Death Penalty

[Starry]

nope.

 

[steward 433]

Another question, would you hang kiddie fiddlers or people who sell hard drugs to kids?

Peadophiles yes Drug dealers life and i mean LIFE inside

 

[1066familyman]

The country wth the lowest crime rate in the world and the harshest penalties and i prefer the word executed not murdered

Interesting semantics here.

For me, I prefer to use the word murdered and not executed, because capital punishment is the deliberate taking of a life, and that IS murder.

However, the dictionary definition of murder says [ deliberate and unlawful taking of a life ], so technically you're right, it ain't murder.

But I've never trusted the law makers or enforcers.

Yes I have kids, and so yes, I totally agree with your sentiments there. I feel the same way to be honest. But here's the rub, should you then be 'executed' for your act of retribution ?

Capital punishment is a very dangerous path to go down, and I can never bring myself to support it. There's a million and one very genuine emotional feelings around the pro-argument, but in essence, two wrongs will never ever make a right.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

It is wrong to kill someone. This for me is the end of the argument.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

like i said earlier if there was undoubtable evidence not into killing innocent people 100% sure then yes i would like to see it reinstated.

But you are advocating Singapore and China's regimes where I am certain that they execute innocent people. Even with the 100% certainty of guilt, I don't agree with the death penalty as it is immoral and in decent society it should not happen. I feel very strongly about this and on principal would never vote for any government who said they would bring it back. I really hope it will never happen!

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Interesting semantics here.

For me, I prefer to use the word murdered and not executed, because capital punishment is the deliberate taking of a life, and that IS murder.

However, the dictionary definition of murder says [ deliberate and unlawful taking of a life ], so technically you're right, it ain't murder.

But I've never trusted the law makers or enforcers.

Yes I have kids, and so yes, I totally agree with your sentiments there. I feel the same way to be honest. But here's the rub, should you then be 'executed' for your act of retribution ?

Capital punishment is a very dangerous path to go down, and I can never bring myself to support it. There's a million and one very genuine emotional feelings around the pro-argument, but in essence, two wrongs will never ever make a right.

Exactly, the reasons for the death penalty are emotional whereas the reasons against it, in my view, are rational e.g. innocent people die, it is not a deterrent and people are kept on death row for 10 to 20 years.

 

[clippedgull]

Peadophiles yes Drug dealers life and i mean LIFE inside

If one of your kids turned into a paedophile would you execute them?

 

[Monsieur Leclerc]

What about those mothers that were accused of killing their children. Surely, they should have been put to death long before the rulings were deemed unstable or do they ust sit on death row for an indefinite period? How long do those in China and Singapore sit on death row? I would suggest that it is minimal...

 

[Yorkie]

What about those mothers that were accused of killing their children. Surely, they should have been put to death long before the rulings were deemed unstable or do they ust sit on death row for an indefinite period? How long do those in China and Singapore sit on death row? I would suggest that it is minimal...

Good point, well made. The so-called expert witness was giving very flawed evidence.

 

[pasty]

Absolutely not. There is a reason why most decent countries (I obviously don't include America) don't have the death penalty. It is proven to not act as a deterrent (does anyone really think that Ian Huntly would have been stopped by the death penalty). America has one of the highest crime rates in the world despite most states having the death penalty. The argument about cost that some people put up is also ridiculous as America holds people for years and it is more expensive than prison.

Finally, and the one argument that makes everything irrelevant, if you execute 1,000 people and one is innocent (which is probably a lower number than average) then that makes the death penalty wrong! Or are you people who say yes happy for innocent people to die.

The death penalty is government commissioned murder and the idea that people want it back in this country is, frankly, sickening.

Is abolutely the correct answer. I could never back a death penalty under any circumstances.

Judge: You have been found found guilty of killing another human being for which I am going to punish you. You will be killed.

Hypocritical leaglised murder.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

I don't think that it should come back, however i wouldnt be against nooses being put in the cells for murderers / rapists / paedophiles, you know, just incase they want to take that way out.

 

[Monsieur Leclerc]

I don't think that it should come back, however i wouldnt be against nooses being put in the cells for murderers / rapists / paedophiles, you know, just incase they want to take that way out.

