To be appalled by the latest execution in the US.

We have a very good justice system WonderfulLife. Are you able to point to a better one? I wouldn’t vote to reintroduce capital punishment because if a miscarriage of justice occurred then you couldn’t bring back the executed convict. Would you really vote to bring back capital punishment ‘because we don’t have a decent justice system and the country has gone to hell in a hand cart’? What strange reasons. I hope you don’t get to vote on the matter if that’s your logic.

Timothy Evans

Derek Bentley

Mahmood Hussein Mattan

Innocent

Ruth Ellis guilty but !

I agree with others, I would not like to see the re introduction of the death penalty as the innocent cannot be bought back to life.
I do though sometimes find myself saying that some crimes are so bad and heinous that I think they should die, but that is vengeance not punishment and I know it is wrong.

Wonderfullife you want vengeance not justice and that is wrong too.

I do agree with the death penalty but I could never vote for it all the while we have corrupt/ incompetent police officers.

Just one person wrongly executed is enough to say the death penalty should never, ever be resorted to. There have been several of these dreadful mistakes. Enough said.

No we do not have a good justice system. Paedophiles are set free to live where they have carried out their disgusting habits. Thieves get a slap on their hands and get told to be good boys and girls. There are not enough prisons to house all these law breakers so they are let go to commit other crimes. If a murderer was executed then he cannot do it again. All child abusers should face the death penalty and before that put them in the stocks in the middle of the city with a card around their neck stating child rapist and watch everyone in that city take their revenge out on him. This is what we need to ensure criminals are afraid of being caught and put in cosy little cells where they can play snooker, watch TV etc. etc. We used to have the Cat o nine tails, bring that back as well.

I am not afraid to say that I hope all rapists and murderers in prisons die a slow, painful death. If it had happened to your children I wonder what you would feel like.

Yes I do want vengeance because that would be justice to me.

Totally barbaric. He had been in prison for more than 30 years, plus they had already tried to execute him. Not punishment enough?

We have DNA now there is no need for a wrong person to be put in prison or executed. You are talking about the past when there wasn't DNA but that is how they are catching murderers of the past now.

No, he deserved what he got.

But even if you call it vengeance, it is really justice, because they would get what they deserve, they killed someone so they should be killed. The bible says, An Eye for an Eye.

All of those are many years ago, you are going back before DNA, there is no reason now why they would convict the wrong person.

I will speak to more about the death penalty but as far as I am concerned, if more murderers, rapists, child abusers were executed then these criminals would think twice about what they are doing. Sex trafficking has increased, child abuse has increased, murder has increased. There are not enough prisons to put them in. Life is no longer life they get parole and do it all again. These criminals are unafraid of prison.

Aveline

Capital punishment apart, it seems odd that a more straightforward method couldn't be found. How is it possible for animals to be put down with a simple injection? I gather the necessary chemicals are hard to source but that seems ridiculous in this day and age.
What a mess!

My beautiful dog Ruby was put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. She had an anaesthetic injection followed by the lethal dose once she was asleep. She did not suffer at all.

I don't see why the same system cannot be used in America for executions. My DH has a theory that the Americans (those who support capital punishment) want to see/know that the murderer has suffered.

What are you talking about. They have just released a man for wrongful conviction for a crime that took place in 2003.

Why do people persist in talking about deterrents. We all know that in previous centuries people were hanged (often children) for poaching. If they weren't hanged they were sent to the penal colonies in Australia. Deterrents don't work because no one thinks that they will be caught. Either that or the perpetrators are mentally ill.

WonderfulLife

No we do not have a good justice system. Paedophiles are set free to live where they have carried out their disgusting habits. Thieves get a slap on their hands and get told to be good boys and girls. There are not enough prisons to house all these law breakers so they are let go to commit other crimes. If a murderer was executed then he cannot do it again. All child abusers should face the death penalty and before that put them in the stocks in the middle of the city with a card around their neck stating child rapist and watch everyone in that city take their revenge out on him. This is what we need to ensure criminals are afraid of being caught and put in cosy little cells where they can play snooker, watch TV etc. etc. We used to have the Cat o nine tails, bring that back as well.

I am not afraid to say that I hope all rapists and murderers in prisons die a slow, painful death. If it had happened to your children I wonder what you would feel like.

There are some countries which would deliver what you want. Do you seriously want to see the UK join them? Of course if you are a woman you will be subjugated and have few if any rights.

WonderfulLife

We have DNA now there is no need for a wrong person to be put in prison or executed. You are talking about the past when there wasn't DNA but that is how they are catching murderers of the past now.

Remember the recent case of the innocent man who had been in prison for many years because DNA evidence had been withheld? Of course he would have been long dead by the time the truth came to light if your system had been in place.

It's probably the same case GSM, it was a rape conviction.

Yes, I was typing when your post came up so hadn’t seen it.

If Life imprisonment actually meant life, this debate wouldn't even arise. Not a holiday camp type Life either.

WonderfulLife

We have DNA now there is no need for a wrong person to be put in prison or executed. You are talking about the past when there wasn't DNA but that is how they are catching murderers of the past now.

Tell that to all the postmasters who were wrongfully convicted! I know it's not murder - but wrongful convictions can and still do happen, DNA notwithstanding. Don't get me wrong, if one of my loved ones was murdered, then yes, I would want vengeance - and I would want the person responsible for their death to suffer, but that is an understandable reaction and not the kind of justice we have come to expect from a supposedly civilised society.

Yes thats true the post office cases are even later than the case myself and GSM mentioned

if more murderers, rapists, child abusers were executed then these criminals would think twice about what they are doing

And yet, the murder rate (by all metrics including per head of population) is higher in states with the death penalty than in those without it. My source is the FBI, who collect and publish this info annually.

The argument against executing rapists/abusers (of any age victim) in states which have the death penalty is that it incentivises murder - no point leaving a victim who could potentially identify you alive, when you won’t receive a worse punishment if you kill them.

The death penalty is barbaric, it does nothing to help the victim, and it doesn’t act as a deterrent (Alabama, where the case this thread is about) has consistently has one of the highest murder rates in the US).