I am confused and astounded that the 60 members of Parliament are now engaged in a 'conscience' debate as to whether hanging should be resumed or not. Poll after poll have provided overwhelming confirmation of the fact that the vast majority of Jamaican citizens want hanging to be resumed. Whether it deters violent criminal activities or not, or even the fact that innocent persons will sometimes be wrongfully hanged is to my mind secondary in this debate.

The 60 MPs need to be reminded that they really do not represent themselves nor for that matter their individual consciences in a democracy such as ours. It is particularly ironic that democracy has often found its most profound definition in Abraham Lincoln's speech at the dedication of Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg in November 1863 that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

I remind the 60 elected MPs that it is not about their individual consciences. It is about what the majority of the people of Jamaica want which is that hanging be resumed. They ignore this simple message to their own political peril.

I am, etc.,

HOPETON MORRISON

12 Hall Crescent

Kingston 8