| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Wayne Couzens - Bring back the Death Penalty? | |
| Posted by: | Simon Hayes | |
| Date/Time: | 11/10/21 16:30:00 |
| State sponsored killing won’t stop murder. It’s unlikely to be any deterrent to those determined enough to carry out, say, a suicide bombing (though the death penalty would be otiose in such an instance anyway). It won’t stop teenagers carrying knives. It won’t stop them using them in the heat of the moment. It won’t stop the psychopaths like Harold Shipman or Fred and Rose West. It won’t stop those who feel they have a political agenda, and it risks making martyrs of those punished by hanging. Did it stop murders in the cause of Irish independence 100 years ago? No. And it wouldn’t have stopped the Provisional iRA and other paramilitary groups in the 70s, 89s and 90s. I’ve been to a few murder trials. They are pretty grim and the pressure on jurors is intense. Not everyone thinks in black and white terms on jury service. Cranking up the pressure with a potential capital punishment outcome might result in trials collapsing. Not everything is always as clear cut as it might first appear. Just ask Colin Stagg. Better policing would be a preferable option. You talk about law enforcement, but the law is often not enforced at all for a variety of reasons. We have a lot of badly thought out criminal laws and we have some far too lenient sentencing options. Perhaps that all needs an overhaul before anything else. |