Should We Reinstate The Death Penalty?

Paul Staines aka Guido Fawkes

During the assessed Newsweek all I had to create a relevant news package. As the 16^th of December was the 42^nd anniversary of members of parliament voting in favor of abolition of hanging, I decided to look into why the death penalty was abolished in the first place and if the subject had been laid to rest.

Just months before this anniversary Paul Staines, a political blogger who goes by the name Guido Fawkes , took advantage of the new House of Commons e-petition site to set up a petition for brining back capital punishment.

He stated that parliament and the ''liberal media''’ are "disconnected" from the general public and began the campaign for the death penalty for killers of children and police. This defiantly brought the question of the death penalty back under the public gaze, especially with some sensational slogans such as ‘justice forthe next Baby P’.

But before I delve deeper into modern society’s views on the death penalty, I wanted to find out why the MPs voted for the abolition in the first place. I spoke to Political Historian Bill Jones who stated that it was a gradual build up of hostility from the public on the subject of the state killing people in a civilized society that brought the end to capital punishment and Criminologist Ian marshi suggested that research during the 5 year ‘test period’ suggested that the abolition wouldn’t have any affect in the levels of murders that took place in the United Kingdom.

This was later proven to be true with the abolition having no affect on murder rates. Bill Jones states that there have always been a large minority of the population that are pro-death penalty throughout history.

Liverpool Hope University

I wondered if this has changed over the years and what the public think about the death penalty in this decade? During my investigation I asked a selection of Liverpool Hope University students what their options were and I found that most of them supported the death penalty for a murderer. And to expand upon that idea I looked at the last YOUGOV poll that was taken in September 2010 and found 51% supported the death penalty for murder and only 37% opposed. For more information on the poll click here.

John Hughson ,A spokesman from Amnesty International, acknowledges that there is a large amount of people who wish to bring back capital punishment. However ‘’the thought instigating capital punishment might be satisfying but isn’t justice, it’s just revenge and the justice system is set in place to stop people just getting revenge.’’

Member of Parliment Andrew Bingham

If Guido Fawkes's e-petition gets 100,000 votes, would the MPs discuss this in the House of Commons? I asked MP for the High Peak Andrew Bingham his opinion and he believes that "it isn’t a subject that isn’t high on the government’s agenda". Stating that none of his constituency has come to him asking about bringing the death penalty back.

Bill Jones states that "it isn’t whether you agree or disagree, it’s how important the subject is to parliament" and Andrew Bingham doesn’t see it being questioned under the current parliament, but doesn’t know if this view will change in the future.

Opinion is defiantly split on whether sometime in our future the death penalty will come back. But what is known is that the debate itself isn’t laid to rest.

Here's the full Package on the anniversary of the death penalty.


If you have any thoughts, questions or queries feel free to email me here 

Photograph Copyright

Paul Staines - Sarah Lee

Liverpool hope univeristy - Liverpool hope university
Andrew Bingham -  Men Media