From a welfare state to society murder
Bring “Back the noose” is always heard
Whenever those swine are under attack
But it won’t make you even
It won’t bring him back.
(Elvis Costello – Let Him Dangle)
Tory MPs like George Young and Priti Patel (pro-capital punishment) want capital punishment to be debated in Parliament because, apparently, nobody can “shy away” from topic. It’s also connected to this new e-petitions scheme where if 100,000 supporters or more back something or other then there’s a possibility for it to be debated.
Among the most prominent is one calling for legislation allowing child killers and those who murder police officers to face execution. It has been presented by Paul Staines, who writes the libertarian Guido Fawkes blog, and has already been backed by several MPs.
When a Tory preaches democracy (in the case of George Young) then it kinda unnerves me because this isn’t based on any real honest interpretation of the word instead on what the Tories consider “democratic”. I wonder if a petition arguing, for example, against intervention in Libya would get this massive support? Yet when it comes to flog ‘em and kill ‘em brigade they always itchy to create a populist bandwagon calling for state murder. And 100,000 supporters which is just over 1% of the population in the UK.
It reminds me of Michael Howard when Home Secretary who agreed to increase the tariff of the killers of James Bulger based on cut-off coupons in The Sun. Murdoch empire increased the sentencing of two boys bypassing the judiciary just based purely on right-wing populism (280,000 signatures). Scary!
And they pro-restoration of state murder fanatics want it specifically for child killers and cop killers. That argument has never been different and it creates a hierarchy of murder, some murders more abhorrent than others. Murder is murder isn’t it?
The debate regarding the death penalty never goes away, it comes back and forth whenever there is an appalling crime committed usually in conjunction with the howls from the right-wing populist media whipping up a frenzy, demanding vengeance. An Ipsos MORI poll found in 2009 commissioned by C4 to coincide with their appalling drama, “The Execution of Gary Glitter” found:
- 70 per cent think the UK should still have the death penalty as the maximum possible penalty for at least one of the twelve different types of crime surveyed.
- 73 per cent agree (50 per cent ‘strongly agree’) that ‘the views of the public are being ignored by politicians and the Government when setting maximum sentences and penalties for serious crimes’.
- 76 per cent agree (51 per cent ‘strongly agree’) that ‘there should be more open debate in the UK about the penalties for serious crimes, including the death penalty’.
- 77 per cent agree (56 per cent ‘strongly agree’) that they ‘are concerned that the maximum penalties (or sentences) that are set in the UK for child abuse are not severe enough’.
In the States there is a disproportionate number of Black people on death row which highlights the racism that exists within that society. And one of the many reasons I loathe Bill Clinton was of this vile political opportunistic act where he made a point of supporting the execution of Ricky Ray Rector in 1992. Playing to the ‘tough on crime’ mentality.
How many of these people on death row are innocent and have been subject to a miscarriage of justice? But then some members of the ruling class have no problem with hanging innocent people (Lord Denning on the Birmingham Six, “We shouldn’t have all these campaigns to get the Birmingham Six released if they’d been hanged. They’d have been forgotten and the whole community would have been satisfied.”)
I remember reading the powerful Reflections on the Guillotine by Camus as part of a series of essays written by campaigners for the abolition of the death penalty in Britain (the book had been published in the early 1950s). Camus writes about his father desperately wanting to attend a public execution, he does and he gets more than he bargained for. His father is in shock for days after witnessing the brutality and violence of state sanctioned murder.
Albert Pierrepoint, Britain’s most prolific hangman, made the point in an autobiography that people who were otherwise popular got their sentence commuted. Others who could be seen as ‘outsiders’ people with few friends, inarticulate etc ended up being hanged. And the death penalty reflects class dynamics, racism and sexism engendered in this unequal judgemental and moralistic society.
The death penalty is abhorrent and indeed is an aberration on a democratic society.
Strange that, the usually libertarian Guido Fawkes (no relation) has taken the spectacularly un-libertarian stance on capital punishment. Not sure how he would square that with his other beliefs.
Emotive crimes like child killings are also those likely to result in a miscarriage of justice. This brings us back to the old problem – bring back capital punishment and you will without reasonable doubt end up killing an innocent person. Therefore to be a supporter of capital punishment makes you a murderer and therefore you should be put to death. Now if they were to write a clause in the legislation that anyone who signs up to support capital punishment signs an agreement that they can be put to death when an innocent soul gets put to death then that would be worth considering.
But let’s be clear this petition system was introduced for just this reason. Most people do want to bring back capital punishment, most people are racist and anti immigrant. And most people couldn’t give a toss that the rich don’t pay their taxes. Most people ARE the fucking problem!