Capital Punishment

[screwy]

With the tragic Murders of a Policeman and a Gentleman in the N East,is it time to bring back the Death Penalty.? It is quite obvious that Society is broken,taking a life seems so commonplace now there really is no other deterrent.Life Imprisonment is a price worth paying for some criminals. I have locked up many Lifers most of whom I would gladly have seen them take the drop.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I disagree with capital punishment because our justice system isn't perfect and we've executed innocent people in the past. However life imprisonment should mean exactly that. No chance of coming out ever. And it should be in a specific prison for lifers with a very strict and tough regime. No satellite telly etc. No video games. Very limited visiting and no phone calls.

[Stephen]

I disagree Merv. Phorensic science and evidence is so acurate these days that i see no reason why capital punishment cannot be reintroduced.

As screwy says, taking a life is pretty much the norm in society these days with little deterant. This is just my personal view.

[screwy]

The last person to hang where there may have been doubt was in 63.? Hanratty.It was proven through DNA that he was Guilty.I agree with Stephen, the chances of getting it wrong are now limited.Yes there should be life without release.At one Prison I worked at Management decided there should be ‘Lifer’ days, Families would come in,cameras were allowed,against all rules,Barbacues and even children’s entertainment.?? I was a lifer officer and had to deal with them daily,it turned my stomach although it was part of the job,I don’t miss it one bit.Prison is a joke and I served 26 yrs.

[anniec]

I disagree with capital punishment because our justice system isn't perfect and we've executed innocent people in the past. However life imprisonment should mean exactly that. No chance of coming out ever. And it should be in a specific prison for lifers with a very strict and tough regime. No satellite telly etc. No video games. Very limited visiting and no phone calls.

Hear hear, well said. My views exactly.

[Manoverboard]

Sending someone to prison who kills a Policeman is a better idea that hanging him or her as they will have a lifetime to reflect and to suffer the slings and arrows served up while in custody … but life should mean exactly that without any chance of parole or early release.

[Dancing Queen]

I'm with Screwy and Stephen on this one there is no deterrent these days prisons are more like 5* hotels than a place of punishment I'd just string the ******** up and be done with it !!

[CaroleF]

I agree with Merv. A punishment should be for life, not taking a life. If someone is responsible in an attack for the victim losing the sight of an eye, should the attacker also lose the sight of one of his eyes? However miniscule the possibility that someone may be innocent, it is, in my opinion still too much of a risk of executing someone who is innocent. I am fully in favour of the attacker, or murderer spending their whole life in prison and without any of the tvs etc.

[Dancing Queen]

I wonder how many people would agree with capital punishment if their lives had actually been affected, if their parent had been brutally murdered by some lowlife for a few £'s or if their child had been abducted and murdered or their teenager stabbed simply because they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time or because someone didn't like the colour of their skin, what about mass murder such as Manchester Arena so many innocent people murdered, it's very easy to say it is punishment enough to be locked up for life until some do-gooder comes along and decides that person deserves parole, maybe an eye for an eye isn't the answer but if there was a deterrent we might not hear of people being murdered on such a regular basis and less lives being ruined as a result.

I met a lovely man on a cruise last year whose partner had been murdered in a 'burglary gone wrong' it was quite a high profile investigation in Hampshire in 2017, it would take a lot to convince me that these evil men didn't burgle this persons house prepared to murder them otherwise why would they go in armed with a sawn off shotgun - they were convicted but will no doubt be 'out' in 15 years and still able to carry on with their lives, sadly the man left behind will never come to terms with it, I'm afraid if it was me in that position I would want an 'eye for an eye'.

Just my view and opinion and others are entitled to theirs.

[Manoverboard]

Does your ' eye for an eye ', DQ, mean that when somebody crashes into your car using a stolen vehicle that you then steal a car and crash into theirs ?

Question is should we be seeking punishment to deal with the perpetrators of crime or exacting revenge ?

[towny44]

On a lighter note I wondered if Capital punishment was what you suffered if you lived in London.

[Dancing Queen]

Does your ' eye for an eye ', DQ, mean that when somebody crashes into your car using a stolen vehicle that you then steal a car and crash into theirs ?

Question is should we be seeking punishment to deal with the perpetrators of crime or exacting revenge ?

I think you're splitting hairs there Moby and you know that isn't what I meant although an interesting question if someone should crash into a car whilst driving a stolen car and kill the driver it doesn't make them any less of a killer which is why we need the legal system to decide is it murder or manslaughter - I guess it would depend if it was premeditated which would probably be unlikely.

In answer to your question yes we should be seeking punishment which is relevant to the crime and if that means the death penalty then so be it, revenge achieves nothing it doesn't bring someone back but if the deterrent is there in the first place then the crime might never have happened.

