UK Death Penalty - would you like it returned?

No. There's no place for the death penalty in a civilised country.

grandMattie

GrannyGravy13

In some really dreadful indisputable cases my heart says yes.

Fortunately my head quickly takes over, no I wouldn’t like to see the death penalty here in the UK.

Hear, hear.
But if, IF, it is brought back, could we have something better than the hideous electric chair or “fatal” injection…. Also, who will do the execution?

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think the electric chair or lethal injection have ever been used in judicial execution in the UK.

The preferred method was hanging for the past couple of centuries I think.

There used to be specially appointed hangmen. The previously mentioned Albert Pierrepoint was famously one of the last ones. It was estimated that he hanged as many as 600 people which means that he killed more people than even the most conscientious serial killer could dream of.

I think they would be inundated with applicants if judicial execution were to re-introduced.

Ladyleftfieldlover

Hasn’t Huntley been beaten up quite badly in prison?

I certainly hope so…

Kandinsky

Yes I would.
It would save millions & sort out the over crowding situation.
We have CCTV, DNA, ANPR, all kinds of things that weren’t available years ago.

Rose west.
Ian Huntley.
Levi Belfield, off the top of my head….. are costing millions to keep in prison for life.

I agree, providing there is clear evidence such as the ones you mention.
Lucy Letby would not have received the death penalty under this proviso as there was no real scientific evidence, it was mainly circumstantial.

henetha

No. There's no place for the death penalty in a civilised country.

There should be no place for child torturers and murderers either, but there is..🤨

Surely it’s very wrong to respond to violence and evil with more violence, i.e.the death penalty?

I can think of a few evil people that deserve the death penalty, realistically it’s not going to happen, so no point debating it further

I'm totally against the death penalty. And then I think about war crimes...

Whilst I believe in evil and would like to see it eradicated, I would need to know that the person is totally responsible and a threat to others. Too many cockups in the legal system for my liking. So all who have been found guilty are actually guilty ? i doubt it . The Birmingham six comes to mind.
so no for me

No from me

No.
War crimes & the adults who abuse, torture & kill their children & step-children absolutely deserve it.
But still - lock them up very securely for life but don't kill them.

rafichagran

I found your post about this lady very interesting Maybee70 Thankyou.

Thanks. He only mentioned her in passing one day but thankfully I made a note of her name, otherwise I would have forgotten all about her. I do think she should be better remembered. Reminds me a bit of Barbara Cartland being a great champion of Romany people but not really being remembered for it. He came from a typical East End working class family. I wish I’d asked him more about her.

Not in favour of the death penalty but I do believe in making prison a proper punishment. So no TV, books, luxuries etc but bring back the treadmills and have prisoners walking the treadmills to generate electricity to pay to keep them while in prison and feed them three meals a day.
Prison is meant to be about retribution, rehabilitation and deterrence so the boredom of walking on a treadmill will hopefully make them think about how they can reform themselves to avoid ever going to mind numbingly boring prison again in future.

I've always felt that execution brought us down to the same level as the murderer. Perhaps this doesn't matter if you are thinking about crime prevention. Alfred Pierrepoint always made the hanging as humane as he could, and in the end decided it was wrong. I wonder what sort of hangings we'd get from some of the people who are so keen to do it. There's always a big demand for the death penalty after a terrorist killing but it would hardly be a deterrent. So many of them are suicide bombers anyway, or happy to become a martyr to the cause.

I really don't think I could support the return of the death penalty then I read of a nasty case and think they deserve to forfeit their life. As I recall from my childhood I thought the repeal of the death penalty was to be accompanied by a life sentence that would mean life ie you will die in prison. That ship sailed long ago. What I do find an anomaly is that we will terminate a pregnancy ie kill the 'foetus' in some cases when in others we would fight to preserve the life of a 'baby' of exactly the same gestation. I'm pro choice but logically, and probably ethically I shouldn't be. Why is one potential life worth more than another? Should how much another wants you to live or die really be the deciding factor?

Prisons are awful places, and don’t need to be made even more de-humanising. They also only operate if the prisoners co-operate with the prison staff. There aren’t enough officers to maintain order if problems occur, as we saw with the riots at HMP Manchester.

You mention rehabilitation as one aim of imprisonment. That is more likely in humane prison environments. For example where prisoners are allowed to leave the prison to go to work. Remarkably escapes rarely occur.

The recidivism rate in Norway, which has a prison service based on the concept of rehabilitation, is 20%.
The recidivism rate in Britain is 44%.

Shinamae

henetha

No. There's no place for the death penalty in a civilised country.

There should be no place for child torturers and murderers either, but there is..🤨

Child torturers and murderers exist outside the accepted norms of civilised society. They are not seen as a normal and acceptable part of well functioning society and they are punished not applauded.

Only in Utopia or Cloud Cuckoo Land would you find a society free from evil.

Anniebach

No, innocent people were hanged

True enough.

I've slowly and reluctantly come round to thinking maybe capital punishment could make a comeback, BUT it can never, ever be brought back because of the possibility of an innocent person being executed.

I'd have to sit on the fence on this one, because I'm a coward.

No. Far too many mistakes led to innocent people being hanged.

No.

I want it brought back for ALL animal abusers/killers, and ALL rapists of females, totally irrelevant of age, gender, social status, excuses etc. Those sort should be killed forthwith, very slowly and painfully so they can never hurt or kill another animal or female again.

You know what? I think it should be brought back. With the proviso that the family of the victim should choose as to whether they want it to happen in their particular case.

Iam64

Prisons are awful places, and don’t need to be made even more de-humanising. They also only operate if the prisoners co-operate with the prison staff. There aren’t enough officers to maintain order if problems occur, as we saw with the riots at HMP Manchester.

You mention rehabilitation as one aim of imprisonment. That is more likely in humane prison environments. For example where prisoners are allowed to leave the prison to go to work. Remarkably escapes rarely occur.

I agree. The entire point of prison is deprivation of liberty, if you look at the Scandinavian model of prison, it’s far more humane than ours yet their repeat offenders are are much lower than ours.

Some prisons in other countries are horrific and it doesn’t seem to work as a deterrent.

In this country a prisoner normally starts with a fairly empty cell, no tv etc. and has to “earn” those privileges.

I once visited Chelmsford prison, I went into a cell with a prisoner and pushed the door to almost shut, it was awful. I also visited Bullwood Hall, many many years ago, which was a high security prison for girls aged 16-25, though some were younger, all committing violent crimes, this was indeed a scary awful place which was subsequently shutdown, though it had extensive, quite beautiful grounds which some girls were allowed to work, growing flowers and vegetables.

Cabowich

You know what? I think it should be brought back. With the proviso that the family of the victim should choose as to whether they want it to happen in their particular case.

At the moment, not faced with the issue, I like to think I would NOT choose to take another persons life.

However, I think it’s the worst idea ever to allow grieving, devastated families to make that kind of decision.