AIBU to think the death penalty should sometimes be used?

[Gide]

In cases such as mass murderers, paedophiles, rapists? Obviously only if there is absolutely no doubt at all about their guilt.

[nauticant]

That doesn't surprise me at all, although it does depress me.

If a guilty verdict can somehow then be assessed as being normal guilty or extra guilty and the state can choose to execute particular murderers in the latter category then other factors will intrude such as politics and the way a certain type of person is considered to be perceived by the public at large.

That's a long way from the kind of justice system I'd want to go through if the police decided to stitch me up for some reason.

[RortyCrankle]

Fine if you're a neanderthal, not fine if you're a civilized human being. YABU.

[thecitydoc]

in a debate in House of Commons in 1970s then the PM Ted Heath said that if you support the death penalty you should be prepared to pull the hang man's lever. I go further - if you support the death penalty you should be prepared to be executed for a crime you did not commit. OP is very unreasonable unless of course they are willing to die for a crime they didn't commit.

[corythatwas]

pineappleshortbread Thu 21-Apr-16 09:26:17

"Ill be honest i dont have a lot of empathy so have no idea how I would feel then. I do feel quite indifferent to the execution of convicted murderers and if we get it wrong then we learn for next time. I unfortunately dont have enough empathy to care much beyond that."

So if it was your daughter who had wrongfully been convicted of murder, you wouldn't care much beyond that? And you would be happy with the idea that other people didn't care much either?

[CruCru]

Aside from the question of whether it is wrong to execute someone, it is very hard to do "correctly". By that, in a way that is reasonably humane to the prisoner and not too awful for the executioner. The US hasn't managed it.

My understanding is that being a hangman was a very skilled job. The aim was to break the neck cleanly without the head actually coming off. As we haven't had hangings for a really long time, no one in the UK would have first hand knowledge of how to do this.

The methods used by other countries (lethal injection, gas chamber) seem to be either very unpleasant or regularly botched.

China uses the firing squad but that requires a very accurate shot (stressful for the guys doing the firing).

[EveryoneElsie]

CruCru To add to your answer, the hangmans art was developed on the poorest criminals here and in the colonies. Crimes that carried the death penalty back then included 'stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians.'

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty

[HuskyLover1]

Hmm, I wonder how uncivilised you'd find the Death Penalty, if YOUR child had been abducted, raped and murdered?

I think I might fancy being uncivilised for a wee bit. I'd actually have no problem strangling the bastard myself.

[Therealyellowwiggle]

Husky if my dc needed a kidney there's a part of me would happily take yours for her. We would do anything for those we love. That's why sentencing is not decided by the families of victims.

[pearlylum]

Absolutely therealyellow.

Someone's frail elderly mother may be mugged and injured in the street, her son may ( understandably) feel violent towards the thug.

We have a judicial system to protect us from allowing individuals to take the law into their own hands.

[HuskyLover1]

Have to say, if anything ever happened to one of my dc, when the guy got released, I'd be waiting for him. It would be a long slow death.

[EveryoneElsie]

HuskyLover1 As a victim of a very serious violent crime, I dont support the death penalty. Theres a very real difference between justice and retribution.

A survey of convicted rapists and paedophiles made it clear that if they had been facing the death penalty they would have been more likely to murder their victims.
Plus there is always the risk of a wrongful conviction.

[VestalVirgin]

I'd actually have no problem strangling the bastard myself.

I have no problem with that. Strangle him and go to prison for manslaughter. I would send you flowers.

However, have you considered that if death penalty is made the official punishment for rape, what the "Noooo, don't report that he raped you, it will ruin his life!" idiots will say? Can you imagine the kind of pressure they will make on victims to not report? Maybe they'll even threaten to kill the victim!

Your child is most likely to be raped by someone you know. Someone the child knows. Perhaps someone everyone in your neighbourhood loves.

Your child would be made responsible for the death of the rapist. Do you really want that?


I have no empathy for rapists. But I do have lots of empathy for victims. It has to become easier to report rape, not harder.

[Janeymoo50]

If someone had ever broken into my 80 year old mums bedroom in the dead of night and brutally attacked and raped her (twice) *, I honestly think I would be so consumed with hate I would want to inflict such hurt on the person who did it. I can't help it. Would I be brave enough to do it, probably not.

Two very awful wroñgs don't make a right.

• This happened to an elderly lady in South London a couple of years ago and I remember thinking at the time that I'd have to kill someone who did that to a frail, old lady - it so upset me.

[lurked101]

There is a reason we don't allow victims or their relatives to choose what justice is given to perpetrators.

This thread shows why. It's too emotive.

[FeedMyFaceWithJaffaCakes]

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
Not in my name.
Pedeophilla is an illness, as a pp has said just because they are attracted to children doesn't mean they have to act on it.
I believe a life sentence should be a life sentence and prison conditions should be tougher.

[FrancesNiadova]

Exodus, 6th Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."
Whether you believe in God or not, Exodus relates to 1500 years before Christ & earlier.
So, as a rough guide, people felt so strongly about not killing each other, over 3,500 years ago, that they wrote it down in the most powerful language that they had.
In the grand scheme of things, we've not moved on very far, have we?

[Sunnybitch]

husky my dad has always said the same and said that he'd tell the judge 'when you say life you better mean life, if you release him, I'll be waiting and next time you'll have me in the dock for his murder'

[AlpacaLypse]

I can't support the death penalty, for all the many reasons explained eloquently above - but I do think sentences should be longer in many cases.

Also by committing crimes, particularly the sorts of crimes that are abhorrent in all societies around the world, not just in the West, the perpetrators have abrogated some of their human rights. I think prisoners should have the right to life, food, shelter, health care and frankly that's about it. If they've stolen somebody else's right to a family life by taking a member of someone else's family, why should they retain a right to a family life of their own?

[maggiethemagpie]

Killing someone for murder is...er...murder.

[Haggisfish]

But we simply don't have the resources to increase sentences! Prisons are already full to bursting, and struggling to cope with elderly inmates suffering from elderly illnesses such as dementia. The system cannot tolerate an incrwase in sentencing or numbers.

[AugustaFinkNottle]

I believe a life sentence should be a life sentence and prison conditions should be tougher.

Always? How about, say, mercy killings carried out by people under intolerable pressure and stress?

[AugustaFinkNottle]

Have to say, if anything ever happened to one of my dc, when the guy got released, I'd be waiting for him. It would be a long slow death.

But the reality is that you wouldn't. People who make these pronouncements never actually think through what it would mean, or even whether it's practicable. And they certainly don't think about the reality of killing someone and whether, when it comes to the crunch, they could actually do it.

[PurpleDaisies]

Always? How about, say, mercy killings carried out by people under intolerable pressure and stress?

Surely the judge would be able to take any mitigating factors into account at sentencing so they wouldn't get a life sentence?

[SuburbanRhonda]

Have to say, if anything ever happened to one of my dc, when the guy got released, I'd be waiting for him. It would be a long slow death.

And leave your remaining DC without a parent? How cruel.

[LikeDylanInTheMovies]

But the reality is that you wouldn't. People who make these pronouncements never actually think through what it would mean, or even whether it's practicable

Yes, the wannabe vigilante posing is just hot air from people who've seen too many John Wayne films.