Reinstate The Death Penalty?

[Norman Verona]

State murder will not stop criminal murder.

Life imprisonment is the best punishment we can hand down, death is a release.

[FILFAN]

Imprisonment I agree with. holiday camp is taking the pee

[Norman Verona]

It may seem like a holiday to you but a friend of mine spent 3 months in Armley and swore he would not go back - ever.

He did, 3 years later.

But this chap reckons he's hard and said he never wanted to spend more time locked up with a bunch of psychopaths.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I am actually in favour of the death penalty.

Unfortunately, I'll also never vote or support it's reintroduction as I'm all to well aware of what could happen at worst under the sort of police and governmental corruption that we've seen surface under the recent Hillsborough news. And at best the sort of legal short changing our society already gets at the hands of judges and solicitors.

Instead, I'd settle for prisoners being required, compelled, to perform endless, backbreaking, monotonous and utterly pointless hard physical work.

[MGF255]

Depends what it`s like in prison , why should people who do this type of thing be allowed to lounge about and watch TV whilst still having the right to vote , the scumbag who set up these WPC`s and killed them in cold blood should be doing hard labour till he dies of exhaustion , at least that`d give him time to reflect just before he drops dead .

[jeff oakley]

I Support the death penalty but I too would want to have iron clad reasons to do it. For this guy, Brady, The ripper etc there is no doubt as to guilt, they were caught with evidence that was no mistake. I would happily top them but there are many convicted who were not guilty so there is a chance of a wrong decision less so now than ever before. I remember the family of James Hanratiy demanded DNA to prove it was not him who commited the A6 murders, they soon shut up when it proved he was the murderer and was hung justfiably so.

We cannot have the death penalty restored because of our EU membership however we can make life mean life without parole and prisons less accomadating for inmates. What I find truely worrying is that already there is a facebook page praising this piece of scum for killing these police officers, we should track these people down and jail them as well.

[Bananaman]

Not sure about the death penalty BUT they should hav e a VERY hard s***ty prison sentence with NO privelages, no TV, no internet, ****e food, no matteress etc...............

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

Not sure about the death penalty BUT they should hav e a VERY hard s***ty prison sentence with NO privelages, no TV, no internet, ****e food, no matteress etc...............

If you added Hard Labour, I reckon that would actually worry them more, especially if prison guards were allowed to enforce the rules strictly !!

[Tonsko]

There's a counter argument here - the lobbying that has been going on in the last few years for stronger and longer sentences has been coming from... private prison companies ( including quite a few stateside). Quelle surprise. Not for no reason does the US have one of the highest %age prison populations in the world.

Anyway, what I learned from my mrs (mental health/PD nurse), who used to work with prisoners (E/W/S Yorkshire mainly), is that a high percentage of the male prison population (~80%) have personality disorders and mental health issues. Putting them all in jail together doesn't actually help things. However, there are a few rehabilitation programs that were working - until they were cut for budget reasons. Now, there has to be punishment, of course. But there generally is never enough background gathering done to find out why these people did something as terrible as this. She met a few (very dangerous gentlemen) to whom taking a life was nothing to them because their brains were just wired differently due to abuse at home when growing up, just 'because' or any one or many other different reasons.

So the death penalty is certainly 'a' solution, but it's not one that I would wish to be avaiiable in a society that I live in. What would be more preferable would be programs designed around the root cause of their behaviours and perhaps finding out how they might be re-directed down a more useful path. It is one of those situations that will bring out high emotions, and one, unfortunately, that the media trades on to sell newspapers.

So anyway, death penalty. No thanks.

[Dodgey]

If you look at how many innocent people are incorrectly convicted of murder, and then acquitted each year, globally, (the figures will surprise you) you would never consider the death penalty. It just can't be undone when things go wrong. Can you start to imagine how the relatives of innocent people who have been "put down" feel.

I do however, think the police should be left to be more "brutal" like the French/Italian police. Sure you will get injustice, and you will get bad apples, but a beating can be undone. I lived in Italy for 2 years recently and you both respected and feared the police (Northern Italy, so no mafia). Over here, the police have lost their authority and therefore their respect.

[jeff oakley]

I understand your view Tonsko however we cannot compare the Us with here. In the US the reason there are so many in jails is that there is no indefinate benefits. Here no one staves, no one needs to commit crime to survive. Yes many prisoners have mental problems but every person who cold bloodedly kills must have issue we cannot understand, but that does not mean we can cure everyone and certainly not allow them on the streets.

