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

[ILiveAtTheBeach]

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?

100% no.

America have many proven cases where people have been executed and later found innocent. There have been also lots of high profile cases around the world where sentenced life imprisonment prisoners have been found innocent - far easier to release a man than raise him from the dead.

Furthermore, where do you draw the line? Murder? Rape? Child abuse? How do you define how "severe" the abuse or the rape has to be? Penetrative rape? Sexual assault? What about if it's not violent? Does that mean someone is less raped than someone else because their rapist failed to get the death sentence?

Killing people is wrong - no matter who does it

Yes, I have been in UK prisons (in a professional capacity). And I found the soft treatment of murderers quite sickening. So, if your daughter was raped and murdered, you wouldn't want the guy to be killed off? You'd be happy if he had a cushy life inside? And got his life back in about 8 years? Maybe it's me, I would be enraged.

Nope. Killing someone as punishment for killing someone else = bonkers in my eyes. Capital punishment doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent in America either.

No.

A very brutal prison system and the death penalty doesn't seem to be an effective deterrent in the US or am I wrong about the horrific murder rates there?

I cannot agree that a civilised society should have the death penalty. It is barbaric and belongs in the past. I think the 'monsters' (people) that commit the most horrific crimes should be imprisoned and made to address their behaviour and there is more to be done to ensure prisons are effective but reinstating the death penalty will not make Britain a safer and better place to live in. Quite the opposite.

Yabu. It is wrong on so many levels.

I have also read evidence which suggests that it costs a lot more to have the death penalty than it does to keep someone in prison because of all the extra steps, appeals etc which need to be in any such system. (Not that I would agree with it even if it cost nothing!)

A friend of mine was sent to gaol.

Thankfully he was only in gaol for a few weeks before he was released.

But in that time, he was locked up in a cell which he had to share with a complete stranger.

He wasn't allowed a radio, never mind TV, or satellite channels.

I have no idea what 'arranged activities' might have been organised.

But he was taken away from his wife, his children and his life. Surely that's sufficient punishment?

Out of curiosity, in what role have you visited prisons?

What on earth kind of professional capacity have you been in prisons, OP? Because you sound like the last person on earth to have any kind of empathy, consideration or understanding

well either you think the death penalty works as a deterrent - in which case why do countries and states who have it have equally high murder rates to those who don't?

Or it's about revenge - revenge has no place in the law - the law must be impartial

Furthermore, the minimum sentence available for a criminal who raped and murdered is 30 years. There are mitigating factors which MAY reduce a sentence (things like mental disorder, disability, provocation, self defence) but the idea that a premeditated rapist and murder would get 8 years is ridiculous.

I do think there should be vastly more money & time devoted to the problem of male violence, though. It's completely fucking ridiculous that we tolerate the levels that we do.

If we wanted to leave the decisions about what to do with those accused of crimes to the victims of crime then we could do away with the justice system all together, provide lynch mobs with ropes and torches and leave it all to the vigilantes - I don't think that would make our country safer and better either.

YABU....to a certain degree.
I agree that prison in this country is a wall in the park for a lot of offenders....and that is part of the reason why people re-offend. My cousin has been disowned by the family for being a general waster and being caught selling and stashing a ridiculous amount of cannabis. He was also arrested several times for being drunk and disorderly, and various assault charges, including assaulting a police officer. The first time he went to prison, he did just shy of 3 years. Came out, went back to his stinking shit pit of a bedsit, with no job, and some pretty sinister threats from other dealers....he decided that prison was a much easier ride (ie free food, free bed, free entertainment, no bills to pay etc), so went out and glassed a police officer outside a pub. He's now serving another 8 years.
Something clearly needs to be done about our prison system. In my opinion, if you break the law, then sod your human rights. They should be given a bed, basic meals and work to do - I'm not talking old days chain-gang sort of thing, but something to keep them occupied other than TVs, games rooms, and kitted out gyms.
If a serious crime ie. Murder, rape, child molestation etc could be 100% proven beyond reasonable doubt (nigh on impossible without every person in the courtroom having witnessed the crime), then yes. Go ahead. Hang the bastard. Unfortunately there have been way too many cases of wrongly convicted people being put to death around the world, that it is no longer a reliable method of dishing out justice.

ILiveAtTheBeach IF you have visited prisons in a 'professional capacity' then surely you know most people in them are NOT murderers or Rapists and surely you understand that Sky TV and play stations etc are EARNED and removed dependant on behaviour? Not handed out like smarties

So, if your daughter was raped and murdered, you wouldn't want the guy to be killed off?

Of course I would. I would be desperate for revenge. But we cannot build a justice system based on the rage and pain of victims. It must be a rational and objective process.

So, if your daughter was raped and murdered, you wouldn't want the guy to be killed off?

Absolutely I would, I might even do it myself. That doesn't mean I would be right to do so, and I would (rightfully) be jailed for it. The minute the state has a say in who lives and dies we are on a slippery slope.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Yabu

Pierrepoint, The last Hangman film made me think about this dilemma.

Guildford Four and Birmingham Six. There's 10 "murderers" for you there who who have been murdered by the state when they were found guilty. It's has since been admitted by the police that their confessions were beaten out of them. There was no evidence apart from the evidence fabricated by the cops.

You ok with that?

"I hate killing so much, I'm going to kill anyone that does it" is ridiculous.

Are there any police officers or prison visitors (in whatever capacity) here? Can we clear this up for once and for all - is there Sky TV in prison?

I do think sentences for sex offences are too short.

I suspect the death penalty would make it even harder to get juries to convict in rape cases than it already is.
Agree with Snow re excessive toleration of male violence.

YABU.
On legal, moral and practical grounds.
If capital punishment reduced murder rates, we could have a discussion but as it does not, there is not argument to make IMO.

Gosh that's a lot of questions!

softdrifted how do you know my other posts? I'm 45 - is that old?

BIWI Cooking lessons, financial lessons (I did the latter when I was a Bank Manager)

shirtsleeves I've taught lifers about finance when I was a Bank Manager. Latterly I was a Police Officer and had to visit prisoners that had complaints.

Oh well, I was hoping some other guys would wonder why we keep these low lives in luxury. Never mind!!