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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to bring back the dealth penalty?

176 replies

hugmeandcatchthelurgi · 01/10/2009 15:16

Another child pornography case in the news, why cant we bring back the death penalty?

Im a firm believer in peadophiles cant be rehabilitated, why send them to jail? i think the dealth penalty is more appropriate for peadophiles and child abusers

AIBU?

This last case in plymouth really upsets me, so maybe i am more hormonal than normal!

OP posts:
donnie · 01/10/2009 18:52

"i would feel a hell of a lot better with these pervs dead"

actually I don't think you would. Would it really make the crime committed less awful in some way?

Noone is responding to the cases of wrongful imprisonment I have mentioned. I wonder why that would be.

Northernlurker · 01/10/2009 18:53

Annon - the purpose of the criminal justice system is NOT to make YOU feel better.

annon1 · 01/10/2009 18:59

it is there to make be feel better about the society which i am law abidind in.
and this is MY opinion which i believe i'm still entitled to?
how whould you feel about a paedophile living around the corner from you, watching your child, getting to know your routines, to abuse your child?

Ivykaty44 · 01/10/2009 19:00

I dont actually think that anything "works" you will allways have a percentage of society that commit crimes, prison or death doesn't stop crimes being committed.

A large proportion o prisoners have come from a state upbringing and have reaffended over and over again.

It is a system, everyone should be given a chance to rehabilitate but to some degree there will alway be murder, theft, fraud.

Killing people that commit crimes is not going to stop the crime being committed - unfortunatley

annon1 · 01/10/2009 19:01

the op was not about wrongful imprisonment. but about wanting convicted paedophiles off the streets permanently

InMyLittleHead · 01/10/2009 19:07

Annon1 - no it isn't there to make you feel better if what you want doesn't also have the effect of reducing crime and making society safer and more civilised. There is no evidence that the death penalty achieves this - e.g. American states with the death penalty tend to have higher murder rates.

JustAnotherManicMummy · 01/10/2009 19:08

YABU.

Killing people is not the solution.

I would like to see the whole penal code overhauled to do what it is supposed to do: punish and rehabilitate. And sometimes the two are mutually exlusive sadly.

Agree with the earlier post about chemical castration as an option.

thesunshinesbrightly · 01/10/2009 19:11

oh dear, this topic has been done before and if i remember rightly it went horribly wrong.

annon1 · 01/10/2009 19:15

it would make society safer as it would take one more perv off the streets. maybe society would become more civilised it criminals knew there was a death penalty at the end of their wrong doings?
and if the judicial system is not there to make people feel better about criminals recieving the appropriate sentence for their crimes then what is the point in it?

PeachyTentativelyPosting · 01/10/2009 19:16

'if my dc was to commit any of these crimes then yes my view would be the same.
'

annon thats not what I asked

I asked if your child was wrongly convicted of such a crime would you still feel that, on balance,it was worth it for the greater good and such things were inevitable?

Hulababy · 01/10/2009 19:19

By hugmeandcatchthelurgi on Thu 01-Oct-09 18:39:52 But when CAT A prisioners say prison is an easy ride, what does that say?

That was not my experience with my clients.

PeachyTentativelyPosting · 01/10/2009 19:20

Also-
'and this is MY opinion which i believe i'm still entitled to?
how whould you feel about a paedophile living around the corner from you, watching your child, getting to know your routines, to abuse your child? '

1.am not aware anyone truiied to deny you it?Arguing is not that

  1. You'redeluded if you think thats not the ase: small Somerset village I used to live in,friend was raped, Police Officer 'accidentally' told her detials of three paedophiles living there- in a palce of 2000 residents (there was a thought that her daughter was the planned target). Now, assuming there is no special inclination for paedophiles to want to live in small remote villages with little in the way of schools or facilities, then I think we can all assume there is a PAedophile somewhere close to us geographically.
PeachyTentativelyPosting · 01/10/2009 19:21

'By hugmeandcatchthelurgi on Thu 01-Oct-09 18:39:52 But when CAT A prisioners say prison is an easy ride, what does that say?
'

It says they thin k its big to say that.

annon1 · 01/10/2009 19:21

of course not if they were wrongly convicted but that is not what this thread is about.
and as i have said before these are my opinions which i am entitled to as part of my human rights, and civil liberties.
as much i i want to continue this discussion this is my last word for tonight as i have young ones to put to bed, goodnight.

