The Death Sentence in Britain

Labour won the election in 1997 with the a flagship policy of “Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.” This take on crime has clearly been lost through the years as there is a 60% re offending rate in 2002 compared to the 53% re offending rate in 1993. This shows that the system if failing that it has in fact set itself.. The only real way to hammer down on crime is to create a more sever punishment for those who break laws such as murder. The best way to do this is the death penalty, as this not only hammers in the zero tolerance message but also cuts any possibility of someone coming out of prison and murdering again. The average sentence for premeditated murder is 15 years in prison with a possibility of parole. This means that if someone gets out on parole they could spend less time in prison than people do at school. The idea that prison is a rehabilitation is not backed up at all. I will use the example of Donal Kelleher, an inmate at HMP Cardiff. He explains how his accommodation is, “Outstanding,” and told the press how he is paid 10 pounds a week to study for a maths GCSE which he spends on cigarettes, chocolates and other similar goods. Kelleher stabbed his wife to death and was sentenced to life. He told a paper that he was, “Better off on the inside, I could only imagine how cold it must be out there.” This is the main problem with prisons, they are no longer a punishment but are an extra long break. People will commit crimes and think that nothing bad will happen to them, and in the society we live in that is indeed the case. I would also like to point out that since the abolishment of the death penalty crimes have increased quite drastically. The last recorded hanging was in 1964. During this year, in England and Wales, there were 72 000 domestic burglaries, in 2004 there were 402 000. In terms of robberies there 3000 in 1964, in 2004 there were 101 000. One may argue that there is more things worth stealing in modern years but the counter argument to this is that security quality has increased substantially. This leads me to conclude that the increase in domestic and extreme crimes is due to the severely lowered penalty if someone is caught, as well as the easy life people lead in prison.