Capital punishment in the UK, who wants it back?

OohErMissus

I agree entirely. Prisons are overcrowded- if murderers, rapists, terrorists and paedophiles were killed, there would be plenty of room for other scumbags, eh?

Emmanuel Goldstein

see how many people are wrongly convicted just now. The so called expert witnesses just making things up. We don't need capital punishment, that is for backwards countries. What we need is harsher punishments for severe crimes and stop putting oldies in prison for not paying their council tax.

Villain

Capital punishment is so 19th century.

It doesn't work, nor is it a deterent. It's better to lock them away for life.

bringmesunshine is back!!!

No thanks, I'm not out for revenge

FishNChimps

If we had the death penalty then women like Sally Clark and the other mothers who were wrongly convicted for infanticide on the strength of flawed evidence would have been executed.

Susan S

If the UK is anything like the USA, your prisons are overcrowded because you lock up low level drug offenders and non violent criminals. I would also expect that people who need mental health care end up in prison instead of treatment programs and facilities.

The USA experience with the death penalty should help you make up your mind on this issue- here are some facts (sources included) about the practical issues surrounding it.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison.

The death penalty risks executing innocent people (123 already exonerated) and DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides. It is not a guarantee against the execution of innocent people.

The death penalty is not a deterrent. Most killers do not even think they will be caught (if they think at all). Homicide rates are higher in states with the death penalty.

Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. Supermax prisons are terrible places to spend the rest of your life.

The death penalty can be very hard on families of murder victims.

The death penalty does not apply to the worst of the worst. It applies to defendants with the worst lawyers.

48% of Americans prefer life without parole and 47% prefer the death penalty. We are learning.

Mr Sceptic

The Birmingham Six don't want it back, the Guildford Four don't want it back, Sally Clark didn't want it back, Andrew Adams doesn't want it back, Thomas Rooney doesn't want it back, George McPhee doesn't want it back, Angela Cannings doesn't want it back.

Mark Dallagher, Terry Pinfold and Harry Mackenney, Gary Mills and Tony Poole, Trevor Wickens, Robert Brown, Josephine Smith , Reg Dudley and Bob Maynard - none of these want capital punishment brought back.

Why not? Because all these people have been wrongly convicted of murder and had these convictions later overturned. So how would you have put things right for them and their families had we hanged them?

charmedandwelsh

you woudn't be saying that if you got wrongly accused of something and pleaded guilty to it! or would you not mind ?

Spacephantom

No, but life should mean life, and prison should be a real punishment rather than a rehabilitation center. If that were the case hanging would be an easy option by comparison. So I tend to agree with you on soft sentencing, but I certainly don't on capital punishment for the following reasons:-

1. Capital punishment does not work as a deterrent - you just need to look at the crime rate in the USA to see that.

2. There are far too many mistakes made and injustices done- including some cases where it looks as if a case has been conclusively proven, then years later the conviction is overturned. At least an innocent prisoner has the possibility of getting his or her life back eventually.

3. The taking of a life can never be made up for by taking another life - even if it is the life of the murderer. An execution will not bring the victim back or relieve the pain of their relatives.

4. Revenge solves nothing. In the words of Gandhi "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

Saucy B Foxilicious

Personally if someone killed a member of my family I would want them dead but on the other hand so many bad sentencing decisions and I would hate someone to die who was innocent.

Wafflebox

I agree that something needs to be done with our prison system and I think the whole 'human rights for prisoners' thing has got way out of hand. But, I don't think the death penalty is necessarily the answer. Except when it comes to paedophines, where there should be a detah-torture style of punishment.

Northern Lad

NO! NEVER!
But life should mean just that "LIFE"

ELBASHA

We should keep terrorists alive in prisons but in glass rooms . on Sunday we can accompany children and show them such canipals

The Expenses Mole

Me, i hate London

rz1826

i m for it but only in extreme cases....and it the victims family shld also have the power to give forgiveness.....

luludoodie

Yes Yes Yes.
BUT
only for well proven and terrible crimes, killing a policeman, Ian Huntley, terrorism, murder, killing the kids in London for belonging to the wrong gang etc.

I know there are many grey areas, but there are also a lot of 100% proven ones! So discussion is needed!

We need to do something and locking them up and then letting them out 1/2 way through the sentence makes a mockery of justice! Apart from the cost which we have to bear!

Can we have a national referendum, not leaving it to the politicians who are told to say no by people like B Liar!

SnoddersB

Capital punishment is the answer to most of the problems faced today. Having it on statute made criminals more aware, especially as the whole gang could swing for the one who killed, you would only have to hang on or two and the rest would come in line. the little sh*ts who carry knives would take more note of what they were doing if a rope end was the preferred sentence, those who carry knives and use them to gain respect would of course have great respect given as they fell through the trap. Great idea.

michael o47

It should be brought back at once and all the murderers,rapists,peado's, e.t.c. should be executed with no appeal's this would almost empty the jails, and send a message to anyone else thinking of commiting any of these crimes.

ejb199

yep def - people like ian huntley, myra hindley blah blah should be hung straight away - it annoys me how its the decent public paying to keep these nutters in prison. and prison these days is def not what prison should be like. tvs and xbox 360s in every room, dental care when you need it - no wonder the prisons are over crowded!

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