The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

There have been numerous comments of late fueled by the recent killing of our soldier. Some who did not believe in the death penalty may be having second thoughts - others just go with the biggest crowd puller. and then the stats have been quoted - in an attempt to prove that the death penalty either did not prevent more murders or did.

And now PNG has re-introduced the death penalty probably because it is unable to control the increasing number of gang rapes, murders etc. so lets fall back on the threat of 'if you do it we'll kill you' - it don't work!

Amnesty International has strongly condemned the move as has the PNG Catholic church. Civilized societies claim that using the death penalty is a law of the old testament 'an eye for an eye an tooth for a tooth' and does not have a place in modern society - how stand you?

ps: mind you I think PNG has always had a 'death penalty' culture in an non-formal way - so that hasn't worked either

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

I am someone who has been slowly changing her mind over the past few years, prison is no longer working so something has to happen. I have even campaigned against the death penalty in the past so something must be very wrong for me to be questioning should it come back.

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

I too think we should reintroduce the death penalty in the very worst cases which are proved beyond ANY doubt. Exactly which cases would have to be dicussed at length. Maybe the death penalty would not deter murderers Mindbender but at least it would give justice to those left behind.

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

Me too, the sooner the better.

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

I've never been opposed to the death penalty. My problem is that our legal system isn't good enough to ensure that only the guilty are convicted.

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

Precisely. This knee-jerk reaction against the death penalty relies on people believing we'd go back to the bad old days when people were hanged for stealing a loaf of bread.

There are rogue people just as there are rogue animals and no amount of talking things through will help them.

It almost certainly would not deter killings but it would remove the type of killer, that cannot be reformed, from taking someone else's life: people have a right to live without fear of being murdered.

If there is an effective alternative, let's hear it.

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

Karen darlin' - there is an alternative - the judges have the option but too seldom utilise it - that is a 'whole life' sentence - i.e the prisoner convicted of very serious crimes (not just murder) will be detained (without parole) for the remainder of his/her life. A much more humane way of dealing with deviants.

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

So if it is available, why is it never used?

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

I didn't say its NEVER used, I said its SELDOM used. One of the reasons I presume is a lack of prison space.

Re: The Death Penalty has reared its ugly head!

Sorry for misreading your post Uncle Joe - I can only put it down to never having read about life meaning life actually happening and my brain did a quick, but foolhardy, change in seeing what I believed rather than what I'd actually read!

Then maybe the solution would be to stop putting people in prison when prison isn't the solution (like non-payment of fines or council tax) and use community-based work instead as a way of making reparation?