It has come to this bloggers understanding that the MP's of our great nation will once again be called on to debate the ultimate sanction - the death penalty. Let me be loud and clear about this, any society purporting to be civilised cannot enter any rational notion that the death penalty is acceptable.
TIMOTHY JOHN EVANS
DEREK BENTLEY
These are names that are forever etched on my mind and should be yours. Two innocent people who were wrongly hanged in a world that believed the killing of children and police officers to be abhorrent. Today there are calls from the far right in British Politics to bring back those days for it will stop murder.
Wrong! There is no overwhelming evidence that even suggests that the death penalty will prevent murder. If someone sets out to commit murder by any means then there is nothing except their own mind that will prevent that from happening. Unless of course we have just moved into the world of Minority Report and pre-crime has been established!
The Death Penalty is just a social revenge, no more, no less. I do not want the state or any other person to carry it out in my name. I have worked all my life to preserve and to save life. I have worked to give people a better quality of life and I cannot defend any system that will allow the sanitised murder of another human being.
You may think I am being naive, possibly. You may think that I am being soft on crime, nonsense. I do not think the way we treat our most heinous criminals as good. I think it is wrong that these criminals of the worst possible inclination are allowed to litigate against the state because of a few cuts and bruises they sustained, but I cannot for the life in me do anything but wonder at those who would have the trap door swinging again.
For those of you who saw the execution of Saddam Hussein on the web, and I confess I watched it like many others, it was no better than leading a lamb to slaughter. I have seen many programmes with the execution scene being acted but I felt that I had to know what the real thing looked liked so that I could confirm my absolute hatred of Capital Punishment. It confirmed to me once and for all that we must not allow the zealots the opportunity to bring this back.
People say to me what if it were my child that had been murdered wouldn't you want revenge? Of course that would be my primary emotion following sadness and then anger. But in the cold hard world of reality I seek to improve the human race not to send it back to the dark ages. And in return to those who ask me the above question I ask the question, what if your child was innocent but falsely condemned and executed? Would you shout large for hanging et al then?
You will have a myriad of views on this emotive subject I know however for once stand back and silently remember that we are civilised and should know better.
It does not mean give those convicted a cushy life, far from it but we cannot revert to something that is inhuman.
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