Death Penalty

[ATFC Seagull]

All I did was point out something that is fact, from that you've decided that I am pro death penalty, wonderful, you should be a Tory Minister, obviously you know it all when in fact you are clueless. I suggest you get dismount from your high horse before vertigo takes over and you fall off.

Blimey - not had your coffee this morning?

I never said anything about your point of views. I was just supporting the idea that I think America is a useful comparison when talking about the cost (as well as impact of deterrence, wrongful executions etc) of the death penalty when you said it wasn't.

 

[xenophon]

It's a difficult one. When I see the family of Millie Dowler I feel empathy for their wish for execution or eye for an eye retribution, but then I see the state of the justice system and I feel the chances of wrongful conviction are enough to make me feel uncomfortable about someone being executed who could be innocent.

A very small 'no' against the death penalty for me

 

[cunning fergus]

Last year the BBC reported it costs 41k per annum to keep a prisoner. For those who are never going to be released because they are mad or bad why should they be a drain on the public purse?

We already have chronic overcrowding and have no money (or polictical will) to build new prisons.

In these difficult times there are difficult decisons that need to be made this feels like a more straightforward one.

 

[Samej]

That couple who tortured the 3 year old to death while babysitting him. I'd have no problem with them getting the death penalty.

Death by a thousand cuts would be appropriate and not too quick

 

[essbee]

But I always say to myself - imagine that it is you being accused of a crime you did not commit. Somehow,
the evidence is stacked against you -

Would you still be in favour of the death penalty?

 

[bhaexpress]

Blimey - not had your coffee this morning?

I never said anything about your point of views. I was just supporting the idea that I think America is a useful comparison when talking about the cost (as well as impact of deterrence, wrongful executions etc) of the death penalty when you said it wasn't.

You're one to talk, you implied that I was pro death penalty for simply pointing something out, I don't know what you're taking but I suggest you stop.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

There are various angles to this debate.

There has to be an effective deterrent for those that are not psychopaths etc.

The death penalty doesn't seem to stop murderers in the US.

Anyone who has been inside a higher security Prison (eg Lewes) and above will know it is not a pleasant place to spend the rest of ones life.

 

[Don Quixote]

Murderers don't think they are going to be caught, therefore the death penalty doesn't really work as a deterrent.

 

[Bisto]

Anyone who has been inside a higher security Prison (eg Lewes) and above will know it is not a pleasant place to spend the rest of ones life.

People get used to circumstance very quickly and any lifestyle will become the norm within a couple of years and any impact is lost.

I believe the death sentence is appropriate in some circumstances. Not as a deterent or cost saving exercise but as a society risk removal procedure.

The prison system in this country DOES NOT rehabilitate the inmates and essentially is only a holding facility that has no real impact on the nature OR aspirations of the inmates (excluding those who offended through mis-adventure) and therefore upon release the will re-offend. That is an overall problem with our system.

Long-term sentencing spans generations (circa 20 years) and the 'rawness' of the offence is lost with passing generations. The Human Rights Lobby (of whom we all moan occasionally) habitually campaign for the inmates Human Rights over the severity or abhorrence of the crime; The Wests, Suttcliffe, Moors murders are some extreme examples and in many cases unsuitable persons are readmitted to the wider society and the public are at unneccessary risk.

Those who should be eligable to face the death sentence should be limited and a do not believe that every murderer falls into that group. I was suggest that serial killers ( murder on two or more seperate occasions), Terriorists carrying out actions causing muliple deaths, some other prolific offenders in say violent rape, kiddy-fiddling etc and or course CPFC fans.

 

[Stoo82]

The Millie downer case is a prime example of why the death penalty should not exists.

Was someone else not convicted of her murder years ago?

He would have been hung.

Oh sorry, you were innocent. Woops.

Life should mean life in a prison not full of play stations and a better life than i can afford.

 

[Seagull1967]

What about this for an idea, rather than killing these people they get put on a register to donate blood and certain organs if they match? They would provide something use to society!

 

[The Spanish]

The Millie downer case is a prime example of why the death penalty should not exists.

Was someone else not convicted of her murder years ago?

He would have been hung.

Oh sorry, you were innocent. Woops.

Life should mean life in a prison not full of play stations and a better life than i can afford.

who was found guilty of milly downers murder originally? the details must be available on the internet somewhere.

 

[Gully]

What about this for an idea, rather than killing these people they get put on a register to donate blood and certain organs if they match? They would provide something use to society!

