Vaneisa: Should we hang? Does death penalty really act as a deterrent? A young woman wrote this to me after my last column: ‘I’ve been thinking about this death penalty debate. I don’t know where I stand…’ It recalled for me a time when I too, did not know where to stand and how that changed. I easily remember traumatic episodes from my childhood that shaped my utter aversion to violence of every kind. I was not yet 10 during this period. Photo: Gale Ann Benson, the 27 year old daughter of a Tory MP, was murdered in Trinidad. Trinidadian civil rights activist, Michael Abdul Malik, was believed to be responsible although he was eventually hanged for another murder.