I think it is difficult to have a rational debate on whether or not the death penalty should be reintroduced in the wake of an alleged crime like this, as understandably, emotions are running high.
That said however, I am strongly opposed to Capital punishment on three counts.
Firstly, I personally believe that no one, including a Judge acting on behalf of a state, should have the right to take another person’s life.
Secondly, I don't agree with advocates of the death penalty who argue that it would act as a deterrent.
An extensive survey was carried out in the US over two decades up to 2010, which concluded that, “States without the Death Penalty Have Had Consistently Lower Murder Rates.” It’s also worth noting that most murders are not premeditated and it’s unlikely that those that are, are committed by rationally thinking people.
Last, but not least, you cannot resurrect someone who the state has executed for a murder they didn’t commit.
To illustrate this point more clearly, allow me to post an extract from an article written some time ago by Dr Michael Naughton, one of the country’s leading experts on miscarriages of justice. Although a bit dated, it’s still very relevant to this debate.
We tend to think about miscarriages of justice as rare and exceptional occurrences. Prominent cases such as the Birmingham six, Guildford Four, Bridgewater four, M25 three, Cardiff three, Stephen Downing, and so on create the impression that miscarriages of justice are seen as very much an intermittent, high profile and small scale problem; that there are very few victims in the context of the statistics of all criminal convictions. But there are many more cases than those which receive prominent coverage in the media. Those cases of criminal conviction that are routinely quashed by the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), or by the Crown Court for convictions previously obtained in the magistrates' court have received no attention at all.
If we pay more attention to these routinely quashed convictions, we find a scale of miscarriage of justice to fundamentally challenge any notion that the current system of criminal justice is weighted too much in favour of the defendant. The Lord Chancellor's Department's statistics on successful appeals against criminal conviction show that in the decade 1989-1999 the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) abated over 8,470 criminal convictions - a yearly average of 770. In addition, there are around 3,500 quashed criminal convictions a year at the Crown Court for convictions obtained at the magistrates' courts. Contrary to popular perceptions, then, wrongful criminal convictions are a normal, everyday feature of the criminal justice system - the system doesn't just sometimes get it wrong, it gets it wrong everyday, of every week, of every month of every year. With the result that thousands of innocent people experience a whole variety of harmful consequences that wrongful criminal convictions engender.
Bear in mind that some of the wrongful convictions highlighted by Dr Naughton, were secured on dodgy evidence brought to the courts by the police and the CPS. In the case of Stephen Downing, He was taken to the police station, questioned for nine hours without a solicitor present, and signed a confession, even though he had a reading age of an 11 year old. Along with many more, he would be dead now.
Let’s not forget the main reason the death penalty was abolished because the state was executing too many innocent people.
Apologies for such a long post, but a very complex issue.
