Capital Punishment.

[Theland]

If a referendum was held on whether or not to reintroduce the death penalty, how would you vote?
What moral basis would dictate your choice?

[emmie]

they will never bring back the death penalty,

[pixie374]

Naomi :-)

[chanel5]

I would vote No to the death penalty on several grounds:
1. Punishing one crime (murder) with a similar crime (murder) is morally flawed.
2. Two many mistakes have been made in the past with regard to culpability. Innocent people have died, or have been released eventually after years of serving time for a murder they did not commit.
3. Research in countries and US states that currently use or have recently used the death penalty shows that capital punishment is not a deterrent to murder.

[emmie]

its not a deterrent, agreed on that.

[gollob]

Definitely
yes especially for first degree murder.
why should we have to keep people like Manson, Hindley and Brady alive. Ask yourself if you should lose a child what would you say then?
Next we will have people saying when we go to war do not kill anyone

[Prudie]

I also would have always voted no in the past but these days I'm in two minds. It's not about being a deterrent but some people just don't deserve to live at the taxpayer's expense. Brady is a prime example. On a very banal level it would be a form of weeding.

[Mamyalynne]

I'd vote No.

[albaqwerty]

I'd vote no.

I can understand why some would vote yes tho, but for me one innocent person being executed is one too many.

[CrapAtCryptics]

Yes how many have been released from derisory sentences to kill again - why should we fund £35-55 thousand a year for each prisoner.

[vulcan42]

I've never quite understood the "no deterrent" argument, We will never know how many people it has deterred.

[ummmm]

It's a NO from me.

[pastafreak]

It's a no from me. I don't believe in legal murder, and I'd rather know someone who has committed serious crimes is hopefully suffering in prison.
I know hard labour exists in American prisons, including farms that provide prison food. Anything like that in the UK to offset the cost of keeping prisoners for many years?

[-Talbot-]

Yes ... serial killers most definitely.

[andres]

Yes! Why on earth should someone who has killed an innocent person have the right to live . Albeit they forfeit their right to freedom but are still kept in relative safety for years. The relatives of the victims also have a life sentence to deal with .
A murderer kills an innocent person but a lethal injection would be exterminating an evil human being who doesn't deserve to live.
How does anyone know that the death penalty isn't a deterrent?

[RATTER15]

No from me!
It is far more expensive to kill a criminal than to keep them alive, this is usually down to legal expenses, courts costs and the appeal process.

If a person is guilty of some of the more horrific crimes then death is an easy way out, there is no suffering in death, make them pay for their crimes and let them suffer as they have made others suffer.

People are still being given life sentences and then being proven innocent years later, You cant release someone once they are dead!

If I were ever sentenced to a term of life in prison, I would sooner have the death penalty, but not the lethal injection, it goes wrong to often with disastrous results!! Just hang me!

[Prudie]

I can't believe it's cheaper to keep someone in prison for years than any costs involved in killing them. I don't think Brady suffered much over the years in the slightest (he played the system without doubt and we let him) - certainly not in comparison to his victims and their families.

[tamborine]

No but they deserve rope for skipping excersize

[atalanta]

I'd execute for the second murder. One murder might be a mistake, a one-off which would never be repeated, or even mistaken identity. Two murders - there you have a deliberate and planned situation. And possibly a third or fourth ( etc) could follow. I'd get rid of the criminal to save prison costs and the risk of repeat killings. And, as the french say, pour encourager les autres.

[Bertrum]

A wrongly jailed prisoner can be released, pardoned, and given damages. A wrongly executed one becomes a judicial tragedy.
Timothy Evans is just one that comes to mind
I wonder if the Birmingham 6 or indeed any of the other people wrongly convicted of murder since the abolition of the death sentence would have been executed
Justice fails and we have proved were just not up to making that sort of decision

[Samuraisan]

I agree with emmie 9.09