Death Penalty

[MPH]

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" Is the actual phrase. The bible also says "Thall shall not kill" and "he without sin may cast the first stone." You can take from it whatever you will. It is a mass of contradiction.

My view. 75% of murders are unplanned and in the heat of the moment, the death penalty will act as no detterent in these cases. I am fairly surely the VAST majority are explained by mental illness and/or a complete contempt for the law. In other words it would not be an effective detterent.

I also don't believe that the legal system should be used for 'revenge.' State Barbarism does not right the wrongs of human behaviour.

Got to agree with you here.

A country like The United States, has a much much higher murder rate thank the UK- disproportionately so for the population difference and they still use the death Penalty. So how can it be a deterrent ?

I think the only topic of debate available about the death penalty is whether its a fitting punishment for the crime.

[stez]

Putting aside the possibility of his mental capabilities and whether he was duped as I understand he did have a trial and thus assuming he was of sound mind then it seems to me if you choose to commit a crime in another country then you have to be prepared to face the consequences irrespective of whether you believe in capital punishment.

There's a guy in the Merc today pleading for clemency, who is living in Thailand who got a 29 year sentence in 2003 for possessing drugs (.7oz of marijuana, several amphetamines and ecstasy tablets and .8oz of heroin) which he sites as a trivial crime.

From the report it seems he was living a good life running a restaurant and a tourist boat thus taking advantage of Thai lifestyle. Well if he was happy to do that then he should accept the consequences of the crime he committed in a country where they don't consider it to be trivial.

Living there he should have been aware of the severity of the punishment for possessing these drugs, he made his choice now he should accept his punishment and be grateful he's not got a death sentence.

at least being in prison he has the chance of being released if things change. if he was killed, he would not.

[davieG]

at least being in prison he has the chance of being released if things change. if he was killed, he would not.

Tis true, just to add I don't agree with the death penalty for a number of reasons one being the possibility of being wrong and secondly I couldn't do it myself so don't expect others to do it on my behalf.

[lou]

Im not in favour of the Dealth Penalty though I honestly couldnt say hand on heart that I wouldnt want to kill someone who had killed one of my children

I just wish (like C-man said) that life meant life and also that prison wasnt so cushy. No TVs in cells etc... let them know theyre being punished ffs!

[Suffolk_fox]

Tis true, just to add I don't agree with the death penalty for a number of reasons one being the possibility of being wrong and secondly I couldn't do it myself so don't expect others to do it on my behalf.

I would be quite comfortable in taking the life of another human being who has guilty of a capital crime, but it would have to be beyond all reasonable doubt (as would be the case for a death sentence in this country)

[Finnegan]

I think we would all at some point reach a stage where we feel the death penalty is appropriate , it's just at what stage we eventually reach it

Erm, no?

Too much margin for error, too much cost to keep someone on death row, don't believe we have the right to take lives, don't believe two wrongs make a right and quite frankly I think in the case of the most awful crimes the death sentence is almost more merciful than the perp deserves. Maybe that makes me more vindictive, I don't know.

The death sentence is backwards, primitive and plentiful statistical evidence has suggested it doesn't even work as a succesful deterant*. So.

And for the record, I know plenty of old, worldly, cynical types that share my view - before you try and lambast my youth and naievity.

*I've dragged sources up millions of times before, just go and fucking google.

[Guest Bilo]

I don't agree with the death penalty at all.

It's a kneejerk response to crime that never has and never will deter people from committing offences that have existed for centuries and even millennia. No civilised society should have it under any circumstances, irrespective of the crime.

[lou]

I don't think drug smuggling should warrant a death penalty anyway.

I think its one of the most heinious crimes on the planet to be honest.... I have no sympathy for anyone who chooses to flaut the laws of a foreign country and then expects to be treated differently just because they are arent native to that country.

I dont know the background to the one on the news today but from what Ive heard its not certain he did have a mental illness was it at least he wasnt diagnosed? Anyway it didnt seem like our Government tried all that hard to save him either as they only wrote a letter! 4kgs of Heroin could/would have killed a lot of people. Im not saying its right they killed him but Im not as outraged as a lot of ppl seem to be. I feel very sorry for his family

[MPH]

Just as a slight variant on the topic.... there are places in the middle east that give you 40 lashes of the whip just for dropping a piece of litter....

Unsuprisingly, they are very clean countries..

[BoneDog]

I think the death penalty can be a deterrant. In Saudi for example they have one of the lowest murder rates in the whole world. If you get caught for murder in Saudi you get your head chopped off (so maybe that is why the Saudi murder rate is so low. Or maybe it's because they are the nicer people than elsewhere ).

If you get caught for murder in America you go to prison for 20 years and then there is a slight chance you may be executed.

Country Murder Rates

[Steven]

A drug smuggler could be responsible for the death of many. Add to this the magnified impact of their families and you will see why the death penalty should apply to drug smugglers.

