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For me the death penalty is not a black and white issue that one can be for or against without first considering factors that the courts have to judge.
For me, cold-blooded premeditated murder should be a capital offence without question provided we're talking about a straightforward situation. However, what some might judge as cold-blooded murder others might judge in other ways: euthanasia is an example of this, where 'mercy killing' (a phrase I loathe) may be judged as a way of putting someone out of their misery - and the argument generally put forward about that is that you would be judged as inhumane if you let an animal suffer in such a way, so why should be any different with humans? Again, to me that's too black and white, and I do believe that euthanasia should be legalised in the UK after judgement by a court of law. (As an aside, that would be just about as emotive an issue as one could face, and I most certainly wouldn't be able to work there.)
Those who take a life through drink or drug driving are judged by the Police as taking under their control a murder weapon if they cannot control the vehicle by being under the influence, but again there may be extenuating circumstances whereby a normally sober and responsible human being has erred in such a dreadful way as to kill somebody else, and although the Police do judge harshly, who would be the first to say that taking the perpetrator's life may be fair or reasonable?
What about those who take a life in self-defence, those whose lives are rendered so intolerable by circumstances (such as the victims of wife-beaters) that they are driven to murder, or those whose actions accidentally cause someone else to die? For me, the whole issue is a minefield to which there cannot be a 100% right or a 100% wrong solution; that being the case, a fixed death penalty surely cannot be applicable.
I think the way I would like to see the issue addressed is for a separate new charge of Premeditated Murder to be passed as law, punishable with Capital Punishment. Other death-related charges may be brought against an individual, and I believe we then have to leave the judiciary to pass judgement upon those charged with such crimes according to the circumstances of each individual case.