burglar who carried out his jobs without ever using a fire-arm because of the fear of
capital punishment. (Sorell 1987.)
Taylor (1982) argued that supporters of the death penalty do not simply want to kill
more people or get revenge. Evidence shows supporters of the death penalty believe that
it leads to the saving of innocent lives. (Sorell 1987.)
Hudson (1996: 119) pointed out that executions were made as painless as possible. He
stated that:
Where the right to life is removed, in capital punishment it is the
withdrawal of the right that is the penalty, not the infliction of the
pain, which is why jurisdictions which retain the death penalty are
concerned with whether or not death is instantaneous and does not
leave the condemned in minutes of agony.
Although the reintroduction of the death penalty for murder may well result in some
wrongful executions Pawsey argued that it was “justifiable if the number of innocent
lives saved by capital punishment was greater than the number lost through wrongful
conviction and execution.” (Sorell, 1987: 47)
The Just Deserts theory is inflicting pain on the offender proportional to his offence.
(Sorell 1987.) The theory states that “individuals are responsible and predominantly
rational decision makers.” (Emsley 1997.) However Von Hirsch & Ashworth (1992)
said when discussing the Just Deserts theory “We have made one significant but
intentional omission: the death penalty. A civilized state we feel, should not have this
vile sanction at all.” (Hudson 1996: 46.)
There are many arguments against the reintroduction of the death penalty for murder.
One important factor is that of human rights. Hudson (1996: 70) wrote
If everyone including offenders has a right to life, then capital
punishment is obviously a violation of this human rights, however
wider it may be held as the only commensurate punishment for
some crimes, or how effective it may be as a deterrent.
Another human rights issue is the long periods of time that is spent waiting on death
row. The average time spent on death row is 9 years. The psychological effects have
been studied and it has been concluded that spending a long time on death row can be
harmful to a prisoner. (Coke & Martin 1958.)
The deterrence effect of the death penalty is not a simple case. There has been
substantial evidence for and against it. Bandura (1986) stated that “the issue is not
whether the threat of punishment by death can deter homicide , but whether the death
penalty deters homicide more effectively than imprisonment.” (Feldman, 1993: 350) He
concluded that the abolishment of the death penalty has not affected the crime rate, and
therefore did not have a deterrent effect. (Feldman, 1993.)
In the 1982 House of Commons debate it was pointed out that murder by shooting
should not by punished by the death penalty on the grounds that “guns were often used by
the mentally unstable or by the sane in moments of high passion.” (Sorell, 1987: 45)
The death penalty in either of these cases would not act as a deterrent.
A study of Western countries has shown that those countries with the most severe
penalties tend to have the highest crime rates. Similarly in the USA those states which
still use the death penalty, do not have a lower murder rate than the states which don’t use
it. (Hudson 1996.) Walker (1991) found that it is impossible to tell from the murder
rates in America which states still use the death penalty and which states don’t. (Hudson
1993.)
There is also the question of would juries actually find people guilty when the offender
would be sentenced to the death penalty? Evidence has been shown that the conviction
rate decreases when the death penalty is used as a sentence. Also in the House of
Commons debate the point was raised that rather than unanimous verdicts, convictions
would rest on majority verdicts. This means that there would be room for doubt, and
miscarriages of justice may well occur. (Sorell 1987.)
An example of a case which showed a miscarriage of justice is that of Timothy Evans
in 1950. Evans was convicted of the murder of his daughter and executed. During his
trial Evans had accused a man called John Christie of the murder. After Evans execution
Christie confessed to the murder and was found to have murdered at least six other
women after sexually assaulting four of them. Evans was later pardoned for the crime
and it was announced that Christie had probably committed the murder. (Sorell 1987.)
Another form of a miscarriage of justice is shown in a case studied by Lewis, Pincus,
Bard and Richardson (1988.) where 14 juveniles were sentenced to death in the USA.
The state failed to take into account that nine had major neurological impairments, and 12
had also been brutally physically abused by relatives. (Feldman (1993.)
The financial aspect of the death penalty must be taken into consideration when
discussing the reintroduction of the death penalty. For example in Texas USA, a death
penalty case costs on average $2.3 million, which is three times more than imprisoning
someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Duke University,
1993.) The state of Georgia is going broke because of prosecuting death penalty cases.
Each case costs the state $300,000 which could be spent on other causes such as
emergency services, salaries and road equipment etc. (, 1997)
As we can see there are many arguments for and against the reintroduction of the death
penalty. It is not as simple as many people may first think. There are many conflicting
views. For example the in the bible Moses states “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
(Hagan, Gillis & Brownfield 1996.) However also in the bible the Ten Commandments
spoken to God by Moses says “Thou shalt not kill.”
The death penalty in the United Kingdom is now seen by many as being old fashioned
and out of date. Hudson (1996: 91.) wrote:
The move from torture, mutilation and death to imprisonment
and fines, are not so much progress in humanitarianism, as
progress in bureaucratized rationalism, necessary to meet the
social control needs and legitimacy conditions of modern
society.
In modern society the arguments against the reintroduction of the death penalty for
murder tend to outweigh the arguments for. It is highly unlikely that the death penalty
will be reintroduced in the United Kingdom again because of the UK being part of the
European Convention of Human Rights.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Coke, J. B. & Martin, J. P. (1958) Licensed To Live. Basil Blackwell Ltd: Oxford.
Emsley, C ‘The History Of Crime And Crime Control Institutions’ In Maguire, M. Morgan, R. & Reiner, R. (eds) (1997) The Oxford Handbook Of Criminology. Oxford University Press:Oxford.
Feldman, P. (1993) The Psychology Of Crime. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Hagan, J. Gillis, A. & Brownfield, D. (1996) Criminal Controversies. Westview Press: Oxford.
Hudson, B. (1996) Understanding Justice. Open University Press: Buckingham.
Morris, T. (1989) Crime And Criminal Justice Since 1945. Basil Blackwell Ltd: Oxford.
Sorell, T. (1987) Moral Theory And Capital Punishment. Open University: London.
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