That sounds a little bit like the Chinese system, where they have vehicles in which people are executed, then have their organs harvested by surgeons for use in transplants.

China’s execution bus | The Observers

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

The death penalty directly contravenes the 6th commandment, so for that reason alone, I don't think it's a good idea.

If someone is to die for commiting a crime, then it should be that they spend a lifetime being forced to consider their acts before leaving this mortal coil. The timing of their death is not a power that I would be comfortable wielding ( and as someone who has been a juror you would be fully aware that your decision in the jury room, however you may come to it, will cause someone to die ) - it would make me no better than a Holocaust camp guard who could on any particular day pick or chose who lives or dies.

We learn from other countries that the death penalty does nothing to reduce the amount of serious crime, all it does is debase our own morality to the level of those we wish to condemn. Someone who commits a crime doesn't expect to face justice, they think at the time they'll get away with it undetected, so we will never be certain if any sentence acts as a 'deterrent'.

' Let he who is without sin cast the first stone ' - the meaning of this is clear, as soon as you DO cast that first stone, then you have become as much of a sinner as the person who is being stoned.

However in the bible it says 'an eye for an eye' ?

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

I'm for it, also including the most serious of child sex abuse cases, also IMHO the Justice system should create a new Homicide Act, replacing the one from 1957, and thus creating, 1st and 2nd degree Murder and a new Involuntray Manslaughter.
If a person is found guilty of 1st Degree Murder, the Judge should have the option of death.

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

I may be wrong but I don't think anyone was found guilty of killing Millie Dowler before Levi Bellend. However,I think he's been linked with the killings of the Russell family and it's Michael Stone ( who was actually convicted of that murder ) that's now claiming innocence in that particular case.

 

[gully is my god]

However in the bible it says 'an eye for an eye' ?

I like gandhi's reply to this.

An eye for an eye would make the whole world blind.

I am against the death penalty. Not just because I wouldn't want a murder on my conscience, but I also believe that if I saw someone kill my loved one, I would prefer to see them serving a life sentence in prison rather than having a quick death.

Perhaps what we need to look at is making prisons a worser place to be so that that in itself is a deterrent. Im all for removing sky tv and playstations. In doing so it would also make it cheaper for the tax payer. Then everyones happy, apart from the crim of course....

(Also to those who do say that prisons are expensive, I bet it costs more to kill em. California taxpayers pay $90,000 more per death row prisoner each year than on prisoners in regular confinement.)

 

[HoveHorace]

Sudden death penalties are brilliant !!!

Remember Swindon in the play-offs.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

The death penalty directly contravenes the 6th commandment, so for that reason alone, I don't think it's a good idea.

If someone is to die for commiting a crime, then it should be that they spend a lifetime being forced to consider their acts before leaving this mortal coil. The timing of their death is not a power that I would be comfortable wielding ( and as someone who has been a juror you would be fully aware that your decision in the jury room, however you may come to it, will cause someone to die ) - it would make me no better than a Holocaust camp guard who could on any particular day pick or chose who lives or dies.

We learn from other countries that the death penalty does nothing to reduce the amount of serious crime, all it does is debase our own morality to the level of those we wish to condemn. Someone who commits a crime doesn't expect to face justice, they think at the time they'll get away with it undetected, so we will never be certain if any sentence acts as a 'deterrent'.

' Let he who is without sin cast the first stone ' - the meaning of this is clear, as soon as you DO cast that first stone, then you have become as much of a sinner as the person who is being stoned.

I'm with you on this as a Christian. Also, while the likes of that scumbag Belfield (and yes, I do feel justified using that term) are clearly guilty, many others may well not be. However, I do feel full-life terms should be used far more frequently - Huntley, for example, should never get out, nor should Bishop either. Also, I feel judges should sentence based on the effect of a crime, not just the technical offence itself. I am friends with the daughter of a High Court judge whom I deeply respect. He sentenced the woman who tried to kill Stephen Timms MP after the 2010 General Election. He gave her a minimum 15 year term, but said that had Mr Timms died, it would have been a full-life term. A very sensible piece of thinking and one which should be used far more often. While I am against the death penalty, I think a period of solitary confinement would be a fair punishment. And as for Belfield refusing to attend court to receive his sentence, he should have been dragged there by Prison Officers.

 

[The Spanish]

bishop hasnt got a full life tariff has he?