Should Capital Punishment be reintroduced back into the UK for Murder & Terrorism?

[M4ttTf]

"Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a government sanctioned practice whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime."

Capital Punishment has always been a topic of debate and discussion since the near end of WWII and after. The trend for abolishment of the Death Penalty has been around ever since, and currently 103 countries have completely abolished Capital Punishment, a further 6 countries abolished it for all but exceptional circumstances, and 50 or more have abolished it in practice.

Now hanging around is the question about whether Capital Punishment should be reintroduced back into the United
Kingdom for the crimes often seen as Capital Crimes, such as murder, terrorism, torture and rape.

Although this debate may not suit current topical discussion within the real world at this current time, many people have opposing views towards for and against Capital Punishment, and I want to hear about them!

[FlyingJesus]

Considering the number of times people are falsely accused, sentenced, and punished for all sorts of crimes including "capital" ones I can't see it being useful or viable to reintroduce this. There's a long history of wrongful execution around the world and supposedly 4% of all executions in America are performed on people who are/were completely innocent, with that number likely to be a lot higher since the vast majority of cases are closed after the execution

[M4ttTf]

Considering the number of times people are falsely accused, sentenced, and punished for all sorts of crimes including "capital" ones I can't see it being useful or viable to reintroduce this. There's a long history of wrongful execution around the world and supposedly 4% of all executions in America are performed on people who are/were completely innocent, with that number likely to be a lot higher since the vast majority of cases are closed after the execution

In multiple states of America, the lethal injection is given to those sentenced to execution. Those who are sentenced get put on Death Row - usually for a prolonged period of time - to wait their execution. There has not been an innocent person falsely executed in a long while to the best of my knowledge. The time that these criminals are given to spend on Death Row surely gives Courts and officials further time to validate the accusations made.

For Murder, my argument is if somebody is willing to end another person's right to live, surely that forfeits their own right to live also?

[The Don]

In multiple states of America, the lethal injection is given to those sentenced to execution. Those who are sentenced get put on Death Row - usually for a prolonged period of time - to wait their execution. There has not been an innocent person falsely executed in a long while to the best of my knowledge. The time that these criminals are given to spend on Death Row surely gives Courts and officials further time to validate the accusations made.


The fact is innocent people have been executed under the death penalty, those people would have been freed had they been imprisoned, instead they were wrongly executed which is simply unjustifiable.


For Murder, my argument is if somebody is willing to end another person's right to live, surely that forfeits their own right to live also?

Modern law is based on the idea of justice, your argument is one based on retribution. There are certain parts of the world which practice retribution based laws, I know which society i'd rather live in.

[FlyingJesus]

A recent case that springs to mind for me is that of the West Memphis Three convicted of murder in 1994 and only released in 2011 after battling for retrials and all sorts ever since their arrests. They were mainly convicted based on a coerced statement (that didn't even match with facts the police knew at the time) from one of the three whose IQ was 72 and whose multiple confessions didn't even match up with each other, and another statement from a woman who later recanted everything and claimed that the police had threatened her and her family if she didn't testify using their words. One of the 3 was put on death row and would now be dead if they hadn't managed to get enough media attention to force Arkansas State to actually go through the trial properly rather than just imprisoning them for being goths in a church neighbourhood as was basically the case. These same courts who were apparently so certain of their guilt decided that it wouldn't be right to accept the overwhelming amounts of new evidence to the contrary and conveniently "lost" a huge amount of the original tapes and tissue samples.

The only reason they eventually got out was because they finally accepted a plea where they technically were counted as guilty but were allowed to maintain their innocence outside of court - this means that not only do the courts and local police department clearly know that they were wrong all these years, but are so beyond admitting it that they're simply closing the case and the murdered children will never actually get justice.

Not only does the death penalty give an obvious finality to someone's life, but also to cases that like the above are clearly not actually solved. It's unjust to the innocent people imprisoned for years and then killed, and it's unjust to the victims and society as a whole when the real criminals are able to get away free because the execution is deemed to have fixed everything

[Lewis]

Yes we should - or peferably at the very least they should rot in prison until they die of old age/disease/whatever, not let out after less than 10 years to kill again...

And for those who are saying what about the innocent people... well that depends on how you view it yourself. Personally, if I was in prison for a murder I did not commit, I'd rather be executed than spend the rest of my days in hell at prison. Although you could be found innocent down the line, would I really want to wait 30 odd years (well in a mystical UK where all murderers got min. 30 years)? Not really.

Wouldn't even want to spend 5 years in prison for a crime I didn't do tbh, just execute me lol

[FlyingJesus]

Let's just kill everyone then no-one can commit a crime right

[The Don]

Yes we should - or peferably at the very least they should rot in prison until they die of old age/disease/whatever, not let out after less than 10 years to kill again...

And for those who are saying what about the innocent people... well that depends on how you view it yourself. Personally, if I was in prison for a murder I did not commit, I'd rather be executed than spend the rest of my days in hell at prison. Although you could be found innocent down the line, would I really want to wait 30 odd years (well in a mystical UK where all murderers got min. 30 years)? Not really.

Wouldn't even want to spend 5 years in prison for a crime I didn't do tbh, just execute me lol

Yes I would rather be in prison with the possibility of my innocence being found rather than straight up being killed. Why do you think those on death row always appeal to try and get life sentences instead? Because dying is the worst possible outcome.

