Should killers get whole life tariffs?

By : Forum Member
Published 30th January 2014 |
Read latest comment - 26th August 2014

With news just breaking that Lee Rigbys murderers are appealing their sentence already, should such killers be allowed to appeal?

Gets me hopping mad that we are dictated to by Europe that we cannot impose life long sentences with no hope of parole due to Human Rights!

What human right did these killers show to that poor soldier - none! If you take a human life then expect to lose all of your lifes privileges, including a nice cell with a play station & tv!!!!

Bring back the death penalty, at the very least hard labour until they either expire due to overwork or if they cant work anymore then exterminate the scum - why should my taxes be spent keeping these people alive?


Clive
Comments
It's good to see you've got the rant gene back

I think I mellow with age. 20 years ago, no question, execute them, in fact forget a trial, save the cash.

But you get older and realise the world doesn't work like that. Everyone needs their trial. Yet agree with hard labour and making prison a place you wouldn't want to revisit!

But I think the key thing here is publicity. Forget creed, race, beliefs. These blokes are nut jobs. They need sentencing and banging up asap, and removed from society.

What they don't need is a media and publicity platform to broadcast their poison, and I don't understand what good or relevance it does for papers or TV to quote or reference some of the rubbish that has been spouted. Freedom of the press my ****, it's headlines to sell papers and gain audience share.

Lock 'em up, throw away the key, work them hard and let them rot in obscurity.

Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

I'm all for whole life tariffs, with a whole life tariff the person in jail always has a glimmer of hope should there ever be a miscarriage of justice and this country has seen plenty of these over recent years.
My issue with the death penalty is, is the fact that the state would have to employ a killer or a person at least who is willing to kill another person, even if it is done by automation you still need someone to push the button or flick a switch and for some reason I can not see how one killing is morally right over another whether it is endorsed by the state or not. Having said that, you then have the Lee Rigsby's murderers where it is carried out in full view of the public and it makes you wonder why they were not taken out by the police in the first place.

Thanks,
Barney

Bring back the death penalty, at the very least hard labour until they either expire due to overwork or if they cant work anymore then exterminate the scum - why should my taxes be spent keeping these people alive?
 


Whilst many would agree about the cost of keeping lifers in prison (£1000 per week). You have to question the motive for the death penalty, hard labour and inhumane conditions. That is simply vengeance on behalf of the state. Legal retribution to keep the masses happy. Is that really justice? Do people then get a fair trial?

How many would have attacked the actors from coronation street "before" the not guilty verdict? How many still believed they are guilty and should get a kicking anyway?

Who should die anyway? Is it just murderers or should we include rapists, child molesters, flashers, violent criminals, wife beaters and of course drug users? Druggies are a bigger drain on society in terms of cost and they generate far more victims.

Don't get me wrong, I have met and challenged some very unpleasant people in my current role, some will never be released because of the risks they pose.

Our current system has capacity to safely hold 79,000 inmates. As of yesterday we had 84,211 prisoners. For many different reasons we need to find a better way than just locking everyone up...

Did you know that almost 20,000 prisoners are simply on remand and have not been convicted of anything...they are waiting for a trial. How would you feel if you were innocent. I met a man who did 17 years for a crime he did not commit, a man who was fortunate that we don't use the death penalty any more.

Justice is not a simple commodity that can be dispensed in a perfect way. Our system remains adversarial in nature, the media "demand" justice when in realty they simply want a worthy news story that drives a thirst for revenge.

Just a thought.


Thanks,
Ray Priestley

How many would have attacked the actors from coronation street "before" the not guilty verdict? How many still believed they are guilty and should get a kicking anyway?

Did you know that almost 20,000 prisoners are simply on remand and have not been convicted of anything...they are waiting for a trial. How would you feel if you were innocent. I met a man who did 17 years for a crime he did not commit, a man who was fortunate that we don't use the death penalty any more.

Justice is not a simple commodity that can be dispensed in a perfect way. Our system remains adversarial in nature, the media "demand" justice when in realty they simply want a worthy news story that drives a thirst for revenge.

Just a thought.

Totally agree - nobodys name should be allowed to be published or leaked on Twitter etc unless they are found guilty. Too many "celebrities" careers have been wrecked by malicious allegations, and no im not talking about recent(ish) events.

Again I totally agree that people on remand should get a fair hearing and it shouldnt take years to bring their case to Trial.

Our Justice system needs a drastic overhaul, independent of European bureaucrats !

Clive

Our Justice system needs a drastic overhaul, independent of European bureaucrats !

Totally agree with that....

Thanks,
Ray Priestley

With news just breaking that Lee Rigbys murderers are appealing their sentence already, should such killers be allowed to appeal?

Gets me hopping mad  that we are dictated to by Europe that we cannot impose life long sentences with no hope of parole due to Human Rights!

What human right did these killers show to that poor soldier - none! If you take a human life then expect to lose all of your lifes privileges, including a nice cell with a play station & tv!!!!

Bring back the death penalty, at the very least hard labour until they either expire due to overwork or if they cant work anymore then exterminate the scum - why should my taxes be spent keeping these people alive?
 


what can we do? due to their beliefs (not being racist or anything here), killing them would make them martyrs, mistreating them in any way will have human rights activists in uproar, locking them up permanently will cost too much for scum that dont deserve any freedom.

personally, my views on what should be done to them are a little too harsh to write down, and would probably break every law there is regarding the treatment of prisoners.

what they did to Lee Rigby was disgraceful, and if somebody went and did the reverse (not sure i can go into detail) im sure their treatment would be worse.

sorry if anybody got offended, this particular case winds me up and i sometimes vent...


Thanks,
CD2 Solutions

I think this particular case is a very emotional one and it's understandable people feel how they do. However, it is partly seen as so bad because of who it happened to. Was his life more valuable than anyone else's? More valuable than some with a different background/religion?
It's very easy to say bring back the death penalty but in reality it's very complex and not as straightforward, also, how does that us better? That we punish someone who kills someone, by killing them? Doesn't that mean we are doing exactly the same just for different reasons?
The legal system needs a complete overhaul but it's not all or nothing.

Thanks,
JoeSchmo

Doesn't that mean we are doing exactly the same just for different reasons?
The legal system needs a complete overhaul but it's not all or nothing.
 

I think you're right Jo, in fact pretty much agree with all of the comments in the thread 

But if we could overcome liberal human right policy and put prisoners to work, wouldn't that be the solution. You need to pay back to society, so work for it, but in obscurity, no media, no platform. If you're in for life, then you will be worked for life and have plenty of time to reflect.

Interesting reading the response about there being 20,000 prisoners being on remand, so using the innocent until proven guilty logic, this would only apply to convicted criminals. If there is a miscarriage of justice, at least you're still alive (and probarbly quite fit).

But we now have a pool of resource to be used for manual labour, lowskilled work that could offset the costs of keeping them locked up in the first place.


Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

There are good reasons why so many (20,000) are remanded into custody before trial, previous convictions, risk of re-offending, seriousness of crime, whether they are a risk to themselves or others, potential sentence (your hardly going to turn up at court if you are looking at a 10 year stretch) The arguement of innocent until proven guilty by a jury sometimes goes out the window when as in this case the evidence was blatantly obvious.....


Thanks,
Barney

This Thread is now closed for comments