Reports this week that an eight-year-old girl was among five family members raped in St James and an 11-year-old girl from St Ann being admitted to hospital because she is pregnant had many law-abiding citizens, including teenagers, incensed by what had happened.

A teenager who attends a prominent high school in Kingston was overheard telling his friends that the culprits should be whipped and then hanged.

"These evil men should be castrated and then shot in public," one of the teenager's friends remarked.

The teenagers who were all schoolboys from their conversations could not understand how men could be so cruel to women, including the little girls. They are even planning to leave Jamaica as soon as they get the chance.

"No man, crime getting real bad again in Jamaica," one of them said.

"I would not like to get married and raise a family in this country because you don't know when the criminals will attack, kill and rape our children. One would have thought that after celebrating our 50th year of Independence as a nation, there would be great improvement, but it is sad that things are going downhill," one of them added.

Commenting on the economic situation in the country, one of them said that jobs were hard to get but despite the financial hardships, people should not have to be worrying about sexual assaults and murder in the country.

"There is much focus by the police on the lotto scammers but although they are committing an offence, it cannot be compared in any way to raping an eight-year-old girl and getting an 11-year-old girl pregnant. No way. There is no comparison with the lotto scammers. The lotto scammers trick you to get your money, so at least the victims have a chance to say yes or no but the rapists and murderers do not give chances. This is why I say rapists and murderers should be hanged in public so others like themselves can see how serious the law-abiding people are about such offences," a member of the group said.

"I agree with what you are all saying," one of them responded. He went on to point out that not only the girls are violated by the rapists and child molesters but little boys too are victims.

"Parents also have to worry about their boys because there are men out there who are sexually molesting them and murdering them too," he said.

Although people are agitating for rapists and child molesters to be hanged, there is no provision in law for that to be done. The law would have to be amended to give judges the power to pass death sentences for sexual offences. However, it is not likely that such an amended will be made. Death sentences are still being handed down by the judges in several murder cases, but since 1988 no hanging has taken place in Jamaica. It is now for the authorities to make a decision in light of the high murder rate whether or not to resume hanging.