Lots of brave words from the comfort of your own keyboards - well done!
Isn't the problem that we don't catch enough people who commit crime? We don't have the death penalty in this country, but we have a 90%+ clear-up rate for murder. As a percentage of population, the number of murders has risen since WWII, and then stabilised at about 700 - 800 per year.
Whilst we had the death penalty, murders continued to rise between the late '20s and 1945. That rise carried on until the death penalty was abolished in 1969, rose to the current figure in the mid-seventies, and stayed there. So, the death penalty does not discourage people from committing crime.
Recent research in China has clearly shown that the likelihood of being caught has a direct relation to the propensity to commit crime. Arrest more people for a given offence (increase the clear-up rate) and that crime diminishes. It is no coincidence that America has a murder rate 10x ours, with a clear-up rate around 60%.
So, what gets my blood boiling is the idea that if we put up more CCTV cameras, we will solve more crimes, and other such political rubbish. I want more police solving more crime with irrefutable evidence that means people are sentenced to be separated from Society for some time. When clear-up rates for crimes reach the 90% we achieve for murder (as opposed to 18% for burglary) guess what will happen to the amount of crime.
Baying for a return of the death penalty is a complete waste of time. Where they have it (USA, China, etc.) they have higher rates of crime for capital offences than we do because they have lower clear-up rates. Less crime is a result of higher clear-up rates, not harsher penalties.
Mind you, I'm also glad I live in a nation of keyboard jockeys, and not one where people think it's a good idea to stand for Parliament!!
