Local author looks to get people off the fence

Book an eyeopening look at history of capital punishment

Lethbridge’s Colin Thomson is not a fan of capital punishment. So why write a book about the gruesome history of hanging?

Precisely to get people thinking and talking about something which still takes place in a number of countries.

“The beat goes on,” says the professor emeritus with the University of Lethbridge, noting there was recently news of a hanging in Syria. “Just because it was outlawed in Canada, we have to have a bigger view than that.”

Thomson has written “The Busy Noose,” a detailed history of hanging and capital punishment in general. The book was printed by the U of L Press and is not what one could call a pleasant read. Its content, including a number of graphic images of hangings and hanging victims, will likely shock readers. But that was the author’s intent.

“The pictures are shocking,” Thomson acknowledges. “That’s exactly why I chose them.”

“People who are sitting on the fence about capital punishment need to get pushed one way or the other,” he adds. “Apathy is one of our societel downfalls. We don’t take a stand.”

Thomson stresses that he’s not soft on crime. He believes in criminals paying for their misdeeds, but he doesn’t agree with society playing God by killing them.

He also raises the point of death-row inmates going through the courts year after year in an effort to stave off death sentences. As an example, he points to the case of Canadian Ronald Smith, who has spent more than 30 years in prison in Montana fighting his death sentence for murder.

“It costs a great deal more to kill somebody than to put them in the clink. A lot of people don’t know that,” says Thomson.

“The Busy Noose” is Thomson’s 18th book and “it by far was the toughest one to do,” he says.

The book is available in the U of L Book Store and Thomson says all royalties from the sale of the book will go to the university. He feels it’s the least he could do in view of his long association with the U of L.

“The university has treated me like royalty,” Thomson says.

Some of Thomson’s other books include “Blacks In Deep Snow: Black Pioneers In Canada;” “The Romance of Alberta Settlements;” “The Romance of Saskatchewan Settlements;” “The Romance of Manitoba Settlements;” “Sounds Like Alberta, 17541905;” and “Fourteen.”