The immediate response to the recent spate of rape crimes, as suggested by reader Mat Bulog (' Amputate repeat offenders '), is of course a primitive one.

The same response was felt worldwide with the James Bolger case in the UK, so much so that the perpetrator's names have been withheld till now. The situation in UK is different in that media penetration and literacy rates are high.

The offenders would never have been safe because they would have been traced by the media or the public even after release from prison. The social cohesion is such that these individuals would immediately be ostracized from any community they try to blend in.

In my own personal experience I knew a woman, a patient of mine, who was shot dead, along with her new born baby by her husband. The husband was tried but acquitted on grounds of insanity. The man however was recognized and ostracized from his community and even country. He migrated to Canada but was identified there as well and deported back to his homeland.

In Malaysia, repeat offenders often disappear into the bush and reappear in another skin. The social cohesion is missing here so these individuals find it easy to go back to society and start their old ways.

Amnesty International says the death penalty is the symptom of a sick and violent society, not the cure. It is true that, in general, countries who have abolished the death penalty have lower violent crime rates then countries with the death penalty (eg. Sweden vs Malaysia).

Certainly we have been executing drug pushers for more then 30 years, and yet according to police statistics, the prevalence of drug abuse has increased in that time. No country has ever shown that capital and corporal punishment (whipping and amputation) deters violent crime. It only satisfies our atavistic need for revenge and perhaps assuages our guilt for not having been there to protect the victim.

I agree these individuals need to be taken off the streets, permanently if necessary. Just as important, they have to be monitored after release by the authorities for an extended period to make sure that they do not go back to their old ways. Child molesters must also be barred from ever working with children.