<p>After the first flush of pro-coup triumphalism, the Bangkok Post op-ed pages over the past two or three weeks have seen an insidious infiltration of exactly the kind of namby-pamby, woolly-minded, do-gooder insinuations that made the coup such a welcome necessity in the first place.</p>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The rape and murder of a child on a night train is an abominable crime and the most severe punishment available must be passed on the perpetrator. However, the angry demands for the death penalty must give pause. &nbsp;There are calls for mandatory sentencing. But mandatory sentencing is not an available punishment. “Mandatory” death penalty is a denial of humanity. </div>