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Original poster

AIBU to ask whether the death penalty should apply for certain crimes in the UK?

664 replies

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:04

Because the topics got mixed up on my previous thread i thought id ask here, for certain types of crime in the uk, would you be either for or against the death penalty for certain crimes and why ?

OP posts:
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Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:26

hoppitywhoosh · 13/07/2026 23:24

Ok maybe I’m looking at it in simplistic terms, it’s clearly a very complicated process both morally, socially and practically. I just think there are some people who are never going to be rehabilitated. The Southport attacker (I wont use his actual name) has also attacked prison guards. He isn’t safe in society or even in prison so it seems. Keeping him alive causes further danger and pain to everyone in contact with him.

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thats my point, of the thread for cases like these

OP posts:
Babyboomtastic · 13/07/2026 23:26

Never.

Frequency · 13/07/2026 23:25

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:22

and society now should have better tech and forensics to prevent historical errors

Edited
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Should, but don't. Did the Post Office scandal pass you by? Ever heard of Andrew Malkinson or Peter Sullivan?

TheCurious0range · 13/07/2026 23:25

hoppitywhoosh · 13/07/2026 23:24

Ok maybe I’m looking at it in simplistic terms, it’s clearly a very complicated process both morally, socially and practically. I just think there are some people who are never going to be rehabilitated. The Southport attacker (I wont use his actual name) has also attacked prison guards. He isn’t safe in society or even in prison so it seems. Keeping him alive causes further danger and pain to everyone in contact with him.

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That's what whole.life terms and IPPs are for , also indefinite hospital orders

hattie43 · 13/07/2026 23:25

yes I think some people are beyond redemption and their crimes so heinous I would support the death penalty . I think with serial killers or mass murderers like terrorists where DNA is present at multiple sites the risks of miscarriage would be rare .

hoppitywhoosh · 13/07/2026 23:24

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 13/07/2026 23:13

We happily "pay" for it, because part of the contract citizens have with the State is that the State doesn't murder those of us it deems aberrant. Instead, the State uses a proportion of its income to incarcerate and rehabilitate on the citizenry's behalf.

Besides, one look at somewhere like the States would show that it's a total myth that executing people is cheaper than incarceration to begin with. Then you have to factor in that it would make the UK a pariah state in many of our neighbour's eyes, and account for the loss or prestige, soft power, influence, and likely trade.

Edited
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Ok maybe I’m looking at it in simplistic terms, it’s clearly a very complicated process both morally, socially and practically. I just think there are some people who are never going to be rehabilitated. The Southport attacker (I wont use his actual name) has also attacked prison guards. He isn’t safe in society or even in prison so it seems. Keeping him alive causes further danger and pain to everyone in contact with him.

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:24

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 13/07/2026 23:23

Most Soviet closed cities were not penal in nature through, it was mainly concerned with security and preservation of State secrecy.

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thats very true, but the same principles could be adapted

OP posts:
randomchap · 13/07/2026 23:24

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:20

it was in relation to you asking about how many errors

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Errors which would cause innocent people to be put to death. How many are acceptable?

MirrorMirror1247 · 13/07/2026 23:24

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:12

but then as a police officer or working in the police force and knowing the blight that extreme criminals are on society, then how can people justify it if we have the means to free society from those criminals ?

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We do have the means. It's called prison.

Mingou · 13/07/2026 23:24

No matter what your morals are about the death penalty, the simple fact is that it doesn't work as a deterrent. In fact it does the opposite. Why leave your robbery victim alive to identify you when there's capital punishment? Kill them so they can't testify.
I doesn't reduce the crime rate at all.

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:24

TheCurious0range · 13/07/2026 23:23

I suspect OP you're not as dim as you portray, merely a goady fucker

Edited

you choose to discuss on my thread, we are a democracy are we not ? i never said you had to answer

OP posts:
WhatAMarvelousTune · 13/07/2026 23:23

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:21

hopefully they would not be a criminal or be mixed up in crime to be suspected in the first place

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Oh ok, so let’s just do away with innocent until proven guilty altogether then. Anyone who is suspected of a crime is probably dodgy, and if some of them get executed for something they didn’t do, ah well, doesn’t matter.

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 13/07/2026 23:23

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:19

that idea is from cold war soviets history of closed cities proper history and nothing fictional about them

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Most Soviet closed cities were not penal in nature through, it was mainly concerned with security and preservation of State secrecy.

category12 · 13/07/2026 23:23

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:21

hopefully they would not be a criminal or be mixed up in crime to be suspected in the first place

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Oh so only other people's families.

Toast 'em. They probably did something wrong, eh? As long as it doesn't affect you and yours.

TheCurious0range · 13/07/2026 23:23

I suspect OP you're not as dim as you portray, merely a goady fucker

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:22

concertinacornflake · 13/07/2026 23:22

Have you ever heard of miscarriages of justice?

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and society now should have better tech and forensics to prevent historical errors

OP posts:
motherhoodisntfortheweak · 13/07/2026 23:22

For child killers yes

concertinacornflake · 13/07/2026 23:22

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:21

hopefully they would not be a criminal or be mixed up in crime to be suspected in the first place

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Have you ever heard of miscarriages of justice?

WhatAMarvelousTune · 13/07/2026 23:22

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:16

which ever is the greater good, same way the military plans operations where sometimes theres collertial damage but the greater good overall

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Jesus.

You’d be ok with your child being killed for the greater good then? Or is it just other people, unknown and anonymous to you, that should be sacrificed?

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 13/07/2026 23:22

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:16

ok what about using closed cities for them then it keeps them apart from society ?

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No need, Prisons already keep them out of society for the most part.

One of the myriad of issues with Gulag systems, prison archipelago, islands etc, is that the transgressing individual is supposed to be the subject of the punishment, not third parties, and if you completely isolate prisoners from society entirely you are simultaneously punishing their families by denying them contact.

Deprivation of liberty and Disenfranchisement is the punishment, beyond that you stray into cruel and unusual territory, then it becomes vindictive.

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:22

TheCurious0range · 13/07/2026 23:21

Because that went well

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they were designed for secret weapons development projects so yes they did do well

OP posts:
TheCurious0range · 13/07/2026 23:22

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:21

hopefully they would not be a criminal or be mixed up in crime to be suspected in the first place

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Do you really not understand miscarriages of justice?

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:21

category12 · 13/07/2026 23:20

Riiigght, so you'd be happy for one of your family members to be collateral damage for "the greater good"?

Or just other people's family members?

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hopefully they would not be a criminal or be mixed up in crime to be suspected in the first place

OP posts:
TheCurious0range · 13/07/2026 23:21

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:19

that idea is from cold war soviets history of closed cities proper history and nothing fictional about them

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Because that went well

category12 · 13/07/2026 23:20

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:16

which ever is the greater good, same way the military plans operations where sometimes theres collertial damage but the greater good overall

Show quote history

Riiigght, so you'd be happy for one of your family members to be collateral damage for "the greater good"?

Or just other people's family members?