Remember this face .......................

[jonny72]

For me, no matter what someone does the death penalty is never the answer. Firstly, its barbaric and has no place in anyr society. Secondly, I don't think its the worst punishment that can be given - a life time of basic privileges, hard labour and a small cell is a lot worse than a relatively quick and painless death. Plus there is no evidence to suggest that the death penalty works as a deterrent for any crimes.

I'd prefer to keep them locked up and have doctors / therapists / whoever work with them to figure out what causes it and if there is any way to cure them. Most importantly though, they should figure out if there are any ways of identifying a possible future offender and getting to them before they can do anything.

[Doore]

I'm with Jonny on this one.  In my view, the protection of the child comes first.  Therefore, continued detention and supervision is the answer.  It protects the potential victims, and allows further research in to the psychological motives and reasons behind it - furthering hope that we can work out why people abuse children and possibly how we can prevent it.

The death penalty is something I will always be opposed to.   In this particular area, it would be detrimental to the cause - to put it bluntly, it would be losing out on scientific research.  The death penalty is a deterrent - we need a prevention.

[axs]

what they said ^^^^

[jonny72]

Fuck me. Two people running have agreed with something I said. Call the McWhirter's.

[pauld]

Fuck me. Two people running have agreed with something I said. Call the McWhirter's.

You're completely wrong. There? That better?

[Don Rogers Shop]

Sorry paul i was agreeing with what u said about lenient sentencing. Brady and west both had done time for rape before going on to murder.

[pauld]

Sorry paul i was agreeing with what u said about lenient sentencing. Brady and west both had done time for rape before going on to murder.

Doh! Didn't spot that (in fact didn't know that). Once again, I bow before your greater knowledge DRS

[Phil_S]

The death penalty has several advantages. It is possibly a bigger deterent, & justice would be seen to be done, & reoffending would NOT be possible. The disadvantage is that you may execute the wrong (innocent) person.
When it was abolished it was generally understood & accepted that life would mean life, & I guess most would accept that. The problem is that Life now means a few years, in a comfortable prison with playstations, day release & all other mod cons. Even with the sentences available the judges rarely (if ever) apply the maximum even in the very worst cases. This allied with the goverments ridiculous blanket early release scheme & refusal to build/ make more prison spaces.
Those in authority also appear to view crimes against property as more serious than crimes against the person.
On a general note most serious crime is committed by people with a history of lesser crime, ie you read /hear about so many murders by criminals with a previous string of convictions for which they have not been properly punished.
I know one thing though. If someone is banged up, they are not very likely to reoffend whilst locked away. (The killers of those french students being just the latest example)
The question then arises as to where you draw the line. As I said earlier does a 16/17 yr old sleeping with a 15 yr old girl mean that he is a paedophile (or will be in the future). If convicted, (& I acknowledge he may not be prosecuted) he is treated the same & has to sign the sexual offenders register etc. I don't think the change in the law helps here at all (I understand it would be statuary rape).
I don't pretend to know the answers, but just think that the justice system is woefully inadequate as it stands.

[Melksham Red]

 As I said earlier does a 16/17 yr old sleeping with a 15 yr old girl mean that he is a paedophile

Of course not. If he forces himself on her however, then that would make him a rapist.

There are many grey areas unfortunately.

[Arriba]

whatever people believe about the death penalty i am sure offenders woiuldn't be scared off by it.crimes will still be committed.
i'm leaning in favour of putting certain criminals to sleep due to cost.why should these low lives be funded at massive costs to exist in prison?
that said maybe suffering for years in prison is a very harsh punishmnent,and many like huntley would rather be dead.
of course lines need to be drawn,and limits set.may well be an impossible job? but the miscarraiges of justice are becoming ess frequent.dna, etc has come on a long way and alot of cases are set in stone.
i dont agree with letting sickos loose in oopen areas of prisons,as thats just letting other criminals deal with it.

[Simon Pieman]

It costs more to sentence people to death than to put them in for life (to their death).

[Arriba]

really? how is that?

[Simon Pieman]

In an ideal world they wouldn't be detained for long but in practice it doesn't happen. There's a couple of links google has found for me which sum it up quite well. The first link is more concise but the second is more interesting. The third shows that loads of studies through the years have found it to be more expensive than life imprisonment without parole.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/death-penalty-facts/death-penalty-cost/page.do?id=1101084

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29552692/

http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42

[Phil_S]

In an ideal world they wouldn't be detained for long but in practice it doesn't happen. There's a couple of links google has found for me which sum it up quite well. The first link is more concise but the second is more interesting. The third shows that loads of studies through the years have found it to be more expensive than life imprisonment without parole.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/death-penalty-facts/death-penalty-cost/page.do?id=1101084

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29552692/

http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42

The point made in the third one is that life really does mean life. To me that is the key thing.

[jonny72]

For everyone in favour of the death penalty, where would you draw the line?

What if the offender had learning disabilities, mental health problems, grew up in care, had been routinely abused as a child whilst in care and clearly had no idea what they were doing was wrong as it was the norm for them?

An extreme case admittedly, but should they get the death penalty?