Hangman to return?

Jayasiri Munasinghe

The Government's attention has been drawn towards the re-introduction of the hangman in the wake of the recent spate of organised crime and killings.

According to the Prisons Department there are over 700 prisoners on death row after being convicted for murder and other grave crimes.

Of this number 260 prisoners have had their appeals rejected by the courts.

In addition the Ministry of Justice and Law Reforms together with the Defence Ministry have commenced a coordinated program to arrest the growing trend of organised crime in the country.

Towards this and it has been decided to hold a top level meeting every month presided over by Justice and Law Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to assess the crime trend and evolve solutions to bring down the crime rate systematically.