Former High Court President Richard Johnson is suggesting that the ban on the Death Penalty should be revisited. The article refers to the need for a Referendum to reverse a ban on the Death Penalty. However, does not our ratification of Lisbon with the COFR close off that route?
Death penalty should be revisited, says ex-judge - The Irish Times - Mon, Nov 16, 2009
The death penalty is gone for good. Period. We have signed binding international agreements that make it impossible to introduce. The constitution also rules it out.
The death penalty also doesn't work as a deterrent in capital crimes. Thinking it does is based on a fundamental misconception. People commit crime against the person based on the belief that they will not get caught. You can have the toughest sentences possible but it will make no difference if the person committing the crime believes they won't apply to them as they will get away with the crime. The way to stop crime is by convincing people that they will not be able to get away with the crime, not by suggesting that if you get caught X will happen to you. (That is why so many criminals go straight from jail on release back to crime, because they still convince themselves that "this time I can do it and not get caught".)
Crimes that are not against the person are impacted upon much more by sentences.
That is why in practice the most dramatic deterrent is not a high tech police force but a visible police force, and why "police on the beat" have greater deterrent impact that police in cars. If someone thinks that around the next corner they may run into a policeman it has a deterrent effect because it undermines the principle motivation, the belief that you can get away with it. The ability of ignore consequences if you think you can get away with it is a human trait across cultures. It is convincing people that they will get caught that is the biggest deterrent in
International studies have shown conclusively that the death penalty makes no difference. In the US some of the states with the death penalty in the 1990s and 2000s had higher capital offense rates than states without it, which blows a hole in the 'death penalty is a deterrent' argument - if it was true there would be a correlation between crime rates and severity of punishment that includes capital punishment. There isn't. Ireland historically had its highest crime rate at the same time when it had a large number of executions. Its lowest crime rate happened at a time when there was no capital punishment. So it is an urban myth that the death penalty deters crimes. International studies completely disprove the claim.
Last edited by TommyO'Brien; 16th November 2009 at 12:58 AM.
All views expressed are my own.
Indeed, our membership of the EU now depends on it, in actuality. Also we have signed the optional protocol to the ECHR. He is just attempting to make news after his, pretty unnoticed, slide into nothingness.Originally Posted by TommyO'Brien
I really hope he is not going to copy Fergus Flood and shoot his gob off at every, media friendly, opportunity. It just makes them look faintly ridiculous.
Methinks, from memory, Johnson was the longest serving judge on the bench thus he did not have to retire at 70, but rather lasted till 72. Silly little fact.
"......... we must sometimes listen to those who, consumed with zeal, have scant judgment or balance. To such ones the modern world is nothing but betrayal and ruin.........We feel bound to disagree with these prophets of doom who are forever forecasting calamity -- as though the world's end were imminent."
perhaps if judges put dangerous people into jail pending trial, it might send out the message to others not to do crime, and also safeguards the people aganist further offenses by the detained individual caught in the act.
I read in a local paper that a man was given 6 months for chasing a social welfare officer away from his house, the judge quoted something about ' a servant of the state going about their business' alongside the 6 mth sentence.
How many years do some get for murder? 2 yrs
Any Irishman who still calls for the death penalty to be reinstated after what happened to the Irish men and women wrongly convicted in Britain in the 1970s should themselves be executed. Disgusting.
I agree. Fergus Flood ended up trivialising himself by his desire to chase headlines and speak the moment someone switched on a microphone.
All views expressed are my own.
Mmmmmm, for certain categories of horrible crime I wonder....
I'm not wild about trying to rehabilitate such people.... and I think they should get extraordinary punishment
I'm not fond of the death penalty, if alone for the pain it could mete out on all of us for feeling that we were involved
But what of:
Humiliation: put the perpetrator into a transparent perspex box in their local community for days at a time
Exile: find some island, wall off a section.... throw the prisoners over the wall with some basic supplies & seeds....if any one them try to escape: shoot them
cyp
"Yawn , am I alive yet ?"
I am totally against re-introduction of the Death Penalty no matter how tempting it might be for some despicable crimes. Our society cannot regress to the dark ages again. Mr Justice Johnston must not be allowed to let his view gain momentum. Clearly he is unsure himself whether it would be appropriate or not. How often has it happened that innocent people were executed. Our society should be mature enough to exact justice in a better way.
Give us infallible judges and juries and we could talk about it. But without that it is inevitable that innocent people would be put to death by the state.
We could do a lot more to make punishment tougher without considering execution.
We did this discussion a short while ago. I believe the matter was settled and that everyone agreed that the death penalty would be a marvelous thing in a perfect judicial world. (at least that's my take, others may dare to differ)
Cira/rira Not in my name.
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