home | board | compass | prayer | eCard

[Main Index]

11/16/2002 Entry: "Death Penalty"

The Gutless Pacifist raises the thorny subject of the death penalty, and links to a chilling site about the Electric Chair. (You'll have to visit his site if you want the link) Interesting that he should post this today, when the British media are full of the death of Moors' Murderer Myra Hindley. At the risk of being labelled a horrid liberal, I have to say that I'm opposed to the death penalty. There is no shortage of cases of miscarriage of justice leading to murder convictions, and that should be reason enough. In the US, the practice of keeping people on death row for years on end must surely be considered cruel and unusual punishment. I'd have less problem with the death penalty if it were administered swiftly after sentencing, but this could only happen if the possibility of an incorrect verdict was completely non-existent. Lastly, is the death penalty applied with equality, or does it fall more surely on those who can least afford legal representation?There's no doubt that if there were to be a referendum in Britain there'd be a majority in favour of the death penalty being reinstated here. This is one circumstance in which I'm glad our politicians have consistently ignored public opinion.

Posted by Pen @ 11/19/2002 07:59 PM CST

Malaysia still has the death penalty for drug trafficking and first-degree murder, among other things...

Posted by irene @ 11/18/2002 10:28 AM CST