This is the first of a series of blogs that Ive decided to write in regards to Crime, Punishment and the Society we live in. Ive decided to start with, Punishment and why I believe we need Capital Punishment. This is something that I personally feel very strongly about and have done for many years. I believe that its time for the powers that be to have a serious debate about this, I shall discuss my reasons for this and I don't expect everyone to agree, but that is the beauty of our democratic right isn't it? So the purpose of this blog is to get the debate started amongst friends, to see if others agree with me or if I'm out there on my own with what I believe is right for now. Let the debate begin.
I believe that we need to have Capital Punishment reinstated in this country. Ive thought about it for many years now and I feel that there are certain crimes that are so disgusting in this day and age that there cannot be any other punishment other than the ultimate punishment. It isn't every one's opinion I understand that, but I cannot stomach the thought that I am paying to keep people like Roy
Whitting, Ian Huntley and Rose West alive in prison.
I do not condone an eye for an eye, however the death of a child in the hands of paedophile needs to be addressed with the strongest possible punishment. There also needs to be a deterrent for serial killers as well. There cannot be any reason for these people to be kept alive. I don't accept that these people can be rehabilitated, that's just social worker talk, they cant be. They were born this way. They inflict on children the most despicable crimes for their own sick pleasure. The mass murderer will keep going until he is caught. Inflicting fear on people, not knowing if they are going to be the next victim. Why should we, the majority of us, law abiding citizens have to tolerate these people.
You have people like Ian Brady who toy with peoples lives just so as they can get cushier prison cells, people like Peter
Sutcliffe, although not a paedophile granted but a mass murder all the same, trying to go for parole, why?. This was a man who terrorised Yorkshire in the late 1970's and early 1980's, a man who has never shown remorse for his crimes, a man who left children orphaned and people are still suffering to this day for the crimes that he committed over 30 years ago.
People will argue that you cannot differentiate between one murder and another. Yes you can when it comes to the death of a child. These people are sick individuals who don't want to be cured. They operate in secret society's sharing pictures and in the worse cases children. They groom these children, gaining their trust and then threatening them with harm if they tell anyone.
The same applies to the serial killer, they stalk people, normally vulnerable people, toying with them until they are ready to strike, ruining peoples life's for their own sick pleasure. They strike fear into communities, only they know when they will strike, to them its a game, a game of power, they think they are cleverer than the Police and continue to kill until they are caught. Well lets take that power away from them.Times have changed and we need to act now. We need to have a proper deterrent that will make these people stop and think about what they are doing.
They have no deterrent now, a life sentence in a prison where they are allowed protection from other prisoners who may harm them, how is that a deterrent?. They will be allowed to live like this for the rest of their lives. Segregated with round the clock guards, all that money wasted on them and for what? When they are attacked the people that attack them are made heroes in prison. That doesn't help them or their families does it? It certainly doesn't help the victims of the original crime. A person in prison should not be inflicting their own punishment because society has been too scared to take that action.
There used to be an argument that you couldn't be 100% certain that the conviction was safe. There are numerous examples of miscarriages of justice down the years, The Birmingham Six, for one. However modern policing and more importantly, modern science doesn't get this wrong now with DNA samples being the norm. These were used very successfully in the conviction of Roy
Whitting the paedophile who killed Sarah Payne.
There is an argument for all murders to be executed, that's not what I'm saying and I believe there are too many different circumstances with regards to these types of crimes. There is the fight that goes to far, the drunk driver, the wife who kills an abusive husband, too many different outcomes and circumstances. Too many unintended deaths. I'm not taking away from the victims of these crimes how painful this is, all death is painful for the people left behind. The difference with the two examples I am using is they set out to do this. They plan it for many months before they strike. What I am saying is that IF you kill a child for your own sick pleasure, IF you go on the rampage and kill numerous people, then you have forgone your right to live and must be dealt with in the strongest possible way.
Albert
Pierrepoint was perhaps the most famous mass murder this country ever had, he did however act within the law as he was as known as the Hangman. In his autobiography he details the people he met down the years and at the end he comes to the conclusion that it wasn't a deterrent. I think hes wrong. Society as a whole isn't shocked anymore when we hear of a child that has gone missing, or that someone has gone on the rampage, we as a society have become desensitised to this type of crime. We may be interested for a few days but we then move on with our lives. The families left behind cannot do that, they cannot get closure.
Sara Payne and her family were recently forced into the High Court to watch her child's killer appeal his sentence. Roy Whiting was sentenced to a minimum of 50 years which meant he wouldn't be eligible for parole until he was 92 years old. He thought this was unfair so he used the Human Rights Act to appeal. What kind of society inflicts this on the victims family? I have the up most respect for Sara Payne and her constant battle to get Sarah's Law into this country. A law that America has had for over 15 years.
Megan's Law was introduced after a paedophile kidnapped and murdered a little girl. The girls name was Megan
Kanka and she was killed by a convicted paedophile called Jesse
Timmedequas. After his trail it was released that he had a conviction for raping a child. The outcry was so great that Megan's Law was created. It means that every parent in the country is allowed the right to know where a paedophile lives. This means that parent are more aware of the people that move into their neighbourhoods. Why cant we have this here?
The main memory I have of this case is the story of Michael Payne, Sarah's father deciding that he needed to take the law into his own hands and buy a gun to kill the man who murdered his daughter. In an interview he gave at the time he said " I couldn't stand the thought that this monster had taken my child from us ". With the death penalty he and Sara and the Payne family would have had some closure.
Its time to get this debate back onto the agenda. Its time for us as a society to say we will no longer be in fear of letting our children out to play. Its time that women felt safe to walk our streets and wear what they wish. Its time for families who's children have been victims of these animals, strong I agree but animals they are, to have some closure. Its time for children to have their mother there and not be left alone because someone decided that tonight he was going to kill them for his own pleasure.
Its time to bring back Capital Punishment. I haven't seen any other option work down the years have you?
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