Is it time to bring back the "good old fashioned" hanging judges ?

Question

With serious and violent crime escalating and the PC do-gooder brigade finding ever more excuses for criminals to escape real punishment, is it not time to return to the "good old days" when judges handed down "real" sentences and the most evil of crimes were punished by the death sentence ?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080829/tuk-criminals-let-off-over-sentences-6323e80.html

Answer 1

I think you really mean bringing back judges who can prescribe punishments suitable for the crime the offender has committed. Once you use the term "Hanging Judges" all the freaks out on the extremes will start siting rare cases where the decision was not fair, forgetting that most of the punishments were fair.

What we really need is a complete revision of the sentencing system where common sense prevails, the politicians, human rights brigade and European jobsworths stop interfering.

Answer 2

The sandal-wearing yogurt-eaters out there who disagree with you, don't seem to want to face reality.  No one's asking for children to be hanged for stealing a loaf of bread!  In any case these days, children won't eat anything that resembles a sandwich unless it's got a quarter-pounder in the middle.

Also, someone mentioned that the person charged with Gill Dando's murder would be dead right now.  Well that's certainly not the case.  No one is saying all murderers should be hanged.  We should also bear in mind how the decision was reversed.  The prosecution, on the re-trial were not allowed to use some of the forensic evidence used in the original trial which more or less left the prosecution with little or no evidence.  Now I'm not going to slander myself by making a direct comment as to whether or not he is guilty.  Suffice to say the police are not looking any further for a suspect!

All I would say is that in this day and age, hanging is a bit barbaric and that some other form such as a leathal injection should be used.    

Answer 3

Lets give it a go.

Answer 4

Yes it should. In My eyes it should only be handed down if there is a 100% verdict and the evidence is proved beyond all doubt.

Murderers ( Of all kinds, not just the usall run of the mill ones, but also death by dangerous driving etc) Rapists, and also in my eyes Repeat Offenders, and folk with a history of violence: once is wrong but twice means that there will be more in the future, and rather than drain resources they should just be executed . It frees up jail space, money and takes some of the wasters, the scum of the earth, and puts them in a nice box.

Yes the family's of theses who are to be punished by death, but the fact of the matter is, that the person who commits the crime, must pay for his actions.

The way the punishment in recent years has got very much less substantial, you could run up and stab somebody, you'd get around 15 years, reduced to 7 if you get out on parole, death by dangerous driving is only 4-7 years on average.

Also Manslaughter would only be accepted as a plea on a very rare occasion, because 9/10 the one that's brung up in court is the one that did it.

Answer 5

No. There have been too many miscarriages of justice and examples of corrupt policing.

Historically it isn't the severity of sentencing that has deterred crime, it's the likelihood of being caught that is the real deterrent.

Another factor is the percieved widening of the gap between rich and poor and contempt for the judicial system not helped by the knee jerk reaction of recent governments to high profile crimes.

Our last prime minister passed legislation making it an offence for one man to walk round Parliament Square with a placard with the names of soldiers killed in Iraq, I think a classic example of ridiculous legislation adding to the problems of a judicial system already overloaded.

Answer 6

No. There is no evidence to suggest that there were ever any "Good" old fashioned hanging judges anyway.

If hanging was ever brought back, it would simply mean that more people would be hanged for something they were framed for. Always look for ways in which people can abuse a system - because they will! You can free  someone from jail when it has been found out that the conviction was wrong. You can't bring them back from the dead.

Answer 7

Do you know what Dave? can these libs, let us know how the effectiveness of not having a deterrent is? I mean 14 years and out in seven, is that a real good deterrent for a Scumbag that has beaten a man or woman to death or raped and mutilated a woman and left her in a sack for the kids next door to find.

Life just does not mean anything under a liberal government, Ah! now if you were to rob a bank, hurt no one and steal 5 million pounds that's another matter, 20 to 30 years. Your right Dave there is certainly something wrong somewhere.

ATB Red

Answer 8

back to the days when they hung 10 year olds for stealing a loaf of bread or transporting them for life to a penal colony, can see how that would make everyone happy. No it didn't work then, if it had then people wouldn't still be murdering each other. Take a look at the US, has the death penalty actually decreased crimes, no it hasn't. Life in jail for heinous crimes like rape and murder, and child molestation and rape of child, that should carry a mandatory 30 year jail sentence.

ok,  what about Barry George,  convicted years ago of Jill Dando's murder, if you had your way he would have hanged,

well because we do not hang people anymore, he is out of prison because the verdict was found to be unsafe, if that had been found out after he was dead would that be right.

There are so many cases like this. Where juries have convicted, only to find the person or persons innocent.

I am not a PC doogooder, but you simply cannot just exact your revenge, and what about all the people who have been executed who were found to be innocent.  Good old days, no they weren't, people were hanged for such trivial matters, we simply cannot  go back to that.

Answer 9

I think you really need to move somewhere else if you want that sort of law as you will not find it in any civilised countries.PS Serious and violent crime is actually falling without the need for such punishments despite what they say in the Daily Mail

Answer 10

I don't know about the UK Justice System but our System over here in the US is truely broken.  I don't know if I agree with giving the Government anymore authority over the people.  You know over here with new DNA evidence I don't know how many people have been found to be innocent and yet they spent years of their life confined in jail when they did nothing wrong.  I am not an advocate of the Death Penalty at all because the Courts make mistakes too.  You know anytime you have humans doing anything mistakes are made because none of us are perfect.  I don't think someone should die because someone else made a mistake.  I agree that crime is certainly a problem, and I agree that criminals should be punished, but I don't agree with punishing innocent people and I don't agree with misusing your authority.  Now at one time we had a Judge where I live and his daughter was killed by a drunk driver and buddy if you were a drunk driver you didn't want to go stand before him because you were getting punished, he didn't mess around with that at all, he would throw the book at you.

Answer 11

Yes!

Answer 12

theres always pros and cons for this method...

If without a doubt the person did wrong and has a life sentance for killing...

Then in my opinion hanging or death is the only option...

I dont feel that my tax money should make his life comfortable for the rest of his days....

If theres the slightist of doubt then no...but life in prison should not be easy...

Many people relish some time "inside" as a way of getting new contacts or an easy life...

I feel that a system of proper punishment would make people be less likely to commit crimes...prisons would be less crowded...and more tax money would end up helping the people who deserve it....

The whole system in the UK is flawed...making the people who dont give a d**n the ones who come out on top....

Yes I agree " Bring back the good old days"...

Answer 13

Only to Paedophiles and murderers who are 100% guilty as proved in a court of law. Paedophiles are put in a special wing all on their own so they are protected from other criminals who want to kill them. Most paedophiles have never met another person who thinks the same way as them until they end up in prison so they think all their Christmases have come at once.

Prisoners like them get everything they want and we have to pay for it. They should be made to pay for everything themselves like the rest of us. America has the right idea and we should follow the example.

So yes bring back the good old days of 60 years ago and save the taxpayers money to spend on more important things in this country.

Answer 14

bad idea on alot of different levels, which is why we got away from it in the first place.

Answer 15

a lot of people would say forgive and forget... but how can you forget when a loving family member is raped or killed by one of these psycho paths. I personally would want justice, and if not given to me legally, then I'll settle matters with my own hands.

bring back hanging? h**l I say bring back Hammurabi's code! an eye for an eye...

Answer 16

probably not - if your fantasy world ever existed at all, it was decades or centuries ago.

the judges you dream of are long dead and buried, and if you bring them back, i reckon you will find they are very "ripe" also...