To be appalled by the latest execution in the US.

I agree. And the fact he was in prison for over 30 years waiting to be killed, and suffered one execution that didn't work, makes me even more appalled.

I'm not a proponent of capital punishment anyway, but USA seems to take it to the lowest depths. How on earth can this 'experiment' be justified? Callous in the extreme. And I'm not interested in the details of his crime. A life for a life is barbaric anyway but this is so wrong

Yes one execution that didn't work causing post traumatic stress and then this.

State execution is something I associate with countries such as Iran, Saudi, China, all who have appalling human rights records it seems incongruous that the beacon of the free world, the US still has it, albeit in some states not all.

The US has aspects of its national behaviour that are in some ways similar to some of those countries I think Terribull. Death penalty, gun laws, etc. We have much more in common with Europe. However I would take the US over all those countries mentioned and have been grateful for its presence in the last few months.
I have always found the death penalty appalling.

My sympathy is reserved for the victims of crime not the murderer.

Yes, absolute sympathy for the victims, of course. But it doesn't alter the fact that the death penalty is wrong, and this one seems particularly barbaric.

I have great sympathy for the victims. Some murders are absolutely depraved, but I still don’t agree with state sanctioned murder. The problem in Britain is that many murders are not even charged as murder but charged as manslaughter, when it is clear to everyone that the crime committed was murder, but additionally, even when the charge is murder and the perpetrator convicted of murder, the tariff is so low. Twenty years, reduced to ten served normally, is not a deterrent and is certainly not enough punishment. Taking a life purposefully should attract a much longer tariff. The twenty reduced to ten devalues the life of the victim.

maddyone

I have great sympathy for the victims. Some murders are absolutely depraved, but I still don’t agree with state sanctioned murder. The problem in Britain is that many murders are not even charged as murder but charged as manslaughter, when it is clear to everyone that the crime committed was murder, but additionally, even when the charge is murder and the perpetrator convicted of murder, the tariff is so low. Twenty years, reduced to ten served normally, is not a deterrent and is certainly not enough punishment. Taking a life purposefully should attract a much longer tariff. The twenty reduced to ten devalues the life of the victim.

Absolutely agree maddyone

I agree too Maddy.

I agree maddyone

In fact, whether it was learning about the ten commandments at school back in the dim and distant past, I think it would be fair to say it was always part of a collective consciousness that murder was just about the worst thing a person could do, and maybe that was reinforced but heftier sentences, and capital punishment here up till about 1963 I think.

We've always had gang warfare, The Krays for example, that encompassed psychopaths, but there just seems to be an awful casualness about the taking of life amongst the very young knife carriers of today, as if it is some rite of passage and badge of honour to take out some poor innocent kid.. The enormity of taking a life seems to have been lost on the perpetrator.

He got what he deserved. Tough if it wasn’t a gentle death - nor were the deaths of his victims.

Capital punishment apart, it seems odd that a more straightforward method couldn't be found. How is it possible for animals to be put down with a simple injection? I gather the necessary chemicals are hard to source but that seems ridiculous in this day and age.
What a mess!

I have just read that the victims son said that justice had been done today. grandmabatty may not want to hear the details of his crime, but we should realise the impact his crime had on the victim and her family.

No sympathy whatsoever for him. He got what he deserved - the person he murdered didn't.

The rational side of my brain is against capital punishment.

I will admit to hearing the details of some crimes and my heart says that the offender does not deserve to live, then my head pops up with incarceration for life is not a picnic .

If you take a life, than you should be locked up until the end of your life, no trips out, no time off for good behaviour life should mean life

No country that has the death penalty can call itself civilised. We are not superhuman; we can’t decree who should live and who should die.

This individual was a hired killer who had stabbed and bludgeoned a preacher’s wife to death.

If he had been spared the death penalty and been given a life sentence you can bet that some years along the line some human rights lawyer would have been campaigning for his release.

He won’t kill anyone else now, will he.

I know the details of his crime. I'm not disputing that at all. I still don't think capital punishment is acceptable and to use a death as an experiment is just wrong.

When the death penalty was abolished in the UK (rightly so in my opinion) I thought it was to be replaced by "life imprisonment" that would be a whole life term. That murderers can be released after a relatively short term is an insult to the victims and their families.

If a country has the death penalty then it is beholden on it to carry out the execution in as humane way as is possible. This was not humane. To sink to such cruel methods makes the state as low as the criminal they seek to kill.

GrannyGravy13

The rational side of my brain is against capital punishment.

I will admit to hearing the details of some crimes and my heart says that the offender does not deserve to live, then my head pops up with incarceration for life is not a picnic .

If you take a life, than you should be locked up until the end of your life, no trips out, no time off for good behaviour *life should mean life*

This is pretty much how I feel too. I am opposed to capital punishment, but there are some crimes which are just so utterly heinous, and some criminals who are plainly just evil to their very core, that they should never see the light of day again.

I agree with Rosie. Some prison sentences do seem derisory but that doesn’t justify state torture.

We tell our children they shouldn’t retaliate with violence if someone hits them so how can we condone the state using violence against its citizens?

I disagree, if it was my husband, daughter, son, grandchild parent that this man had committed a crime against I would want him to suffer the most horrible death possible. If he suffered because of a failed execution then fantastic. I would put my name forward to do the job myself.

I would vote for capital punishment in the UK if there ever was a vote because we don't have a decent justice system and the country has gone to hell in a hand cart.

Germanshepherdsmum

He got what he deserved. Tough if it wasn’t a gentle death - nor were the deaths of his victims.

I do agree with the above.