A Rational View: Capital Corporal Punishment

[john8pies]

Not sure if this is quite the right place to post this as I wouldn`t want anyone to execute their children(!) but the issue of capital and corporal punishment sort of tie in together so I`ll post it here and elsewhere in the ForumGarden.

When I was growing up (in the 50s and 60s) corporal punishment was regarded as the norm, to punish bad behaviour , make an example of somebody, and as a deterrent. Capital punishment was used for murder (and there were some other things it could be used for, eg, aggravated or depraved rape; setting fire to a naval dockyard, etc) .

The argument against capital punishment was that once you`d executed people , you couldn`t bring them back to life if they were later proved to have been innocent. Against this, the deterrent factor alone would surely have prevented some of the more unsavoury perpetrators (eg, Shipman, Huntley) from carrying out their disgusting crimes.

The argument against corporal punishment was that it was barbaric, random and unnecessary. However since it was banned, behaviour patterns have definitely got worse.

Does anybody have any feelings as to whether corporal and / or capital punishment should be re-introduced, and whether it would help prevent crime?

[Bothwell]

John, you may get very different replies from our American friends than us Brits. I wasa educated at the hands of Catholic Brothers whose use of coporal punishment was both widespread and brutal, I am sure that I do not want eight year olds rapped across the knuckles with a ruler EDGE ON.

At later schools I attended the cane was used but it was reserved for very serious offences. In spite of all this the one thing I really feared was incurring my father's wrath, he never ever laid a finger on me, but for him to say he was dissapointed was enough. He was aslo very creative in his punishments. Once when I was about 10 my brother and I were playing up in a reastaurant. He made us stand on our chairs, the place was packed and for about 30 seconds we thought it was a great laugh, then the embarrassment set in, after 5 mins we were pleading with him to let us down.

i suppose my point is that as a kid you can cope with the cane et al in fact there is even a sort of machismo about being able to take it. Parental dissapointment is harder to cope with. So yet again we are drawn to the fact that parenting takes a large share of the blame. A friend of mine teaches reception class at school. She and her fellow teachers have a parents evening about six weeks in to the new term, she tells me that she can match the parents to the child as they come through the door 80% of the time, Attitude, speech, dress etc.

[Lon]

For most of my adult life I was a supporter of Capital Punishment, but in recent years have come to the conclusion that life with no chance of parole is better punishment, even with the apartment like settings that some cons enjoy. Death ends it, no thoughts, no remorse, no longing, no chance to miss freedom. Thanks to DNA, there should not be too many unjustly doing time.



Corporal Punishment has come to mean different things to different people in todays world. There are those that consider swatting a child lightly on the butt as coropral punishment. The Corporal Punishment meted out by the SISTERS OF MERCY? in days of yore is certainly archaic as is that by some of the other orders. At age 10, I was slapped hard across the mouth by a Public School teacher in the state of New Jersey. I had said a naughty word. I never told my parents because I was embarassed and besides, it was really no big deal. What she did was wrong of course, and today, she would be hung out to dry. I was spanked two or three times by my dad when I was a kid, swatted on the butt frequently by my mom and older sisters. I see nothing wrong with this kind of disipline despite what the modern day Parenting books say. Inflicting severe pain is wrong.

[john8pies]

Thank you for your replies. Corporal punishment could be re-introduced in schools as I feel that the mere threat of seeing the cane and knowing it could be used would concentrate a child`s mind into behaving better. But obviously I don`t think it should be used for stupid things like `not being able to understand a question` or `not being able to afford the correct shoes` etc. I think the birch should be used in correctional institutions and though it probably isn`t PC to say it, I`d like to see it also used publicly on thugs before football matches, etc, This would hopefully teach them humility and a much needed lesson. Capital punishment is a very thorny issue- obviously statistics prove that 100% of people who are executed commit no further crimes (.....?!) but we still don`t want to execute the wrong ones. I do feel, however, that those who murder children, where the DNA evidence etc is conclusive, should forfeit their own lives. Whilst I sympathise with the view that life imprisonment may actually be more of a punishment (though it seldom if ever means more than about 10 years in actuality), to keep the prisoner alive means that supporters, etc, could murder innocent people until their friend, relative was granted a release.