Boris to resign? (Speculation) And who should replace him?

[Journeyman]

Especially since we wouldn't be able to use the "historic law that's still on the books" excuse like the US does. We would have abolished captial punishment and actively chosen to reintroduce it.

That's what makes it particularly reprehensible. Most countries have some obnoxious old legislation still in place, whether it gets used or not, but reintroduction would take so many deliberate steps, and completely transform our justice system. It's absolutely unthinkable.

 

[Gloster]

That's what makes it particularly reprehensible. Most countries have some obnoxious old legislation still in place, whether it gets used or not, but reintroduction would take so many deliberate steps, and completely transform our justice system. It's absolutely unthinkable.

Unfortunately, what only a few years ago was unthinkable, has now become thinkable. To the specific point: we have politicians who wouldn’t worry about miscarriages of justice if they further their career. There is also the fear, as with another matter, that there are a sufficiently large minority of people who would like to see the reintroduction of capital punishment and would definitely vote, while too many of the clear majority who would be against reintroduction wouldn’t get around to voting. I wouldn’t be surprised if proposing reintroduction of the death penalty for the murder of police officers would be a start: get it on the books and then widen the categories. In a few years hanging for stealing sheep or forging banknotes would be back.

 

[JamesT]

I can't speak for your neck of the woods, but I think you'd struggle to find widespread support for the return of capital punishment north of the border. At least, I've not seen or heard many in favour.

Edit: Thinking about it, if we hadn't managed to settle the independence referendum question by then, that might be enough to trigger one. There's a bit of history of Scots being executed by then English...

Depends what the crime is. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/a...0/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals has a link to the underlying data broken out by region. For child murder, terrorists, or multiple murders, there was a clear majority amongst the Scottish respondents for the death penalty. Murder of a police officer was pretty much even.

The Wikipedia article on capital punishment mentions a poll in 2009 where Scots were more in favour of its return than the English. Unfortunately the link to the poll has broken.

My recollection is that polls have fairly consistently shown public support for capital punishment, at least for some crimes. But politicians have generally treated the issue as one for their consciences rather than being directly representative of their constituents.

 

[brad465]

Depends what the crime is. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/legal/a...0/01/brits-want-harsher-punishments-criminals has a link to the underlying data broken out by region. For child murder, terrorists, or multiple murders, there was a clear majority amongst the Scottish respondents for the death penalty. Murder of a police officer was pretty much even.

The Wikipedia article on capital punishment mentions a poll in 2009 where Scots were more in favour of its return than the English. Unfortunately the link to the poll has broken.

My recollection is that polls have fairly consistently shown public support for capital punishment, at least for some crimes. But politicians have generally treated the issue as one for their consciences rather than being directly representative of their constituents.

The thing that gets me about supporting Capital Punishment for Terrorists is many of them want the resultant martyrdom, which means if anything for them to receive the death penalty is a reward, not a genuine punishment.

 

[Journeyman]

The thing that gets me about supporting Capital Punishment for Terrorists is many of them want the resultant martyrdom, which means if anything for them to receive the death penalty is a reward, not a genuine punishment.

Absolutely. If they believe death will result in eternal paradise surrounded by virgins, it's much more sensible to make these people spend 50+ years behind bars deprived of the glory they seek. Ironically, if America is anything to go by, it's actually cheaper too.

 

[Cowley]

We seem to have two threads at the moment that are speculating about possible general elections or Boris Johnson resigning.
Personally I don’t think this is looking too likely at the moment but I guess we’ll see over the next few months. If he does then obviously we’ll open the thread or maybe start a new one.

For the time being though this thread is being retired due to long term tiredness and incompetence issues...
Anymore discussion around the topic can be covered in this thread from now on, thanks all :

Who would you vote for in a General Election? January 2021

Curious, who would you currently vote for and why? I have absolutely no idea!

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