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Will this matter get a favourable debate?

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anotheoldgit | 10:35 Thu 04th Aug 2011 | News
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http://www.dailymail....te-death-penalty.html

Since the e-petition attracted 100,000 signatures there must be a large number of people in agreement on bringing back capital punishment.

Why is it that Right-Wing are the most interested for it to be re-introduced, but generally it is rejected by the Left-Wing?
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pa_ul, there is plenty on the web about the cost of execution in the US.

http://www.reprieve.o...ost_of_death_row_USA/
"One of the rare advantages to not being so is that occasionally those in charge do the morally right thing despite the majority opinion."

Quoted for truth. The seemingly emotive nature of support for the death penalty is in itself a good reason not to introduce it.

AOG:

"Why is it that Right-Wing are the most interested for it to be re-introduced, but generally it is rejected by the Left-Wing? "

As this thread will no doubt demonstrate, there's not one answer to the question - lots of arguments are put forward against it (as with arguments for it), and people will vary in which they find most persuasive.

Personally? I tend to waver a little on this issue, but I'm certainly against using it in any kind of 'mainstream' way if that makes sense - i.e. any regular, repeated or systematic way. The only kind of circumstance in which I'd possibly be persuaded to support it is in very rare cases like those of dangerous psychopaths, where there's no sign so far of any kind of possible 'cure' so far, and any solution other than containment just seems to make them more effective. John Douglas (the founder of the FBI's profiling unit) is very persuasive on this point - there are instances, as he demonstrates, where serial killers who are genuinely insane or psychopathic are simply beyond reform given the current state of our knowledge.

But even if that were introduced, it would have no meaningful impact in the way that most proponents of capital punishment hope for (i.e. no deterrent, not really much satisfaction or justice - just a situation where there doesn't seem much alternative).

That kind of capital punishment - the more widespread model designed to deter violent crime - I'm utterly unconvinced by. It's understanding of deterrence is simplistic and to me seems inaccurate and incomplete. It also ignores the unacceptably high rate of wrongful convictions (for instance even my limited system above would likely have killed Colin Stagg).
I am against capital punishment for the following reasons:

It makes the legal system and society barbaric.

Pardoning a wrongly convicted dead person is pointless.

There would be fewer convictions. The jury might find it very difficult to find somebody guilty if they knew the death sentence would be the result.

It may not be beneficial for the victim's family to kill the murderer and we can't have a legal system that allows the victims family to decide whether to kill or not.

Capital punishment is not a deterrent.

If a person is going to be put to death for the murder of one person, he or she may as well murder lots of people, including the officers that are trying to make the arrest.

I would look closely at the mental health of the executioners. Even Pierrepoint concluded that capital punishment is wrong.
@hc4361. Spot on.
Well as a right winger (albeit mid-right of centre) I am not in favour of the death penalty.

However, for the most heinous of crimes where there is no doubt (i.e, even beyond reasonable doubt) I do feel a life sentence should be just that, and the sentence should be served in tough conditions.

I struggle with the idea of the state being able to kill people as a punishment for their crimes.
@flip_flop. Yeah - I have no problem with 'life meaning life' for the bad crimes. In fact, that is practically already the case. A person who is considered still to be a danger (and in the case of the 'heinous crimes', that is generally the case) will not be let out. The idea that all lifers get out after a few years, as the Daily Heil would have people believe, is simply not true.
we still have the death penalty.
HC - cheers for the link and the very rational points you and others have made have swayed me. My first opinion probably was too emotionally motivated and I think I was wrong.
It could never be accepted when you also have the Human Rights legislation which gives more preference to the criminal than the victim.
"we still have the death penalty"
is it being shut in a room and being forced to listen to you talking about all the important people you know, and all the glamourous things you've done DT?
:) :) :)
@rov1100. That is not the case. Some of our courts have misunderstood the HR legislation. While the criminals may have certain rights, the rights of the victim should also be taken into account and normally be given priority. Sometimes our judges get it wrong but that is not the fault of the HR legislation, rather the training of judges falling short of the mark.
feck off
I firmly believe that prisoners should do labour, but not in any form that takes jobs from people.

Able bodied prisoners could generate electricity by pedalling stationary bikes, using rowing machines, treadmills, as an example.
sorry DT couldn't resist. It wasn't really meant with malice and was very unworthy of me :(
How about a huge "hamster" wheel, hc?
apology accepted and the feck off withdrawn, bedtops......
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conewood

/// The idea that all lifers get out after a few years, as the Daily Heil would have people believe, is simply not true.///

What like that monster Tracie Andrews who stabbed her 25-year-old fiancé Lee Harvey up to 40 times then claimed he had been killed by a vengeful motorist?

She is being released after only 14 years behind bars, at only 41years old, she will be free to carry on with the rest of her life, unlike her fiancée who's life she ended after only 25 years.
Is there not a hanging thingy (Gallows ?) in Nottingham ? They could just it down and start again - public hangings and charge the strange people who actually want to watch.

I think that the issue is much more complicated than it sounds - Death Penalty YES or NO.

Most of the potential problems have already been brought up on this thread. I don't understand the need to reinstate the death penalty when the sentencing system seems unbalanced and unfair.

People are given sentences of only a couple of years for murder or rape. Other people seem to be given similar sentences for damaging property - that, to me, is crazy.

We should consider the policy of 3 strikes and then you are out as practised in the US.
@anotheoldgit. I did say 'all'! On what ground was she released? I accept not being comfortable with a murderer being released but I would like to know what the circumstances of the release were.
Isn't there still (theoretically) the death sentence for treason? Not that we would hear about it - it would probably be done very secretly.

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