[Lewis]

Yes I would rather be in prison with the possibility of my innocence being found rather than straight up being killed. Why do you think those on death row always appeal to try and get life sentences instead? Because dying is the worst possible outcome.

Wasn't questioning other people's opinions, that's why I said it depends on how you view it yourself. I understand the majority of people wouldn't want to be executed if they were innocent. I was simply saying that if I was in a scenario like that, I personally wouldn't want to suffer years and years locked away in a prison as an innocent person - I'd rather be executed.

Also as I said, preferably I'd just want tougher sentences - ones where murderers really do get life sentences where they're locked away for the rest of their lives, not the 'life sentence' average of 15 years or whatever it actually is in the UK (I don't know?). I certainly wouldn't oppose the death penalty though if it was brought back, nor would I oppose getting rid of the death penalty assuming they're just locked up for the rest of their lives instead.

I'm more of a neutral about this.

Although, coming from a perspective where someone I loved was murdered, I would certainly want them dead. No questions about that.

[-:Undertaker:-]

I would absolutely bring back the death penalty.

What's most interesting about this is that back in the 1960s when it was abolished we were promised that life would mean life and there would be no possibility of releasing any murderers out onto our streets. Another huge lie from our soft headed politicians who don't have to live amongst the problems the rest of us face in high crime neighbourhoods. The truth is, they care more about the rights of the criminals than they do the rights of the victims and their families. Well there's one way, based on - justice - what our criminal system used to be based upon rather than the lie that is rehabilitation today, to solve this: the death penalty. No more releases for murderers and no more taunting of victim's families by convicted murderers.

I'd apply/volunteer as executioner myself if I am perfectly honest so there would be a good employment opportunity for me from restoring it. :P

[Jim10767]

Yes, at the end of the day certain people don;t deserve to be alive, if they kill people for the hell of it then why don't we kill them, therefore no more killings from them, 1 kill = 1 kill whereas 0 Kills = 1 Murder Rampage 50 deaths. You may say different but at the end of the day we need a safe place for the younger generation where they won't get blown up. :):)

[FlyingJesus]

What

[Empired]

What
People don't deserve to be alive didn't you hear him?? I absolutely agree I think everyone on the planet should be considered guilty until proven innocent and killed immediately.

:/

[M4ttTf]

I understand where he is coming from. I don't think he meant it in an evil manner as such, but I get what he means by certain people shouldn't be given that right to live. Whether it is murderers or child torturers, paedophiles and sicko's who sexually abuse little children. Surely that shouldn't just be considered as 'oh okay I'll lock him up'. Especially due to the amount of pain and suffering they have caused someone. Even more so if children are involved. It's been said before. Prison isn't always successful. In fact it may give repeat offenders more time to think about what to do next etc.

[FlyingJesus]

Execution isn't always successful, and it's also irreparable and irreversible

[M4ttTf]

Surely child abuse, rape, domestic violence, murder etc isn't something to be taken lightly. Personally for some of those examples, I do believe execution is the only way forward. I hope I don't look like someone who wants people killed now :( because I'm really not. My point is that some crimes are so horrific (Take the James Bulger crime for example..) that the criminals performing the acts shouldn't be given time to "rehabilitate" - just give them what they deserve and show them how it felt for the people they mistreated, abused and made suffer.

[Empired]

Surely child abuse, rape, domestic violence, murder etc isn't something to be taken lightly. Personally for some of those examples, I do believe execution is the only way forward. I hope I don't look like someone who wants people killed now :( because I'm really not. My point is that some crimes are so horrific (Take the James Bulger crime for example..) that the criminals performing the acts shouldn't be given time to "rehabilitate" - just give them what they deserve and show them how it felt for the people they mistreated, abused and made suffer.
Ok except I would consider that to be revenge rather than justice. That's people acting on their first emotions (anger/disgust/whatever) instead of thinking it through. I really do think everybody deserves to be treated with kindness, and just because somebody else did something bad doesn't mean they lose that right.

I do remember seeing once ages and ages ago (maybe it was even a fictional film lol I just don't remember) this thing where a mother whose son had been murdered said execution was wrong because all that does it mean that another woman is losing her son. Saying that, I do think prison sentences need to be harsher and life should mean life instead of just 30 years or whatever.

[FlyingJesus]

It's not about taking the crimes lightly, it's about how if you get the wrong person and execute them there's no way to bring them back plus they'll almost never get their name cleared since judges close the case after sentencing, and a dead person can't appeal

[Lucy]

It's not about taking the crimes lightly, it's about how if you get the wrong person and execute them there's no way to bring them back plus they'll almost never get their name cleared since judges close the case after sentencing, and a dead person can't appeal

I have to ask how any times does an appeal or something need to be rejected before its actually accepted that the person at fault is guilty? It seems the attitude is that a person is never guilty because they will constantly appeal.

[FlyingJesus]

Rejecting an appeal isn't proof of guilt, it's just proof that the courts don't want to reopen the case. Accepting the appeal and then still finding the person guilty after new evidence (which is what most murder appeals are based on) and a fresh jury is a far stronger conviction which can then be used as a real basis for rejecting future appeals. In either case, killing the first person you find who fits the bill only ensures that that person is dead and can't defend themselves at any point no matter what new evidence comes to light

[Thordenhime]

The death penalty costs an absolute shit ton to manage and prison is meant to be about rehabillition aswell as punishment so if you want to be considered a fair and civillized society you shouldnt have the death penalty imo.