| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Wayne Couzens - Bring back the Death Penalty? | |
| Posted by: | Vlod Barchuk | |
| Date/Time: | 11/10/21 10:18:00 |
| Good question. Let's try identifying the number of incorrect murder convictions in recent years. There have been four convictions for murder since 2000 that have been overturned (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_miscarriage_of_justice_cases#United_Kingdom), the most famous being that of Barry George for the murder of Jill Dando. In three of these cases (including Barry George's) the forensic evidence was been nil or poor, but let's say 4 potentially wrongful murders in 20 years. There are about 650 murders a years, so knowing how murder increased in the years after capital punishment was abolished one could reasonably assume that at least a third (c200) innocent people might not be killed if their attacker knew they risked facing the gallows. Saving 200 innocent lives a years at the risk of executing about one innocent person every 5 years is acceptable to me; we tacitly accept the killing of innocent people when we go to war ('collateral damage' is the usual euphemism) and any human system is bound to be imperfect. So I'd put the question back to you: how many innocent people are you prepared to have murdered because you're worried about the state wrongfully killing a relatively small number of innocent people? |