Stephen Pollard is on a killing-spree.
He starts with Ian Huntley
I can see no reason, either moral or practical, why Ian Huntley should not be executed – or why other murderers, too, should not be killed.
moves on to Saddam
As I watched the wonderful pictures of Saddam’s humiliation, I could not – nor can I still – think of a single reason why he should not be executed.
and concludes that
Anyone who accepts that Saddam should be killed must also accept the case for capital punishment more generally.
In contrast to the above, my objection to the death penalty have always been practical rather than moral. There have been so many instances of the British state getting it wrong – the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six just to mention the recent Irish ones – that it would be difficult to square the death penalty with justice.
The moral argument is worth having but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that if the death penalty were re-introduced the state would have probably sent the above-mentioned Irish people to the noose for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Remember – there is no Appeal when you are dead.
