Monday, December 11, 2006
Another murderous weekend in modern Britain
Another weekend in Britain, and more grisly murders. Five prostitutes killed in Ipswich, the victims of a serial killer- and a man kicked to death by yobs on his way home on Saturday night in Henley. I wonder what level of violent crime we need to endure before opponents of the death penalty finally concede that its abolition in 1965 was a terrible mistake? And before those so-called 'liberals' who oppose a ban of violent videos, rap music and computer games- concede that they are in the wrong too.
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3 comments:
If capital punishment is to be reintroduced we have to make it as sure as we possibly can that such miscarriages of justice don't occur. I'm strongly in favour of the idea put forward by Peter Hitchens for instance of a new verdict- that of being guilty beyond all doubt- being brought in before anyone could be hanged. There are clearly many instances when it is 100% certain that the defendant is guilty- eg in the cases of Harold Shipman and Ian Huntley, for example. But even if we did put in extra safeguards, we can never say that a mistake would never be made. I would be lying if I said I could guarantee that miscarriages of justice would never happen. But there's no easy, cost-free solution to this. I firmly believe that many more innocent people will die if we don't restore capital punishment, than will die if we do. We don't ban air, car, bus or train travel because very occasionally people are killed, because the general benefit to society of such means of transport outweighs the negative effects. And so it is with capital punishment.
I hope that answers your question.
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