In the UK, long sentences do tend to mean longer periods in prison.

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Thanks for the votes - Dan Sullivan. I'll be back and then we can all have a vote.
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The death penalty is an important saction that should be open to the State. I think it was wrong to exclude it as an option.

I would favour it's use in the case of the murder of a Garda and in certain instances of child murder.

A brave move on the part of the judge. Of course the death penalty should be an option, and the evidence of public executions clearly shows that it acts as a deterrent. That's the problem with the US model, behind closed doors, it loses it deterrent effect. Justice – Paedophile to be Crucified|MPAC.ie

Implementing the death penalty however requires a stringent system that is fair but just, no man-made system can provide this, only Shariah can. So this call must go hand in hand with a move toward a Shariah Ireland.

That is true but it is not the only reason, there is another. It is, rather, the tariff system that they operate in England and Wales whereby in the case of a life sentence, for instance,the sentencing Judge stipulates a minimum tariff which the convicted MUST serve prior to considered for parole. Here, on the other hand, there is no such thing and it is a Ministerial decision and not done publicly. Therefore, you always get the, seemingly, shorter sentences gaining headlines.

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"......... 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."

I can think of a category of criminal who is not greatly deterred by a jail sentence: a participant in a civil war who thinks his movement will seize power and release "their" prisoners.

That could prompt a nice theoretical discussion about justice and a democratically-organised society's power over its fellow citizens but it's a fairly hypothetical scenario.

Really, there's no chance of the death penalty being reintroduced, at least not openly and on the statute books. But there'll always be a certain current of support for having the Gardai get slippy trigger fingers next time they're raiding serious drugs gangs, like the police in Sao Paolo.

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"On a blanket guarantee for all banks - ML [Merrill Lynch] felt this could be a mistake and hit national rating and allow poorer banks to continue."
Excerpt from a handwritten note of a meeting with the Minister, the Thursday before he decided to implement a blanket guarantee.

Given the fascination among southern Irish people with Saturday night supposed-talent programmes on British television, I reckon the good ex-judge may be onto a winner here.

We could have, say, a dozen contenders for the drop lined up on RTE and details of their crimes outlined to the viewers.

Then premium rate telephone numbers would be allocated to each miscreant and viewers would be invited to vote for the one to be executed that week.

This would go on over the weeks until there was only one criminal left and the lucky remnant would have their sentence commuted to life in prison by the President.

The executions themselves would, of course, be televised live and sponsored by big companies such as Coca Cola under such slogans as "Coke Adds Life".

I believe it would be a sure-fire hit.

Absolutely not. The death penalty is wrong. It's lowering the basic standards of a society. We need to stop trying to ape after the US in such things. The legal/judicial system is not infallible as it is wide open to multiple human error and abuse of the "beyond all reasonable doubt" approach.

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Economic Left/Right: -8.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.67

[QUOTE=TommyO'Brien;2276807]

"The death penalty is gone for good."

I hope that the UK brings back the death penalty.

"We have signed binding international agreements that make it impossible to introduce. "

The UK could contract out of any of those international agreements. If that means that we are expelled from the EU, be it so. Indeed, that possibility adds to the attraction.


"The death penalty also doesn't work as a deterrent in capital crimes. "

Even if that statement were true, execution would prevent the convict becoming a repeat offender. Moreover, the death penalty can deter financially motivated crime. Bank robbers, car theives, burgulars, pick-pockets, muggers, handbag snatchers should be executed. When a person is convicted of a serious crime, he should not be given an opportunity to commit another crime - nor should taxpayers' money be wasted keeping him in prison or monitoring him when he is released from prison. The cheapest place and the most secure place to keep a criminal is in a grave.

"People commit crime against the person based on the belief that they will not get caught. "

Executing criminals will increase the chances of criminals being convicted.

a) Eliminating suspects is an important part of a criminal investigation. Those who have been executed can be immediately eliminated. Dead people do not commit crime.

b) The possibility that, if convicted, he will be executed will encourage plea bargaining by suspects.

"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".

A criminal, who has been executed, will definitely not go straight back to crime.

"Crimes that are not against the person are impacted upon much more by sentences."

Crimes against property should also be punished with the death penalty.

"If someone thinks that around the next corner they may run into a policeman it has a deterrent effect"

A very expensive deterrent. Police salaries cost money.

Why didn't they think of this when crime rates were rising back in the 80s? I say, hang the turkeys if they kill somebody, an eye for an eye, a life for a life.

I'm totally against the death penalty. It's a regressionist law, which degrades the perpetrators of it. As an earlier poster wrote, how could any Irish person support it, especially after the injustices of the British establishment towards innocent Irish men & women.

I think it was Churchill (Not sure though) who said you should measure a civilized society by how they treat their most hated members.