This is disgusting. I agree that MPs shouldn't ignore important e-petitions about relevant issues that concern people - but bringing back the death penalty is nothing short of barbaric and pointless, not least because we already got rid of it in the 60s. The people who believe it is a good idea and that it will deflect people from committing crimes only have to look at death row in America to know that's not true. There is just as much crime in countries that have the death penalty than there is countries that don't.
I don't believe that any human action justifies the taking of even the most disgusting of human beings. It is better to make them suffer with life then end with death. Anyone would tell you that child killers and molesters are considered the lowest of the low even amongst other criminals. Men who have murdered their wives, girlfriends or just random adults take the moral high ground and make those who harm children felt like the dirt most people would agree they are. By executing them they escape living a long and miserable life in prison.
But that is an argument that ALL anti-capital punishment believers argue.
The reason I oppose it is simply because the outcry against it in this country back in the 1960s when it was outlawed. Roy Jenkins oversaw its final end, but many other people who had campaigned to end the death penalty in the UK for decades before it finally ended. It was decided that the practise was barbaric, and it is. I don't see why organised murder is any better than disorganised murder. Seeing as the only practical application the death penalty has is to free up prison space, you could do that by giving people who commit more petty crimes lighter sentences. I know that's an unpopular thought with a lot of people - but frankly nicking a couple of packets of pasta from ASDA isn't really a crime at all when you consider 1.) How rich these supermarkets are and 2.) That crimes like this make up the majority of crimes committed in the UK, and yet we indulge the rich companies by allowing them to seek the harshest penalty.
Surely it's the government's fault if things have got so desperate people have taken to being kleptomaniacs in order to get by. Punishment should fit the crime - and so when such a person is caught but never spends time in prison, I seriously couldn't care less.
Back to the death penalty, I think it would be idiotic and naive of the government to indulge such an argument when people, in general, are collectively as thick as two planks of wood. It makes no difference to the British people whatsoever whether there is capital punishment or not, so why waste money and time debating a non-issue that was cleaned up years ago. I'm one of those people who doesn't even thik terrorists should be executed if they are caught in the practise of committing a crime, not just because given they set bombs the idea of dying doesn't bother them (At least, that's the case with the Al-Qaeeda terrorist, the RIRA terrorists are just backwards thinking twats who think it's a good idea to kick up a fuss in Northern Ireland by shooting people and doesn't do a thing to promote republicanism) and also because executing people is the practise of these people, and therefore we should hold ourselves above it. They want to be with God so much, they can bloody well wait until He kills them. I don't see why we should give any man or woman who commits an unthinkable crime the penalty of death.
I also don't see why the government should consider such a backwards thinking policy that doesn't help anyone. People argue that it helps the victims families by giving justice - but to execute someone for killing someone else dates back to a very old fashioned 'eye for an eye' way of thinking. That's not justice, that's revenge. Justice should come with the proving and convicting of the person who commits the crime. The acting of executing someone is just worthless revenge. It benefits no one. I don't believe that executing someone for a crime would make the victims or their families feel any better about what happened. Killing them doesn't altar things.
The bottom line is that I disagree with capital punishment, and I believe so on grounds of having actually read the history of it and thought about it. Most people who sign these petitions haven't thought about it, they just think its a good idea. Bring it back and almost immediately you would have people take the streets demanding it be reversed. We went through the argument on capital pubishment, and decided to outlaw it. The country is no worse off without it and would not be better off with it.
Like I said, you, me and individual people are intelligent creatures. People, however, are stupid, thick and make more noise than sense. I despise this government we currently have with every fibre of my being as we have some how ended up with a party committed to destroying the lives of the oridinary people. If this vote went through, I fear it would be because the Tories wanted to vote for something they *think* the public want - not what's good for them. A popularity boost is all they care about, yet they only conceed on things that won't effect them or go against their Tory beliefs (which is to cut things that people actually do need - like a functioning NHS and jobs).
Interesting that only the Tory newspapers seem to have given this argument the time of day. Probably because only Conservatives vote for it. However I feel that capital punishment is not the business of the people. I'm sorry, I just don't. It is the business of the controlling elite and they should no better than jabbering voice boxes who support anything that seems like a good idea without actually understanding it.
It's just a worthless issue that doesn't help anyone nor does it benefit society in any real way. It doesn't.
Probably the best argument against this whole this is that people - like the ordinary people who don't care most of the time - would almost certainly vote against the reintroduction of the death penalty. Like I already said, it seems ironic that only the right-wing papers masterbated over this entire story. The Daily Fail most of all. Idiotic twats.
PS: Just to give you an idea of how stupid it would be for the government to "bend" to the naivity of public pressure - or the empty vassels that make the most noise - take a look at this part of Charlie Brooker's 2009 Review of the year on the horrible C4 show The Execution of Gary Glitter. I always like to use Charlie Brooker's commentary on TV and issues in the news because he breaks it down without dumbing it down.
PS: Just to give you an idea of how stupid it would be for the government to "bend" to the naivity of public pressure - or the empty vassels that make the most noise - take a look at this part of Charlie Brooker's 2009 Review of the year on the horrible C4 show The Execution of Gary Glitter. I always like to use Charlie Brooker's commentary on TV and issues in the news because he breaks it down without dumbing it down.
