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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think we should bring back the Death Penalty for proven very serious offenders

293 replies

ILiveAtTheBeach · 10/11/2015 21:12

They have raped and murdered. Yet, they have no money worries, a roof over their head, 3 square meals a day, Sky TV, PS4, arranged activities....why are we so bloody soft? We have an over crowding problem in jails. Why can't we give these monsters a lethal injection and be done with it? Sometimes they are released back into society under a false identity (to protect them). What about our protection? They could move in next door. Who would be up for getting rid?

OP posts:
MoreCrackThanHarlem · 10/11/2015 21:15

Can you elaborate on your criteria for "monster"?

ElsaAintAsColdAsMe · 10/11/2015 21:15

Not at all.

I wouldn't want to live in a country where the state can take someones life as punishment/revenge for a crime.

Where would it stop?

ScOffasDyke · 10/11/2015 21:16

What about the wrongly convicted?

vestandknickers · 10/11/2015 21:17

Maybe you should think about a move to America.

MorrisZapp · 10/11/2015 21:17

Three square meals a day you say. Tell us more about these meals.

GreatFuckability · 10/11/2015 21:17

I'm opposed to the death penalty. Also, I'm not sure when you were last in prison OP but its not the cake walk you think it is.

ilovesooty · 10/11/2015 21:17

No, I wouldn't want to live in any country that had state sanctioned murder.

Parietal · 10/11/2015 21:17

YABVU

several problems

  • getting a fair trial and being 100% sure it is right is not easy - see the problems the USA have
  • because you have to be 100% sure you are right, you spend far more on lawyers / appeals etc. the whole process drags on for years which doesn't give the victims /& families any peace

and most important

  • the state should not be in the business of killing people
MsVestibule · 10/11/2015 21:18

I am ideologically opposed to killing somebody because they killed somebody else. Makes no sense to me. On a practical level, too many miscarriages of justice have occurred for this to even be an option.

I could write a lot more, but my washing won't hang itself up.

Tabsicle · 10/11/2015 21:18

'Proven' is a very subjective term. In the US there's a lot of evidence to suggest that it's a lot easier to 'prove' someone is a monster if they are poor and black, whether they have committed a crime or not.

ilovesooty · 10/11/2015 21:18

I'm also wondering if the OP has any first hand knowledge of UK prisons.

bumbleymummy · 10/11/2015 21:18

Morris I was thinking Jacob's cream crackers and sliced cheese...

tiredandhungryalways · 10/11/2015 21:18

Totally agree especially for child abusers, we are lenient and criminals take advantage

EmilyPunkhurst · 10/11/2015 21:19

I couldn't, and wouldn't, live in a country with the death penalty.

Not in my name.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 10/11/2015 21:20

Because two wrongs don't make a right. Because even 'proven' very serious offenders can have suffered miscarriages of justice. Because I don't believe in State-sanctioned murder.

I do think sentencing tariffs/time off for good behaviour have gone a bit daft though.

MoreCrackThanHarlem · 10/11/2015 21:20

I want to live in a state that values justice over vengeance.
And you are wrong re your overcrowding argument. With the lengthy appeals and legal procedures capital punishment In the US is often more costly than life inprisonment.

PaulAnkaTheDog · 10/11/2015 21:21

The day I live in a country that brings back the death penalty is the day I leave. If it is brought back I would seriously wonder what way our country was heading and who was in charge.

As for the moral point of view, I simply don't believe in the death penalty. capital punishment has no place in civilised society.

BastardGoDarkly · 10/11/2015 21:21

No, who decides what is heinous enough?

Who decides if someone is able to be rehabilitated? Or not.

What if they get/frame the wrong person.

I don't trust 'them' at all, so wouldn't be happy about this.

PrimalLass · 10/11/2015 21:22

I would prefer hard labour camps. Think of all the stuff that would get done.

PaulAnkaTheDog · 10/11/2015 21:22

I think you also need to look in the new identity situation. You are completely wrong there, which makes me think you haven't given this much thought. That and the Daily Mail line of SkyTv and PS4

NapoleonsNose · 10/11/2015 21:22

Definitely not. State sponsored murder is wrong. I think that being locked up indefinitely, for the most heinous crimes, is enough of a punishment.

cariadlet · 10/11/2015 21:24

Whenever I hear people calling for the death penalty I think about the case of Stefan Kiszko who was wrongly convicted of murder and spent 16 years in prison before being proved innocent - and then died the next year. I remember seeing his mother on television year after year, campaigning for his release. His mum died only 6 months after her son.

It's easy to say to talk about "proven serious offenders", but so many "proven" offenders later turn out to have been innocent.

MoreCrackThanHarlem · 10/11/2015 21:24

The murder rate in US states with Capital Punishment is higher than those without.

Charlesroi · 10/11/2015 21:24

If the state, on our behalf, murders criminals then I rather think we've lost the moral high ground.

SoftDriftedSnow · 10/11/2015 21:25

Do you have doubt about anything , OP? Or any nuance in your thinking?

Because you are very certain in your posting, generally. I know from other threads that you aren't young. So how did you come to have the confidence in your conclusions? Did you do much reading and thinking, taking into account opposing viewpoints?

And, no, state sponsored killing is not my bag. Let alone when we have a justice system relying on juries that are poorly prepared for the job, in critical thinking terms.