Crimes of…..murder on a child is my bug-bear. There can NEVER be any excuse for it, the thought of allowing those perps. to stay alive repulses me. Death sentance is a must, and I’d like to make it into a spectacle.

Is this murder?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Woodward

I personally do not approve of torture to obtain any confession in a criminal case, And personally feel that almost anybody would admit to any crime to stop the torture. Which means any confession would not be worth a thing and certainly could not be relied upon.

We have had cases in the past where people have been forced to confess then the case goes to court and is thrown out when the truth of how confession was gained is found out…

Yes, but even if you could use torture (and I’m not saying that we should) it wouldn’t just be used to produce a confession for, as you say, that confession would be highly unreliable.

Hypothetically, just because torture (physical or psychological) or a ‘truth serum’ (if there was one) could be used it doesn’t mean that any other evidence should be ignored or not even checked. A proper legal case could (and should) be built-up with lots of factual evidence…

…it is just that it could be obtained by a different means…..hypothetically, of course. 😮

…somebody like Myra Hindley…..has cost the tax payer and the country a fortune to keep with no payment back to society or to the families of the children she helped kill.

What are people’s views on the incarceration of Ian Brady (Myra Hindley’s accomplice) who has fought for the right to commit suicide and has been on hunger strike for ten years but has been kept alive by being force-fed?

Just punishment? Torture? Waste of money?

Regarding the slippery slope. My contention is…..how long would it be before things escalated and more and more criminality would be seen as best dealt with by the death penalty?

I’ve heard that argument before in opposition of the death penalty but is it likely? After all there are pretty stiff sentences available now for murder but have we seen a ‘slippery slope’ there? If anything the reverse is possibly true; lighter and lighter sentences for serious crime or heavy sentences cut short due to ‘good behaviour’ (or if you’re cynical, a shortage of cell space).

I’m not advocating a return to capital punishment for murder because I personally think it would do more harm than good; the courts have a hard enough time convicting criminals now without the jury having the weight of a possible death penalty on their conscience. I agree with you on that point, we’ve all said somebody should be hanged for something but very few of us are mentally prepared for the reality, and those that are aren’t really the sort of person I’d trust to have on a jury.

Anyway back to a more cheery subject…..torture. :rolleyes:

Well, it has always gone on. I have pals in the Para. which certainly “tortured” IRA suspects in the 70’s, but only in a “beat-up until they talk” kind of way. I’m sure the more senior agencies used other methods. It certainly went on from all sides in WW2.

A perfect example of how counterproductive torture can be, especially since during the troubles in Northern Ireland it was easier for those to excuse acts of terrorism by linking the behaviour of, for example, the Parachute Regiment, with the brutal behaviour of an earlier era.

While there are always going to be extremists the worst thing you can do, to my mind anyway, is to give them something to rouse the general population about…..like torture.

I may also surprise many to know that British Intelligence didn’t believe in torturing captured German spies, some were executed (which may count as a form of torture), but the British maintained an excellent record of counterespionage and ‘turned’ many, many enemy spies.

Then, once proven guilty, invoke the death penalty for the scum.
Proven to be worthless in life, their death should be made useful.

I have a feeling that may play straight into the hands of some serial killer in today’s celebrity culture…

…think of it…..guaranteed live coverage of your execution on live national television!

While I think that there probably are cases where torture could be ‘effective’, in the vast majority of cases I think it does more harm than good. Has the intelligence gained through Guantánamo Bay been worth the negative effect of having a centre for torture? Almost certainly not. Would the conviction of a few criminals be worth the damage to the reputation of the Police? No.

But I do think that, in Britain at least, the criminal justice system has swung far too far in favour of the criminal. It is now just far too difficult, and too expensive, to convict the guilty, and when they are convicted too expensive, it seems, to actually keep them locked up.

And really that’s what it comes down to in the end – money.

No, I don’t want to infringe anybody’s human rights but I’d much rather live in a society where the state knew who was in the country, who everybody was, where my DNA was kept on file and where if I was suspected of a crime I could be kept under surveillance, my phone could be tapped, my e-mail opened and under interrogation I could be given a ‘truth serum’ (should such a thing be developed).

Why? Because I’ve got nothing to hide…

…and because while I don’t like any of those things I’d be prepared to accept them if it meant that my house was less likely to be burgled, or my car stolen or that I (or my family) would be less likely to get blown-up in a bus, or shot during a robbery, or stabbed for ‘disrespecting’ somebody!