PeachyTentativelyPosting · 01/10/2009 19:23

Goodbye

Hulababy · 01/10/2009 19:26

The point of the prison sentence is to remove unsafe citizens from our streets for a set period of time, in the hope that they may be rehabilitated. The punishment is the removal of their freedom. The purpose to rehabilitate so they are safe to be released.

I agree that some people are not able to be rehabilitated. These should not be released but held in a secure establishment. Again - they are being punished - they have no freedom, no right to leave, to do their own thing. They have a regime to follow every day whether they like it or not.

The purpose of a prison sentence is not to make us members of the public feel better.

As for prison crowding. part of this is that people are sent to prison when they should be dealt with in other ways. Prison should be used to remove unsafe citizens from our streets. Those who are not a risk to the general public should be punished and rehabilitated in other ways.

Hulababy · 01/10/2009 19:31

annon1 - this thread is about whether we should have the death sentence back.

Many people feel that one of the (many) reasons why we should not is that the judicial system is not flawless, and miscarriages of justice can occur. If there is a death lenalty than an innocent person could be put to death, before he/she was able to claim their innocence.

This is a very important reason against the death penalty IMO. Even if it was only one person n 10 years to be found to have been killed as a misscarriage of justice, then it would be one too many.

pigletmania · 01/10/2009 19:37

I think that paedophiles who have their bits cut off and be thrown in jail never to get out. This recent cases in Plymouth have left me sick and sad, my dd is 2.6 and the thought of it happening to her and not being able to tell me brings tears to my eyes.

tykes4eva · 01/10/2009 19:38

the fact that the prisons in today's society are over crowded is true, however the fact still remains that this thread is based around the topic listed at the top ?/??
rehabilitation is not correct for everyone, as for an easy ride, yes i believe prison to be a really easy ride as i've been told by people who've been there and done it.
3 meals a day, sky tv, pool table, playstation and many other luxuries. and we call this PUNISHMENT???????????
this debate will and can go on for ever and a day and you would still not get a unaminous verdict on what is right or wrong for people convicted of this crime, however picture this, you send your child to school where you think they will be safe, only to find out that a teacher has just been convicted of this offence, how would you feel, knowing that a person in a position of trust and role model, in your own childs school, had just been convicted of such offences with other children{hmm}

pigletmania · 01/10/2009 19:40

The prisons should be like the ones you get in China or the Middle East not like the hotels you get here. They are being rewarded for their crimes where is the victims in all this.

pigletmania · 01/10/2009 19:41

my dd has just started nursery and this puts a sour taste in things, though the staff have all the checks and qualifications you are basically putting your trust in them.

tykes4eva · 01/10/2009 19:43

the vicitms is the law abiding tax paying brisith public,
that's us if you didn't know
it's our taxes that are subsidising part of the prison system, can't we just ship them down to australia????( it worked b4)????

Hulababy · 01/10/2009 19:50

I can say for sure that not allprisoners have access to Sky TV and playstations.

Heated · 01/10/2009 19:56

The perception by many is that jail sentences are too short; prisoners almost never serve the full term of their sentence; prison-life is an easy life; shocking re-offending rates; rights of the criminals' placed above the victims'. Dissatisfaction with the penal system = rise in number of people wanting the death penalty; last figure I saw was just over 70%.

donnie · 01/10/2009 20:16

"of course not if they were wrongly convicted but that is not what the thread is about"

Duh. The thread asks if the DEATH PENALTY should be brought back. So clearly it IS about people being KILLED - including those WRONGFULLY CONVICTED.

God, how many times? I give up.