Why are they not called Neese and Mooses called Meese?

 

[beorhthelm]

they should be a fnce for such a prickly subject.

i used to think, yeah string 'em up, but not so sure now. should murder automatically mean death? theres different types of murder. how do you say which is worthy of death penalty and which is not? at the extremes many think its obvious, but of course its at the border line that the dilema exists. How do you account for miscarriges of justice?

But then again, a component of prison is rehabilitation. But how can you rehabilitate some irrational killers, child molesters etc? whats the point of having a lifer rotting away for 40 years? but then should we give them the satisfaction of hanging?

I think the debate fundementally draws us away from the actual reall issue: what do we expect for the justice system, are those expectations correct and is it living up to them. rather than death penalty or not debates, the question should be on how far should the punishment aspect of custody go. why dont we have hard labour anymore? why does life mean release after 15 years for some? right now the deterent aspect is working.

 

[binky]

i am partaking in a debate on thursday about whether or not the death penalty should be bought back,

The underlying asumption on BOTH sides of this argument, is that human life is in some way sacrosanct.
Is this so?
Heaven knows we have enough of it on this planet. Perhaps we could do with a little less human life around.

Note: I am NOT volunteering.

As for the state taking a life...
The state and the population have a contract of sorts. Citizens behave in a certain way, acceptable to the state, and codified in a set of laws, in return for the benefits of living within that population.
These benefits include protection from outside forces, (defence), a "safety net" allowing nobody to have to starve to death, enforcement of those laws, etc.
The benefits vary from state to state, but the principle is the same.
When an individual strays from the acceptable behaviour, the state has to punish the individual. It is part of the contract. In fact, the state has to punish the individual to uphold the contract with the other law abiding citizens.

If an individual has strayed so far from the contracted behaviour that it is clear they can never again partake of that contract, either by magnitude or persistency of the "crime", then what use is that individual to the state.

Why shouldn't the state remove that individual from the state, either by eviction/transportation or by execution.

Political philosophy aside. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in the position of having to defend myself against the collective might of the law and prosecution service in this country, both of whom have shown themselves at best incompetent, and at worst corrupt, on numerous occasions.

 

[Pevenseagull]

It is wrong to kill someone. This for me is the end of the argument.

100% agreement here


as an aside as Huntley's been mentioned a few times my understanding is that he's tried to top himself which for me is a very good reason to keep him alive as he's clearly not enjoying himself

 

[BensGrandad]

Couple of years ago there was anews report on the radio of a man who raped a 14 year old girl in, I think it was Iran, on Wednesday went to court and sentenced to death on Friday appeal heard Monday morning and rejected executed on Monday afternoon less than 7 days after committing the offence. The worst part was that the father of the girl had to choose the form of death and he chose drowning. To carry out the execution they bound the man and put him in a sack and the father then dropped him into a deep tank of water from a JCB type digger. They call that civilisation!!!!

 

[Porky]

My politics are slightly to the right of Genghis Kahn's, but I don't think the death penalty should be re intrduced
Years ago in Notting Hill there was a guy by the name of Christie hanged for killing a woman and hiding her body in the basement somewhere.
A couple of years previously, a guy by the name of Timothy something or other, who lived in the same house was hanged for murder.
It was later alleged that Christie had also commited that murder.
I think there is too much of finality to a death sentence. Having said that, I think life should mean life. You leave here only in a pine box for burial.

 

[Simster]

It is wrong to kill someone. This for me is the end of the argument.

In a nutshell.

I suspect a lot of supporters of the death penalty are just fed up of perceived light sentences. So in the end, I'd simply argue that life should mean life.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Well I think they should bring in the death penalty.
If not because of "human rights" "no better than them if we do that" etc etc brigade...then at least let LIFE imprisonment mean LIFE.
People like Huntley, Glitter, Hindley, West etc should be shot, hung, gassed, electrocuted where there is insurmountable evidence that they are bang to rights.

 

[Gully]

Playing devils advocate, how about the Guildford four and Birmingham six who were all jailed for murder but later released when it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that the Police had falsified evidence to secure a conviction. If that had happened during the time we had capital punishment then it is fair to assume that they would all have gone to the gallows, would have been a bit late to grant a pardon.