In the two weeks since India’s first hanging in 13 years, two children have died and a third young boy was nearly killed as a result of imitating the highly publicized execution. A 14-year-old boy died after he tied one end of a rope around his neck and swung the other end on a ceiling fan in his home to re-enact the execution. The boy’s father said that his son was very curious about the nation’s first execution and had closely followed the days leading up to it by watching news accounts. The second child to die, a 12-year-old girl from West Bengal, accidentally killed herself when she tried to demonstrate for her younger brother how the execution was conducted. A third 10-year-old West Bengal victim nearly died as he and his friends acted out the execution, taking roles as the defendant, the hangman, a doctor, and the prison warden. (Reuters, August 25, 2004) See International Death Penalty and Deterrence.