String 'em up?: Anti

This is right and proper, for the foundations of our society has to be tested continuously. However, in some parts of our global society legitimate governments have discarded the advances of thousands of years of civilisation and taken themselves as low as the perpetrators of murderous crime by the use of a deliberate, methodical termination of someone’s life as a deterrent.

The validity of this deterrent should not be in question. It is mediaeval and barbaric, inhumane and fecund and has no place in any modern society. The usefulness of this torturous treatment is also in doubt. Surveys and statistics have shown repeatedly that the effect on the levels of crime is minimal and is often instigates an increase.

The power that is inherent in capital punishment is widely abused by those who have no right to end another human’s life. Look, for example, at the overwhelming proportion of black inmates on death-row in America’s southern states. The ratio exceeds by far that of crimes committed by black people. The death of a murderer does not make up for the death of his victim, but imprisonment and rehabilitation may lead to some repayment to society by the criminal. Also, the death of a prisoner takes no account of the possibility of a mistake in the legal process, as has happened several times in recent years. Indeed, one of the last people to be hanged in Britain was later found to be innocent. Who then shall we hang in their stead?

As for the British who may think that they can rest on their laurels and say that the death penalty has been abolished in the Sixties, it wasn’t. The punishment can still be given for the civilian and military offence of treason and several other military offences. Still feel loyal to our country?

I shall quote an example of the premeditated torture that we inflict upon our fellow humans. John Evans, who was executed by electrocution in 1983, was given three charges over a period of 14 minutes. After the first and second charges, Mr Evans was still conscious and there was smoke coming from all over body as a result of his burning flesh.

When it comes to the crunch, death row is not filled with the serial killers and cold-blooded murderers that we imagine, but people who invariably poor, are usually of below average intelligence, and have led unglamourous and undistinguished lives. They find themselves up against a system driven by the need for revenge, and are in no position to counter it. It is not a system we can be proud of