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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 ?

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Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 16:54

crazeekat · 17/07/2026 16:53

Yes paedophilia and child murders should be automatic death penalty. There’s too many of them to keep under lock and key.

plus how can society be truly safe from them ?

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Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 16:53

there was one other possibility for those who think they should be rehabilited and given a chance at life, have specialist military units that have high risk missions and base them at bases abroad and then train them for those missions ?

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crazeekat · 17/07/2026 16:53

Yes paedophilia and child murders should be automatic death penalty. There’s too many of them to keep under lock and key.

category12 · 17/07/2026 16:52

pointythings · 17/07/2026 16:50

I've been inside a maximum security prison through my work, in a previous job. Just being inside a building like that is hideous. Ships would just be a performative waste of money.

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Agreed.

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 16:51

pointythings · 17/07/2026 16:49

Norway manages to rehabilitate the worsgt of the worst. They have a prison island, which you might like, except on it, the prisoners are treated humanely, do useful work instead of sitting in a cell 23 hours a day and live in actual houses. The island is the prison, not the building they're in. Public safety assured but no mental torture required.

There are plenty of islands off the coast. We could do the same, if the revenge fetishists shut up for a minute.

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now that i would be in intrigued with,

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pointythings · 17/07/2026 16:50

category12 · 17/07/2026 16:44

If it's just the same as a normal security prison, what's the thinking for building prison ships?

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I've been inside a maximum security prison through my work, in a previous job. Just being inside a building like that is hideous. Ships would just be a performative waste of money.

pointythings · 17/07/2026 16:49

PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 16:22

well if the worse of the worse are not likely to be reintegrated into society, and they want to stay alive or should i say the public wants them to stay alive in general then thats best of both methods, they pay for the crimes

Edited
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Norway manages to rehabilitate the worsgt of the worst. They have a prison island, which you might like, except on it, the prisoners are treated humanely, do useful work instead of sitting in a cell 23 hours a day and live in actual houses. The island is the prison, not the building they're in. Public safety assured but no mental torture required.

There are plenty of islands off the coast. We could do the same, if the revenge fetishists shut up for a minute.

category12 · 17/07/2026 16:44

PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 16:38

and that loss of liberty. can be at sea, who says its cruel etc ?

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If it's just the same as a normal security prison, what's the thinking for building prison ships?

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 16:38

category12 · 17/07/2026 16:31

They pay for their crimes by loss of liberty.

Civilised societies don't do torture or cruelty.

and that loss of liberty. can be at sea, who says its cruel etc ?

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category12 · 17/07/2026 16:31

They pay for their crimes by loss of liberty.

Civilised societies don't do torture or cruelty.

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 16:22

pointythings · 17/07/2026 16:14

No. Prison is bad enough. Why do people like you always want to return to barbarism?

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well if the worse of the worse are not likely to be reintegrated into society, and they want to stay alive or should i say the public wants them to stay alive in general then thats best of both methods, they pay for the crimes

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pointythings · 17/07/2026 16:14

PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 15:41

as an alternative to the death penalty what about prison ships for the worse of the worse, that only dock land for supply's and then no other contact with the outside world ?

No. Prison is bad enough. Why do people like you always want to return to barbarism?

category12 · 17/07/2026 15:47

SomeoneIsWrongOnTheInternet · 17/07/2026 10:25

I have sometimes thought that bringing back the stocks - public shame basically with rotten tomatoes (and, admittedly, worse things) - would be worth it for minor crimes!!

People used to get killed that way sometimes. I don't think creating mob situations is particularly sane.

We're supposed to be a civilised society.

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 17/07/2026 15:41

as an alternative to the death penalty what about prison ships for the worse of the worse, that only dock land for supply's and then no other contact with the outside world ?

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SomeoneIsWrongOnTheInternet · 17/07/2026 10:25

I have sometimes thought that bringing back the stocks - public shame basically with rotten tomatoes (and, admittedly, worse things) - would be worth it for minor crimes!!

pointythings · 17/07/2026 09:39

OonaStubbs · 17/07/2026 00:57

What about corporal punishment?