As for rehabilitation, yes for certain inmates education can help but do not waste any of this on people who need the key throwing away. We cannot turn the clock back on some of these people, the damage is done and beyond repair. instead of trying to understand we need think of those affected by such crimes. There are two families tonight whose world has been torn apart I want people to understand what they are going through not the pruportrator.

And finally think of this, if the law is seen to be unable to do what they should because of all the wishy washey hand wringers that we have incharge we will see the rise of ordinary people doing their jobs. We have already seen vigilanties killing pedophils in this country, it will get worse if criminals are seen to have more rights and help than law abiding citizens

[pistonbroke]

You could argue that Death Row isnt a proper deterent because its full of lifers waiting for a doomsday that never comes , the same for our prisons which are to much like holiday camps offering a cushty lifestyle to the inmates rather than deterring them

I totally agree with the death penalty for certain crimes , cold blooded murder ( as in this case ) or acts of terrorism etc .

To many repeated offenders walking around for my liking , not talking murder here , but violent crime types , muggers , sex offenders, pedophiles , you naame it . we need to put them away on an island or prison ship somewhere very remote , preferably as close to the arctic circle as possible ,

You can argue that it wouldnt be a deterent all night long , but I for one would feel a lot happier knowing the scum have been taken away from a society which they have demonstrated clearly, over and over again , that they dont want to be a part of

[Tonsko]

I don't think it's to do with wanting or not to be a part of society. They just aren't, for one reason or another. They don't feel part of it, either their mind is a little fractured and they don't attach the same emotions to hurting or killing people that 'normal' folk may, or they feel that perhaps society has failed them, so why should they conform? Just 2 potential examples. It's a tricky issue, and not something that will be solved through methods and processes that exist at the moment. Death penalty doesn't work; neither does prison. What else will? In a small way, it draws parallels with the drug laws - until everyone sits down and has a proper conversation about it, with full support all the way through the system, no real solutions will be presented or progress made.

Please don't get me wrong by the way - I'm not trying to excuse the crime or the criminals. Just saying that the current way we have with dealing with lawbreakers hasn't really changed for (probably) thousands of years. It hasn't really worked yet - why will it suddenly begin to work now? The whole system has to be re-thought as current mindset and accepted wisdom is hopelessly incapable, and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

[bigals]

Not sure about the death penalty BUT they should hav e a VERY hard s***ty prison sentence with NO privelages, no TV, no internet, ****e food, no matteress etc...............

a few good prisons with staff that have the resources to make the inmates work hard six days a week 10hrs a day , and comply with the rules, no cigarettes no drugs, no PlayStation, and no messing or you lose any food privileges and we might start seeing some fear of being imprisoned, as for the lifers and murders , there should be no early release and compulsory hard work if you want more than soup and bread to eat. Part of the problem is the scum are not afraid of mixing in a pool of lowlife as it’s the same inside as out for them ie drugs violence and intimidation

we need to change the current prison system as its easier for most of the guards to turn a blind eye and let the prisoners get stoned to keep them happy for fear of having a riot on their hands, this surly its a resourcing issue so let start spending money on making prisons just that “prisons “where the crime fits the punishment and you lose your rights spend the money on the system not the prisoners.

god rest the poor WPC’s although I am at times not fans of some of the draft laws they enforce I have total respect for any of the front line police, its our fault things are slipping as we supposedly in charge of this country so ring or petition your local MP only if the masses of upright citizen stand up will any change happen

[gavinnn]

I disagree with the young people aren't disciplined enough statement; I'm 21 so have grew up with the no cane, no smacking "era" and I don't feel any harsher punishment would of made improvements to my thoughts and behaviour; the fact I have no criminal record and setting out my career/obtaining many qualifications gives a big thumbs up to the system. The people have gone the bad way would go that way no matter if you gave them a slap or whatever anyway, giving them meaningless stuff to do only makes them feel more useless and therefore makes it worse anyway.

However I do agree with the death penalty but only in some circumstances; serial killers, rapist, child molesters etc don't deserve a life as they have no excuse for what they have done and have no right to be paid for by the public. The current system does work in some ways seeing as Ian Huntley has had a terrible life in prison and that he has tried to kill himself more than once due to prisoners abusing him. What does annoy me is how people like Thompson and Venables received the easy life, get new identities and a better education than most private schools. But then one continues to reoffend and even nail his social worker.

The inevitable problem with the death penalty is that one day an innocent person will be killed and that is the reason it was abolished in the first place. I also don't believe that an eye for an eye works either; what about women that are abused then lash out but the man dies? Or your daughter gets raped, you go out in anger and kill the person who did it...why should you be killed for that? Punished, certainly, but not killed.