So why does this logic not apply to drinks companies, tobacco companies, oil companies (small particulants from diesel killing 40,000 a year in the UK) or other so called ok (power companies, car companies, etc) but killing third party companies. Moreover how many people have died through the harsh winters because the Government is too mean to pay for adequate heating for the old.

[lou]

I think the death penalty can be a deterrant. In Saudi for example they have one of the lowest murder rates in the whole world. If you get caught for murder in Saudi you get your head chopped off (so maybe that is why the Saudi murder rate is so low. Or maybe it's because they are the nicer people than elsewhere ).

If you get caught for murder in America you go to prison for 20 years and then there is a slight chance you may be executed.

Country Murder Rates

More than a slight chance if youre a black man in a southern State!

[Head Honcho]

I think the death penalty can be a deterrant. In Saudi for example they have one of the lowest murder rates in the whole world. If you get caught for murder in Saudi you get your head chopped off (so maybe that is why the Saudi murder rate is so low. Or maybe it's because they are the nicer people than elsewhere ).

If you get caught for murder in America you go to prison for 20 years and then there is a slight chance you may be executed.

Country Murder Rates

It's not there to be used as a deterrant though is it?

[Daggers]

Death Penalty, Should we have it?

If it were to be televised then I'd find it more interesting viewing than celebritybigjungledanceJoseph.

In fact, I'm A Celebrity - Execute Me! would probably become my favourite Saturday night show.

[BoneDog]

I don't think drug smuggling should warrant a death penalty anyway.

Neither do I.

Especially when many western intelligence agencies have been doing drug deals for over 30 years (probably forever). 95% of big drug dealers who get caught are ones who aren't in collusion with certain agencies.

Anyone remember the famous LAPD officer in the 80's who came out about this? He's still talking to this day and it aint no bullshine

[davieG]

Well we don't have it and I doubt we ever will, but if a country does have it or any other punishment/crime different to us and you commit a crime in that country then you need to be prepared to pay the consequences without squealing it's unfair, defend yourself by all means but fairness doesn't come into it.

[lou]

Well we don't have it and I doubt we ever will, but if a country does have it or any other punishment/crime different to us and you commit a crime in that country then you need to be prepared to pay the consequences without squealing it's unfair, defend yourself by all means but fairness doesn't come into it.

absolutely right

[MPH]

Well we don't have it and I doubt we ever will, but if a country does have it or any other punishment/crime different to us and you commit a crime in that country then you need to be prepared to pay the consequences without squealing it's unfair, defend yourself by all means but fairness doesn't come into it.

Coincidently, the queen still as the authority to issue a death sentence on someone for high treason...

[davieG]

Coincidently, the queen still as the authority to issue a death sentence on someone for high treason...

I believe that's no longer true

[Finnegan]

I always find myself massively irritated by everyone's knee-jerk overreaction to drug dealers / smugglers.

I'm well aware the drugs industry inflicts all sorts of misery on the native peoples of the growing communities in the likes of Latin America, Asia and the Middle East but I'm also aware that Primark do the same (albeit likely without guns) and you don't hear people moaning about that.

I've done drugs, I've enjoyed drugs and I'm not a purse-snatching rapist. I'm completely for the legalization of weed and I'd love to see looser laws on the likes of ecstacy and speed. Can't stand the ridiculously conservative attitudes towards the drugs trade that some people have, even those who are normally completely liberal or centerist in their state of mind.

It's just sheltered and born of fear and the irony is that people's high overreactions to these people and these trades are what fuel the laws and the fact that they're so highly illegal is what creates such a dangerous and violent trade to keep them in circulation in the first place. There'd be significantly less drug-related exploitation and crime if the bastard things were just fucking legalized and commercialized!

[Guest Bilo]

If it were to be televised then I'd find it more interesting viewing than celebritybigjungledanceJoseph.

In fact, I'm A Celebrity - Execute Me! would probably become my favourite Saturday night show.

I'd have probably welcomed that idea for this programme.

[Guest Bilo]

I believe that's no longer true

Think that statute went out with the introduction of the Human Rights Act. Could be wrong though.

[Zingari]

Plenty of criminals admit to being terrified of other gangland criminals due to the threat of violence or death that would be inflicted on them if they upset the hard men of the criminal fraternity (eg. Krays etc.)

How come the threat of death/injury becomes a deterrent to any transgression when inflicted by other more violent criminals but not by the state ?

[BoneDog]

Well we don't have it and I doubt we ever will, but if a country does have it or any other punishment/crime different to us and you commit a crime in that country then you need to be prepared to pay the consequences without squealing it's unfair, defend yourself by all means but fairness doesn't come into it.

I hope that's true, although there are a few crimes now and then I see or read about when I think the perpertrators deserve the death penalty.

[BoneDog]

I'd have probably welcomed that idea for this programme.

Galloway would of been the last man standing

Mind you, Pete Burns would of had a good chance