Hard no to that too. I used to think you lived in 1952 but now I see it's 1552.

LizzieW1969 · 17/07/2026 09:37

JohnnieFedora · 17/07/2026 07:33

but knowing a guilty verdict could lead to death sentence is the same thing...

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I certainly wouldn’t want to convict someone in those circumstances. The idea of my decision potentially being a life or death one would be too much for me.

It’s very rare that guilt is absolutely clear cut. Usually there have been arguments either way, from the prosecution and defence, and a decision has to be made by the jury. ‘Beyond reasonable doubt’ doesn’t equal ‘beyond all doubt’.

JohnnieFedora · 17/07/2026 07:33

PenelopeJoanSterling · 16/07/2026 23:34

change the system use the jury to decide guilt or not then a panel of judges to decide the suitable level of punishment upto the death penalty ?

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but knowing a guilty verdict could lead to death sentence is the same thing...

travellinglighter · 17/07/2026 04:11

PenelopeJoanSterling · 14/07/2026 01:16

then thats a risk of their decisions

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You’re obviously in favour and most people are opposed. Every time you get given a fairly obvious point that the jury system is fallible you say that’s a risk the jury takes. Juries make mistakes all the time and the fact they do should mean that anyone with any empathy would shudder at the thought of a person who knows they’re innocent sitting in a cell, watching the hours count down before someone comes to murder them.

Even if a person is guilty, the long slow process of trial appeal, clemency plea, re-trial before the inevitable execution seems too cruel.

some people don’t deserve to walk this earth but a 100% infallible method of sorting who those people are from some halfwit who committed murder in a rage is not possible so you’ll just have to live in a country where you are safe from being murdered by the state.

OonaStubbs · 17/07/2026 00:57

What about corporal punishment?

BlessedAreTheCheesemakerz · 16/07/2026 23:46

PenelopeJoanSterling · 16/07/2026 23:34

change the system use the jury to decide guilt or not then a panel of judges to decide the suitable level of punishment upto the death penalty ?

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Have you seen the state of the judiciary lately?

Anyway, absolutely no to leaving the ECHR and nothing will convince me that we should ever bring back capital punishment, which is really just a form of revenge, not actually punishment.

ColdAsAWitches · 16/07/2026 23:37

PenelopeJoanSterling · 16/07/2026 23:34

change the system use the jury to decide guilt or not then a panel of judges to decide the suitable level of punishment upto the death penalty ?

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But the jury will still know that the death penalty is an option! Your suggestion changes nothing.

Original poster
PenelopeJoanSterling · 16/07/2026 23:34

Maray1967 · 16/07/2026 22:40

That level of naivety is alarming.

There can never be total certainty. And you, and all other advocates of the death penalty, should consider than one of the reasons for its abolition in the UK decades ago was that jury members were increasingly reluctant to convict if the penalty was death. Life imprisonment does not carry that risk.

So it is highly likely that 3 or 4 jury members would refuse to convict, leading to acquittal.

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change the system use the jury to decide guilt or not then a panel of judges to decide the suitable level of punishment upto the death penalty ?

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Maray1967 · 16/07/2026 22:40

PenelopeJoanSterling · 13/07/2026 23:08

that i understand but with better tech and forensics today, the errors should be min ?

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That level of naivety is alarming.

There can never be total certainty. And you, and all other advocates of the death penalty, should consider than one of the reasons for its abolition in the UK decades ago was that jury members were increasingly reluctant to convict if the penalty was death. Life imprisonment does not carry that risk.

So it is highly likely that 3 or 4 jury members would refuse to convict, leading to acquittal.

ToWhitToWhoo · 16/07/2026 22:35

PenelopeJoanSterling · 16/07/2026 21:30

for those that appose the death penalty what about your objects to this : https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5555330-to-think-its-time-to-leave-the-echr

because surely leaving the echr is the slippery road towards it

Quite so. Restoration of the death pnalty is just ONE of the things to which leaving the ECHR would be a slippery slope, and I absolutely oppose it.