Monday, July 16, 2007

Do you agree with bringing back the death penalty?

There are times when I would willingly agree with the death penalty, and even fight to bring it back.
I say sometimes because there has been occasions when the death penalty has been used for the wrong reason.
A perfect example of this would be Ruth Ellis.

Ruth Ellis was hanged on 13th July 1955.

She was convicted of murdering her boyfriend.
A man that had abused her and she could not take it anymore.

However, there was and still is a lot of people who believe that she should not have been hanged. She should have been imprisoned with the chance of being released.

However, when it comes to terrorists then that is a totally different matter.
What do we do with them?
Imprison them, and for how long?

There has been talk of treating them like prisoners of war. I actually agree with this. They would have no special treatment.
As long as they are put away for the rest of their lives.
That way they cannot harm anyone.
We must build a special prison for them, something like Alcrataz.

Or do we go back to the days of the death penalty and hang them?

If we hang them then surely it would be a deterrent to others?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't it strange? If a man kills a woman - everyone screams that he should be hanged. But, if a woman kills a man, then.....well, somehow that's different!
Says who? Don't tell me, let me guess!

TotallyUn-Pc said...

Its a bit of a poser, beacause part of me finds the thought of handind a little barbaric. The Sadam Hussein buisness went a long way to show its totally undignified and frought with peasantry, and I believe even our society is better than that.
The other thing is... what if we get it wrong. Hanging one wrong person undermines to whole purpose of the free world and plays right into the hands of the killers and terrorists.
The plus side is, that convictions are far safer these days, forensics are almost irributtable. So there is less chance of getting the wrong person.
Rather than mandetory, it could be a CHOICE made by sentancing judges, but an injection, rather that a public hanging would sit better with me.

Despite my hatred of criminals, and the despicable cowardly acts of terrorists, there is something inside me that finds the public display of their death unsettling!

Great question though! Always one for debate.

Annette said...

TUPC:
I agree that the Sadam Hussein business was dreadful. But we would not behave like that anyway. We are to dignified for that.
I was going to say about making sure we do not hang the wrong ones!
I am still in two minds wether I would want the death penalty back.....although I am leaning towards it more.

McNoddy said...

I have a very simple take on this. If you believe in the death penalty then can YOU carry out the deed and not entrust it to others where it's out of sight and mind. If you don't think you could or should, then there is no argument for it. Anyway, even if someone does take a life or lives, shouldn't we be BETTER than them and show mercy?

... and then there's always the miscarriages of justice to consider. You cannot bring them back to life and say sorry!

Annette said...

Dickiebo:
I know it probably does seem unfair when we say women should not be executed for murder. But the fact is they usually have had a lot of physical and mental abuse over a number of years. And then they just snap.
He gets what he deserves.
You don't get a man saying he was physically abused....because , let's face it, women don't tend to do that.
A man is a lot stronger physically so he can hold down a woman, if a woman tries to do the same with a man he would just push her away.
That's the difference.

Anonymous said...

You don't know Barbara!!!

Annette said...

Oh Dickiebo,
You do make me laugh!
x