If a crime is that serious, make them suffer Prison for life (Capital punishment)

Member Name: johnnycarrotheid

Product:	Capital punishment
Date:	01/07/06 (637 review reads)
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My personal opinion of Capital Punishment, is that in effect it is pointless, in the context of the UK which i will write about.

In the UK, this subject pops up every so often, every time some psycho out there does something for the media to latch onto and exploit.
The subject of Capital Punishment is not worth arguing however, without a look at the UK justice system as a whole.

A lot of the resentment of the current justice system, is that it is perceived that our system is too "soft" and the prisons are little more than holiday camps.
There is really no point in anyone arguing against this point as current prisons are by far too lenient, i myself also believing so.
Take an example...
Jody Jones was a teenager killed by her boyfriend brutally in a country path. She was tied up, knifed in various areas and eventually killed.
Her killer was given 20 years.
Now this may be fair enough to some.....but
Ignoring the fact that prison sentences are generally reduced anyway for good behaviour, his prison "cell" is most likely more luxurious than whatever he had before he went to prison.
He has a TV, CD player, Playstation 2, Electric Guitar etc etc all in his cell.
I'm sorry, but who actually considers this a "Prison" ???

While stories like this continue to emerge, the debate over Capital Punishment will go on.
Simply as a way to counter what is seen by most to be terribly easy conditions in Prisons.

The simple solution i see is to make prison more like an actual prison.
Stick them behind Bars...not heavy doors from Ikea.

It is a fact that if you were made homeless, and ended up in a homeless shelter, the conditions and support you would get are barely survivable and often reminiscent of a third world country.
However, commit a crime, and get sent to a cushy prison, 3 meals a day, safe secure lodgings, Sky TV, Education, everything provided for you and any electrical devices you can get sent to keep you amused.

Now added to this is the lenient sentences often handed down.
I think a major overhaul of sentences needs to be undertaken to sort this out.
For murder you can get 15 years. If you can get it down to manslaughter that is even less. With time taken off for good behaviour and rehabilitation, this can go down ridiculously low. 8 years for killing someone is fairly common now.
8 years for taking a life is just not justice.
Hell i know of someone locally that got off with about 4 years for killing someone in a fight mistakenly.....with a knife.
Em sorry if he had a knife, it wasnt a mistake.

A review of our current system is a lot better than the other option.
Capital punishment should not be re-introduced into the UK.
Yes, in some cases i agree with it in principle, but with anything, especially in government, it is open to abuse and mistakes.
The possibility of killing an innocent person is too much and should never be risked.

For a comparison you could look at the USA.
Capital Punishment has no effect over there at all. No-one is put off by the idea of being executed. Possibly because they would die of old age by the time they got to the execution.

For another example look at the case of Kenny Richey.
A Scot on the US death row for the past 19 years. This is despite his conviction being overturned, due to new ways of looking at evidence and the fact it was mostly guesswork anyway. The state is appealing it, and as such, since he appealed for 19 years, the state is carrying it on. They dont want to admit they have had an innocent man on Death Row for 19 years, do they.
This just shows how messed up a leal system can get when dealing with an issue like this, trying to balance the accused's rights with the states version of justice.

The legal framework for a system of Capital Punishement, would ultimately only benefit the lawyers. They would make a fortune appealing cases for this long.
A policy of capital punishment would be lengthy to implement, as it would need to fit into the current system so no doubt need a raft of laws re-written.
It would most likely go againt most of our international treaties as well.
Sure the EU wouldnt like it very much.

Theres the moral argument as well, which basically splits people into two camps.
I personally believe if you kill, you should face the same.
Now i know many will go against this and see it as wrong to take a life.
But for miltiple mass murderers no prison is going to scare them, or ever punish them accordingly for what they have done.
It would be good in principle for people such as this, but for day to day muder cases, there would always be an element of doubt, and the possibility of innocents on death row is too much, in my opinion to ever implement it.

Summary: Good principle but would never work