Mamya - // Part of me actually wishes there could be a vote/referendum on this,as when it was over these debates would dry up (or would they?).
However how such a vote could be simply worded (without ifs, ands and buts I don't know). //
As I see it, the issue becomes clouded by emotions, and this and the many other debates on this site clearly illustrate that.
But if we start allowing emotions to dictate our legal processes, we step onto a very very slippery slope.
Who decides the level of grief, the injustice, the horror, and so on and so forth, in every murder case, bearing in mind that every single one is a unique set of circumstances.
That is why, in my view, laws have to be framed and enacted with emotion left outside the court, because that is the only way that true justice can be established and fulfilled.
It's by no means a perfect system, but it remains by a very long distance, the best we have to work with.