I personally am not for capital punishment at all, and there are a few reasons for this.

1) Whilst it has been extremely rare, there have been cases where people have been killed for a crime that they did not commit. The thought of this happening makes me feel quite ill, as does the thought that whilst an innocent person, who for whatever reason, managed to get into the position where they're to be killed for something which wasn't their doing, a guilty party is left roaming our streets. Suppose an innocent man is executed for killing a girl. The murderer is free to roam the streets and commit crime again, because no one is looking for a suspect as they are assuming they've just killed them. And yes, people can argue that it's very rare that the wrong person gets killed-if it happens at all then it is one time too many for me.

2)Some people who commit crimes have got serious mental problems which can lead them to do things which they would not have done had they been mentally stable. To simply tar everyone who commits serious crimes with the same brush is quite unacceptable in my opinion, and those who commit crimes whilst being proven to have mental illness should be given the medication and help with their illness that they're entitled to. I know someone will come back and say 'but if a member of your family got killed by a schizophrenic, would you be happy to just see him put into an institution and looked after.' the answer is that I genuinely have no clue how I would react if something happened to someone in my family, but I think in discussing topics like these it's important to not make it 'personal.' So, I believe that killers/rapists who have proven mental problems be rehabilitated in the most appropriate way, rather than executed.

3) Different countries have different rules and regulations for different crimes. What may not be a problem in the UK could mean something altogether different in another country. this means that there's no consistency in whats a 'crime' and what isn't, which means there is vast differences in what will get you killed in one country, but not another. This scares me, to be frank. As well as this, punishing someone with death isn't going to deter others anyway. I know that prison doesn't necessarily deter criminals, but when people commit crimes such as murder and rape, I doubt they are really thinking about what is going to happen to them afterwards. And, to be honest, I don't think that people who commit vile acts such as rape, abuse and murder, should be allowed to 'escape' from what they've done by being executed-they should have to live in their prison cell and actually suffer for what they have done. Capital Punishment doesn't really allow for this, since death occurs pretty quickly.

4)I personally believe that 'an eye for an eye' isn't a very good justification for the use of capital punishment. Suppose someone crashes into your car? Do you think its appropriate to do the same back to them, you know, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and all that? It seems quite a chidlish approach to me. Kind of like kids in a playground crying 'he hit me first so I hit him back.'

5)If there is capital punishment there is also death row, which needs to be financed by the tax payers-without capital punishment there would perhaps be more money available to spend on healthcare and education etc.

I just really can't support the notion of capital punishment, although I do find it a very interesting topic. I understand that there are very strong opinions on either side of the arguement and there will never be complete agreement on the best option, but I for one am in the 'against' camp...