Should Capital Punishment be allowed?

[The Situation]

So what are you views then on capital punishment, should we bring back the death penalty for some cases?

[Blue & Maroon]

No. Letting someone rot in jail for life is a much better punishment. That and if there is a miscarriage of justice it is rather hard to bring someone back to life.

[Albert's Chip Shop]

Yes if the crime is so severe.

[Seagull]

No. 'An eye for an eye...'.

[Dr. Bishop]

No. But we do need to make prison an actual prison instead of a holiday camp.

[The Situation]

My personal view is that it would give the state too much power in which it can interfere with.

As Robert Nozick suggested a minimal state is the only one that is justified!

"Individuals have rights and there are things that no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights)"

Yes some crimes are unimaginably evil but for men to decide for that person to be killed is counter-productive and lowering themselves to a similar evil, as VV has stated they should make prisons like the old mental asylums where people would rather plead guilty then insane!

So id be a no!

[skalpel]

Absolutely not. Firstly I disagree with killing somebody or eye for eye/life for life, no matter what they have done I believe that the most severe punishment should be solitary confinement life imprisonment. If anything, death is a pretty easy way out for a person who has committed unspeakable acts and could very well be spending the rest of their miserable existence realising what a stupid thing they did and hating themselves for it instead.

But whats more, there have been cases, albeit rare, in which 'damning evidence' sent a person down for life, only for them to be released years later when even clearer evidence proved that it was not them. Eye witness accounts are also surprisingly unreliable and are used in court cases around the world on a regular basis. I wouldn't fancy being killed for something I didn't do.

[Yacob]

depends the crime, on the whole I don't think so, certain crimes like murder deserve it, others don't

[Tomski]

Nope. Death is an easy way out and I don't really see it as a punishment. They should be made to suffer in prison.

[Geordie Gashead]

Yes, let's condone killing by... killing. Makes perfect sense.

[Dr. Bishop]

Absolutely not. Firstly I disagree with killing somebody or eye for eye/life for life, no matter what they have done I believe that the most severe punishment should be solitary confinement life imprisonment. If anything, death is a pretty easy way out for a person who has committed unspeakable acts and could very well be spending the rest of their miserable existence realising what a stupid thing they did and hating themselves for it instead.

But whats more, there have been cases, albeit rare, in which 'damning evidence' sent a person down for life, only for them to be released years later when even clearer evidence proved that it was not them. Eye witness accounts are also surprisingly unreliable and are used in court cases around the world on a regular basis. I wouldn't fancy being killed for something I didn't do.

Completely this. They weren't even that rare when capital punishment still happened in the UK. I remember watching 'Let Him Have It' at school for an English essay, which was based on the true story of David Bentley (wiki it). Bentley was hanged in 1953. He was fully pardoned in 1998. That just goes to show that the legal system does get things wrong.

[Seagull]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis

This pretty much exemplifies skalpel's point about false conviction, there was no real hard evidence that proved this man's guilt, convicted on shoddy evidence and witness accounts and he maintained for over 20 years his innocence right up until execution. He died in September.

[Cal]

In the US, over 130 people who were on death row awaiting execution have been proven innocent and released since 1973. I wonder how many innocents haven't been so lucky?

Even if the justice system was perfect and could guarantee 100% that all convicts were guilty, I still wouldn't want capital punishment. It isn't an effective deterrent, it gives a power which no man or organisation should have, and as Skalps mentioned, solitary confinement or other harsh imprisonment is a more punishing punishment, and has the upside of allowing for innocent people to potentially go free again.

[TJR]

Yes for murders and paedophiles! Those f***ing scum bags are a waste of oxygen!

[Hatem Is A Geordie]

Yes, there should be the ability to let someone rot in jail for 40 years, and know that even if they survive that they will be executed as soon as their time is up.

[ALF]

No way, make prisons a punishment. And a life sentence should mean life. 20 year old kills someone and gets sentenced to life, they spend the next 60 years eating s*** food, sleeping on a s*** bed and living the worst kind of life.

[Yacob]

prison is such a luxury now!

[Hatem Is A Geordie]

Yep, I know someone, he has TV and xbox, with a laptop as well. He says it's better than living at home, he gets all of that and 3 meals a day, even if they are s***.

[Seagull]

Prison doesn't work to prevent crime anyway, half of prisoners re-offend when released and I've heard if you want a 1% reduction in crime you need to increase prison capacity by 38%. This is from a play by David Hare I studied in English last year.

[overseasTOON]

I'd also want to introduce Standard Urbanised Punishment.

Crawley needs a slap!