no longer use any of his or her possessions. I believe that the wrong message was sent when the distinction between capital and non-capital murder was made.

This strengthened the notion that there are occasions when wilfully taking the life of another human being is not as bad as one would think, hence non-capital murder.

Accidents and instances where self-defence results in the loss of the offender's life are understandable and need no discussion. The government needs to make a decision about the punishment for murder and then put all murders in the same category.

Will capital punishment stay on the books, or will it be removed as obtains in a growing number of countries around the world?

Life is the most valuable thing that we possess. We do not need a serial killer to remind us of that. Let us respect and protect LIFE.

I am, etc.,

WINNIE ANDERSON- BROWN

winab@cwjamaica.com