MAKE THEM FEAR DEATH! [ARTICLE ON THE DEATH PENALTY OF THE WEEK ~ SUNDAY 23 DECEMBER 2012 TO SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2013]

NOTICE: The following article is written by the author itself and not by me, I am not trying to violate their copyright. I will give some information on them.

PAGE TITLE: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/

ARTICLE TITLE: Death penalty saves lives. Fact

DATE: Monday 3 March 2008

AUTHOR: Fergus Shanahan

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Fergus Shanahan is deputy editor of The Sun and writes a punchy Friday column on everything from current affairs to football. Fergus lives in Essex with his wife and two daughters. He can't stand Tony Blair or the Labour Party but wishes the Conservatives would be a bolder Opposition, particularly over tax cuts to help the less well-off. Fergus backs British independence against a Federal Europe run by unelected Brussels officials. He thinks Sun readers are the backbone of Britain and believes they talk more sense than any politician.

URL: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/872154/Columnist-Fergus-Shanahan-Death-penalty-saves-lives-Fact.html

Fergus Shanahan

SINCE my friends will tell you I bear little relation to Attila the Hun, let me elaborate on my view in yesterday’s Sun that bringing back capital punishment makes sense.

It is hard to have a sensible discussion on this without people getting emotional and accusing you of being a bloodthirsty savage. But let’s try.

Take the usual claim about it being uncivilised for the State, in extreme circumstances, to execute people.

On our way to becoming what we call civilised, we have taken big decisions.

In 1807 we abolished slavery, and things improved.

In Victorian times we stopped sending children down mines and up chimneys. Things improved.

Early last century we gave women the vote. Things improved very much.

After World War Two we brought in free healthcare and proper education for all kids. More improvements.

Then, in 1965, we abolished hanging. But this time, things did not improve. For the first few years the murder rate stayed stable. Then it took off.

Here are the facts. In 1965, the year of abolition, there were 57 convictions for murder. In 1975 it was up to 107. In 1985 it reached 173. In 1995 it hit 214. In 2005 it stood at 280. It is still rising.

The figures for all unlawful killings — including murder and manslaughter — tell a similar story. In 1964, 300. In 1994, 565. In 2004, 833.

The famous economist Keynes said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?”

Respected and moderate ex-Met police boss Lord Stevens has changed his mind because of the facts. He now backs capital punishment for the murder of police officers.

When abolition was debated in the Sixties, the issue for most people was whether it could be proved that the death penalty — even then used rarely — saved lives.

Now, 40 years on, we have our answer. The lack of a death penalty has resulted in a lot more murders.

Let’s consider retribution — the idea that on very rare occasions execution is morally justifiable. Personally I can’t see a problem with that.

Some people say execution denies a killer the chance of redemption. But did we see Ian Huntley, or Steve Wright, or Mark Dixie, or Levi Bellfield, show any sorrow in the dock?

When they pleaded not guilty and sat gloating while their victims’ families were made to hear all the horrible details, was that an attempt to show regret? Some people, like these four, are incapable of being “redeemed.”

I respect the view that if life meant just that — a hard, nasty, horrible 40 years in a stinking cell — we might not be having this debate. But prison isn’t like that for the Dixies and Bellfields. They will while away their years with PlayStations and DVDs.

We have learned since 1964 that civilisation is unfortunately not a guaranteed one-way ticket. To stay civilised, you have to work at it. And sometimes admit you got something wrong.

We NEED that safeguard of the death penalty for the very worst cases, and only after the fairest of trials. We NEED evil people to be scared of losing their own life if they take someone else’s.

It makes me angry when some people try to patronise parents like poor Sally Anne Bowman’s mum, or Garry Newlove’s bereft wife, and tell them they are wrong to demand a life for a life.

What moral authority do any of us have to preach to those whose awful suffering we can barely imagine?

Society has had no qualms, moral or legal, in the past about executing monsters.

I haven’t heard my liberal friends protesting that it was wrong to execute the Nazis at Nuremburg, or to hang Saddam. Once, there was a phrase about “the awful majesty of the law” when the judge put on the black cap. Today the law has no majesty. It is a mockery.