Gets my vote

[Steve Bullman]

What if they were a drink driver and had crashed and not hurt anyone. Would you still want them hanged?

 

well thats a bit different isnt it.....i think a lifetime ban should be considered though for drink drivers

[daveindales]

well thats a bit different isnt it.....i think a lifetime ban should be considered though for drink drivers

 

I agree. I know we are slightly of topic here, but a lifetime ban for all drink drivers would be fine with me. I never even have a shandy when out. For me, it's not the fact that you may be over the limit, but the fact that you might injure or kill someone; and thats somethink I could never live with.

[Big J]

This is a bit of a depressing thread.

 

If you look at the death penalty purely objectively, divorced from all emotional content, the countries and states with capital punishment also have the highest crime (murder) rates. It simply does not work as a deterrent.

 

Additionally, if you look at the countries with the most punitive penal systems (the US springs to mind here) they also have the highest crime rates.

 

Basically, a punitive and retribution based justice system does not achieve it's stated goal of preventing crime in the first place. It effectively breeds contempt for the law, and causes crime. For instance, reoffending rates once released from prison in the US are between 50-60%, whereas in Norway, they are 20%.

 

I realise that it is extremely difficult to divorce oneself from the emotional weighting of a crime, but unless the justice system can move from punitive to rehabilitating, things aren't going to get any better. The problem with the UK is that we fall into neither camp. We don't serve long sentences, nor do we make much (if any) effort to rehabilitate our prisoners.

 

Jonathan

[Ian Leach]

Don't know what to think about the death penalty tbh, but if a family member got hurt then they better hope the police gets to them first.

 

Bring back kids borstol get them sorted when there young, or they could also be branded like cattle are and have to live with it for the rest of there lives for the whole world to see.

[skyhuck]

This is a bit of a depressing thread.

 

If you look at the death penalty purely objectively, divorced from all emotional content, the countries and states with capital punishment also have the highest crime (murder) rates. It simply does not work as a deterrent.

 

 

Really???

 

Are you saying that all these country's (which have the death penalty) have higher crime rates than us???????

 

 

•Afghanistan

•Antigua and Barbuda

•Bahamas

•Bahrain

•Bangladesh

•Barbados

•Belarus

•Belize

•Botswana

•Burundi

•Cameroon

•Chad

•China (People's Republic)

•Comoros

•Congo (Democratic Republic)

•Cuba

•Dominica

•Egypt

•Equatorial Guinea

•Eritrea

•Ethiopia

•Gabon

•Ghana

•Guatemala

•Guinea

•Guyana

•India

•Indonesia

•Iran

•Iraq

•Jamaica

•Japan

•Jordan

•Korea, North

•Korea, South

•Kuwait

•Laos

•Lebanon

•Lesotho

•Libya

•Malawi

•Malaysia

•Mongolia

•Nigeria

•Oman

•Pakistan

•Palestinian Authority

•Qatar

•St. Kitts and Nevis

•St. Lucia

•St. Vincent and the Grenadines

•Saudi Arabia

•Sierra Leone

•Singapore

•Somalia

•Sudan

•Swaziland

•Syria

•Taiwan

•Tajikistan

•Tanzania

•Thailand

•Trinidad and Tobago

•Uganda

•United Arab Emirates

•United States

•Vietnam

•Yemen

•Zambia

•Zimbabwe

 

 

Read more: The Death Penalty Worldwide — Infoplease.com The Death Penalty Worldwide — Infoplease.com

[Daniël Bos]

Really???

 

Are you saying that all these country's (which have the death penalty) have higher crime rates than us???????

 

 

•Afghanistan

•Antigua and Barbuda

•Bahamas........

...

•Yemen

•Zambia

•Zimbabwe

 

 

Read more: The Death Penalty Worldwide — Infoplease.com The Death Penalty Worldwide — Infoplease.com

 

what a pointless post! Unfortunately you cannot compare crime rates like that, In the UK you can get 6 weeks jail for giving someone some free shaving foam, in Ghana you can stone your wife if she slept with another man and it will not be a recorded crime.

[DWOM]

That list is full of oppressive regimes and nations that have appalling human rights records.

 

It really is a depressing thread.

[skyhuck]

what a pointless post! Unfortunately you cannot compare crime rates like that, In the UK you can get 6 weeks jail for giving someone some free shaving foam, in Ghana you can stone your wife if she slept with another man and it will not be a recorded crime.

 

Err, I was only responding to the claim that "all the countries that have the death penalty have higher crime rates than us"

 

So its not pointless at all!!!!

[David Goss]

Very true J but what can be done? its a catch 22 really.

Our system does not work and never will because it is easier for them to get and do what they want in prison. A guy who was in prison once said to me, and i quote "that was a doddle, its like going on holiday haha. You can get any drugs you want, use the gym and get fit for fighting on a saturday nights hehe!" Does that sound like what prison should be? He also told me that he has no fear of going back. He has subsequently been back a few times since then and is still fighting and beating people up on whatever nights he feels like.

To me prison should be a little cell with a mattress and a bog. Nothing else except maybe a hook on the roof and a coil of rope in the corner just in case they want to save us some time and money on the bread. Call me old fashioned but to me that would put people off doing it again, it certainly would put me off.

The problem is population, we are so many. I mean this world over, we have bad people and good people but the more people there is then the more of each we get. crime rates rise because population rises. Same as almost everything. Space and jobs are becoming rarer the more population there is so people turn to crime to get the cash they need for whatever. Cultural differences and where you stay are all big factors on how you will turn out. Its almost impossible in my eyes to solve this problem but the fact remains that people kill other people and do other nasty things because they are evil to the core, and at the moment all we do is send them to a "holiday camp":thumbdown:

[Big J]

I would say for the most part, yes 'huck.

 

Looking at the list, it is a mixture of (predominantly) developing nations and authoritarian regimes. Quite a lot of Caribbean islands too, bizarrely!

 

I'm not saying that I do not empathise with the desire for revenge when a crime has been committed. I'm not saying that the people who are put to death don't deserve it, but I am saying that empirically it does not reduce the crime rate and is therefore a pointless exercise in primitive, uncivilised behaviour.

 

In my opinion, a culture which views there to be a legal instance in which taking a person's life is not only acceptable, but legally required, is far more likely to have a higher rate of murder.

 

Jonathan