Should Capital Punishment be brought back in the UK?

Question

If i was in charge i would bring it back for murderers, rapists, Pedophiles, and conservatives.

Answer 1

No

Answer 2

No, taking someone's life would need a perfect Justice System, which no country has.

Also you would have to think of the Jury. Would some Jurors acquit, irrespective of guilt, if they thought that they were sending people to their death?

If you were in charge, we would have to leave the EU to reinstate the Death Penalty. Wait a minute....

Answer 3

Yes it should as it would save the UK taxpayer a fortune.

Answer 4

Only if the evidence is 100% bang on. IE some scum bag kills someone in front of a bunch of witnesses.

Or if your name is Gary Glitter.

Answer 5

I think that people in the UK should first look at the death penalty system in action in the US, where homicide rates are higher, and where the risks of executing innocent people continue.

129 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA, available in less than 10% of all homicides, can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people. If a person is convicted and later found innocent you can release him from prison, but not from the grave.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reliable study shows the death penalty deters others. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in those that don’t.

Life without parole, on the books in 48 states, also prevents reoffending. It means what it says, and spending 23 of 24 hours a day locked in a tiny cell is not a picnic. Life without parole costs less than the death penalty.

The death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison, mostly because of the upfront costs of legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people. (upfront=before and during the initial trial)

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. Murder victim family members have testified that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Problems with speeding up the process. Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. Speed up the process and we will execute innocent people.

Sources:

Death Penalty Information Center, www.deathpenaltyinfo.org,  for stats on executions, reports on costs, deterrence studies, links to FBI crime stats and links to testimony (at state legislatures) of victims' family members.

FBI   http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/data/tab...  

The Innocence Project, www.innocenceproject.org

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/COcostte... page 3 and 4 on why the death penalty is so expensive

http://www.njadp.org/forms/signon-surviv... for statements of victims’ families

Answer 6

No how can a life for a life policy still be in place in our civilised society.

I say let those who have done something that awful rot in our jails that we may pay for but hey y should we let them have the easy way out of death, let them work for us and build our roads and do all of the horrible jobs and make our prison sentences longer.

With no like TVS or luxuries at all in prisons, they should be prisons not hotels.

x*x

Answer 7

Swap conservatives for Labour supporters, and I'm with you.

Answer 8

for all major crimes yes might deter some of them  

Answer 9

Yes!

Answer 10

No, its not the sign of a civilised society.

plus, what if someone is wrongfully convicted, only to be proved innocent later - it'll be too late by then.  

Answer 11

Except for the last lot, yes

Answer 12

only for murderers and also i think pistols should be given to the police aswell the uk police and just push overs at the moment.

Answer 13

PLEASE READ IT ALL , now lets see if you new that if you parked your car on a double yellow line even if it was for a minute ,your car would be instantly clamped and taken away and crushed for scrap with no appeals to lodge would you still park there, no you would not.

The death penalty should act as a deterrent and would in most cases cut the crime rate, but lets look at the law more closely , i get drunk get in my car and kill you wife/son/daughter   ,get a good lawyer and poss 12months in prison. great. but if i get a gun and shoot them then its life (lol) oops i mean 10 years . . while we have a spineless judicial system in this country the Law abiding citizens  will get no justice as its about cost of sending the offender to prison . one suggestion would be to bring back hard labour camps for all offenders .12months of h**l would cut re- offending rates buy a possible 50% so reduce over crowding thus allowing judges to give real life sentences. .but unfortunately it will never happen as we have to many people worried about the offenders human rights. put the victim first ,any political party that puts this on its manifesto will get a land slide victory.  

Answer 14

If we could be sure we were 100% right in respect of every detail of every case and that categories of crime were not so broad as to be meaningless (e.g. Paedophile - anything from a child torturer to someone who has pictures of children that someone else regards as dubious) then there might be a case for considering it, provided it could be shown to be effective as a deterrent.  I do not believe all those criteria could ever be satisfied.

More useful might be to bring back non-terminal punishments that are inexpensive but not a soft option.  For crimes against the person, would public birching (caning) be an option that was acceptable to the voting public?  For crimes against property or society in general how about the stocks  - a historic punishment whereby the offender' head and arms were secured in a framework in a public place (without causing any pain or injury at all), where the criminal had to remain for a fixed period.  People used to throw rotten fruit at them though I think public humiliation would be enough to change their behaviour.

Out of interest, would you also ban English grammar and spelling if you were in charge?

Answer 15

there isn't an MP in this country with the guts of a butterfly. of course the death penalty should be brought back. that's why 'in the 1950s we had three murders a year. and now we have three a week. if there's no punishment what have they to fear. you kill some one in the UK and you can be out free before some one who fiddled a few hundred quid on their tax returns.

Answer 16

yes.. it seems a prison sentence is not enough for them.

have you heard Johnny Cash's song, San Quentin ?

"San Quentin, what good do you think you do?

Do you think I'll be different when you're through?"

and

"May your walls fall and may I live to tell.

May all the world forget you ever stood.

And may all the world regret you did no good"

Answer 17

It can't be brought back.

The European Union has banned it in all member states.

I think it should be brought back, but it was got rid off for good reason. It is not a deterrent and there is the risk that an innocent person may be executed.

I think that the death penalty should be used in cases like the Yorkshire Ripper to save the state a fortune.