Do laws deter people from committing crime?

The good Bible says: "those who are in Christ are not controlled by the laws of the land"(sic).

And indeed, this old wisdom plays in present times.

In a phone-in segment on Chris FM 88.9Mghz in the Berekum Municipality, a caller suggested that: 'men who rape or defile girls should be forced to marry them'.

His assertion was in response to a publication that a deaf and dumb teacher has defiled and deformed a six-month-old baby in Nigeria.

When I heard the punitive measures proffered by the angry caller, I put on my thinking cap, and travelled through times and places where such laws have been tested without better solutions.

In Morocco, the authorities mandated that men who raped women and brought shame on them were forced to wed such hapless women.

The supposed helpful law that will deter rapists and protect women became a tool evil men exploited to rape women they ordinarily can't approach with marriage proposal.

Since the only punishment they'll suffer when they raped such women will be mandatory marriage, they stalked women they loved and raped them.

The law became useless and a laughing stock.

And indeed, as said by my native Bono people, when the watchman has two eyes, the thief comes with ten eyes; people who commit crime always look for loopholes in the law.

Since ages, in the face of people being jailed or crucified for some particular crimes, the same crimes have been committed in our everyday lives. We hear reports of it, and see our neighbours commit it.

If comments are allowed after reading this piece, many people will have a thousand and one examples to give of people they know that have never been deterred by scary laws.

The good old Bible is still the indispensable guiding document for mankind. Its dictates are timeless.

By Charles Yeboah (Sir Lord)