Capital Punishment / Execution

I sincerely hope we never have a referendum on the death penalty in the UK. I suspect I know what the outcome would be and I don’t want it.

In response to a particularly nasty killing public opinion could well vote for a return to the death penalty in a referendum. Wether or not you support it it would be a really bad move, because of the uncertainty of a innocent person executed.

The majority of death row inmates live in fear- They don't want to die- Which to me means that they had no idea what they were doing when they committed murder-

And I don't think the individuals who execute death row inmates know what they're doing either-

I think the "closest" anyone can come to "instinctively" knowing what they are doing when they take a life is when they've killed someone in order to save their own-

It's obvious to me that the majority of people who kill haven't a clue about what they did or will do-

So I don't support the death penalty- At all-

I'm in agreement with the death penalty, but I agree that hanging is barbaric. However, I don't agree that the taxpayers should have to pay thousands to keep the vile evil human beings alive. Perhaps a lethal injection would be quicker and less barbaric? Morphine perhaps? People like Fred West for instance, although as an earlier Gran said, he hanged himself anyway.

I disagree with the death penalty. It's probably the case that there are some people who are so dangerous that they should never be allowed to re-join society.

However, I see these people as either mentally ill or emotionally damaged to such an extent that they are, in effect, psychopathic. I do not believe that they should be given hard labour or live in terrible conditions - just that they be held in a safe and secure place - and perhaps be given something useful to do within that environment.

I'm very much in favour of capital punishment. I bet the majority on here, who are anti the death penalty, are those who are pro abortion. It seems it's okay for murderers or terrorists to live, but not inconvenient babies.

No murder is right and state murder is no different
All murder is WRONG ......two wrongs don’t make a right ever

Yes rosecarmel what’s your view

If it’s not a deterrent, which I don’t believe it is, then what are we left with as a reason for capital punishment? Revenge?

I’ve only just found this thread, and I came straight to the end to add a comment. I loathe the very idea of state sanctioned murder, meaning the death penalty. I cannot even begin to describe my abhorrence of this. It’s wrong, just wrong.
For the worse of murderers I feel they should never be released as they remain a danger to society. Too many are released who go on to kill again. But for the state to take another person’s life, who do they think they are? God?

I don't support the death penalty, and never have.

I think it brutalises everyone involved, from prison staff to the people making the implements of execution. Imagine going to work knowing that you are going to make gas to kill someone, or rope to hang them, or to measure someone up for a gallows or electric chair - it's horrible, and gives far too much power to the state.

There is also the risk of getting it wrong, as discussed.

I don't think that any threat of punishment would stop the likes of Brady and Hindley. They are insane/evil/ill depending on your point of view, and no deterrent would work.

Rosecarmel' you posed the question and it seems most posters do not believe in it. What is your view?

I am debating in my own mind about federal executions in U.S.A. I have never liked the thought of the electric chair and also the executions done using pentobarbital sound barbaric.
How barbaric it seems for people to die in the electric chair and people even used to watch it.
We used to use hanging in the U.K. so supposedly other countries seen us as barbaric also.

I dont believe the death sentence is a deterrent at all, the murder rate in the US proves that.

Many countries have the death sentence ( maybe most) and there are evil people who deserve to die. It is no concern of ours what other countries do, the US has been mentioned, also China is another, many other developing countries as well.

However the prospect of the U.K. returning to the death penalty is non existent, unless that is a foolish government holds a referendum on the death sentence.

I think executing those whose guilt is definite is too easy for them. Much easier than the death of their victims. I think a lifetime of hard labour is more of a punishment.
Anniebach it doesn't bear thinking about - an innocent person executed. I feel so sorry for their families.

The execution has been delayed again, along with three others due by end of August. Appeal over the use of pentobarbital, said to cause extreme pain.

I have never supported and could never support the death penalty.

I agree Starblaze prisons should never be run privately,

It certainly deters reoffenders, if they're caught.

I've never thought that the death penalty is a deterrent, or that it was ever supposed to be.

TBH I'm undecided; there are some cases where I think it's appropriate but not always.

Life should mean life though.

I dont agree with the death penalty, that has to be on someone's conscience and I don't understand how being capable of awarding a death penalty makes a person good. Then I don't understand wars or anyone having weapons designed to take a life.

I thought for a while that those with life long prison sentences should be offered a painless means to take their own lives but then, someone has to hand them the means to do it.

I think there should be a way for people to pay their own upkeep in prison but I don't know how that would be accomplished.

I think prisons hould never be run privately

I think a lot of things and I just don't know

Life should mean exactly that. They die in prison, but execution? No, that makes us as bad as them.

No, I could never support capital punishment. If it was a deterrent, there’d never be any murders committed.

boodymum67, you asked if I have personal experience that leads me to conclude that watching the murderer of a loved one executed won't bring "closure". No I don't have that experience.
I am aware of the research though, that confirms that the levels of psychological trauma felt in the loved ones of a murder victim, don't disappear when the pulse of the murderer stops. In fact, to watch the state approved killing of another human being is, imo, unlikely to help psychological healing.

I don’t support the death penalty. I know there are some whose crimes are so evil that it would seem kinder sometimes to “put them down” much as you would an animal but we’re human beings. Having said that, some are kept in solitary confinement and treated in an inhumane manner for the rest of their lives and would prefer to be dead.

I would support the death sentence.