[Manoverboard]

Does your ' eye for an eye ', DQ, mean that when somebody crashes into your car using a stolen vehicle that you then steal a car and crash into theirs ?

Question is should we be seeking punishment to deal with the perpetrators of crime or exacting revenge ?

I think you're splitting hairs there Moby and you know that isn't what I meant although an interesting question if someone should crash into a car whilst driving a stolen car and kill the driver it doesn't make them any less of a killer which is why we need the legal system to decide is it murder or manslaughter - I guess it would depend if it was premeditated which would probably be unlikely.

In answer to your question yes we should be seeking punishment which is relevant to the crime and if that means the death penalty then so be it, revenge achieves nothing it doesn't bring someone back but if the deterrent is there in the first place then the crime might never have happened.

For me there is a difference, as you correctly highlighted, regarding intention. Somebody could have a heart attack and kill somebody but for me there is not a charge to answer in spite of a very unfortunate death.

I also agree with you about deterrent but a drug crazed idiot will not be concerned about deterrent like wot we were

[oldbluefox]

Murder of a policeman in the execution of his duty, as in this case, should mean the death penalty. End of.

[screwy]

I have worked with Lifers who were on their 2nd Life sentence.! A victim wouldn’t have been a victim.!!

[david63]

I am in the eye for an eye school of thought but I have reservations when it comes to the death penalty.

Using the death penalty in some ways makes the rest of society no better than the murders, and we should be able to rise above that. Also there is the "might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb" approach to consider. If someone is going to murder someone and knows if they get caught then they have nothing to loose by murdering others.

Current levels of sentencing are certainly not sufficient but I do not know the answer. Is making a life sentence into full life in prison any more of a deterrent than hanging? The result is, effectively, the same.

What other options are there?

Deportation - but why should some other country have to contend with our murderers?
Hard labour - make them work 16 hours a day might work.
A tougher prison regime - more along the lines of military prisons.
Having to earn their keep whilst in prison instead of the taxpayer providing for them.

I don't know how I would feel if it was a family member that was murdered but there is a very fine line between punishment and revenge.

[Dancing Queen]

The young policeman Screwy referred to was only married a month ago - where is the justice there !!

[mavismumakrill]

I agree with David63. Hard labour for long days, no extras such as tv, phone, radio, games time, conjugal rights visits etc.... Prison should be made to be somewhere nobody would want to return to because of the hard conditions. Plus a sentence should mean a sentence and not half of it.

Only my opinion - Mavis x

[allatc]

Install exercise bikes in the prisons connected to dynamos. Prisoners have to peddle for 8 hours per day to generate the power to run the prison, maybe some left over for the national grid. Clean, green energy, fitter prisoners.

[anniec]

In answer to your question yes we should be seeking punishment which is relevant to the crime and if that means the death penalty then so be it, revenge achieves nothing it doesn't bring someone back but if the deterrent is there in the first place then the crime might never have happened.

Which doesn't seem to work terribly well in the US.

[Kendhni]

I always considered capital punishment to be a waste of perfectly good harvestable body parts

[screwy]

In answer to your question yes we should be seeking punishment which is relevant to the crime and if that means the death penalty then so be it, revenge achieves nothing it doesn't bring someone back but if the deterrent is there in the first place then the crime might never have happened.

Which doesn't seem to work terribly well in the US.

Maybe not but they don’t get to do it twice.!

[Kenmo1]

agree with David63. Hard labour for long days, no extras such as tv, phone, radio, games time, conjugal rights visits etc.... Prison should be made to be somewhere nobody would want to return to because of the hard conditions. Plus a sentence should mean a sentence and not half of it.

Only my opinion - Mavis x

Totally agree with Mavis on that.

Maureen

[screwy]

I really do have to laugh at some of the things being said ie,hard labour,no tv or phone etc.Do people not realise that most Prisons are run by Psychologists and not good old fashioned Governors who came up through the ranks, Carrot & Stick with less of the stick rules now I’m afraid,too many limp wristed liberals define the running of Prisons.Icould go on but if you have no experience of Prison other than Tv programs you really are in cloud cuckoo land, sorry, I don’t mean to be rude to anyone but Ido have 26 yrs experience of working with, Murderers,Rapists, Child molesters,Armed Robbers etc, Iwould happily work the Condemed Cell. Rant over.

[Manoverboard]

I'm not a wooly liberal by any ' stretch ' ( see what I did there ) of the imagination but it surely follows that there have to be perks and treats in return for good behaviour if only to avoid a weekly riot and the throwing of ' screwy ' off the upper landing.

I've been inside at Oxford and Kilmainham prisons … does that count ?