jasey

I'm not saying prisons are nice places - just that they would be a lot worse If I was in charge .

Giving up my liberty is something I would not look forward to - but then I'm not a ******* criminal. Some fcukwit going round to mug my granny for her pension money to feed his drug habit doesn't seem to be bothered by the thought of what might happen to him if he's caught - He would be in my Britain !

Holy Ghost

b20 - i agree with the sentiment but i think life (ie you're in prison till you die) is a better & more civilised punishment for the worst crimes. for the psychopath, death is often a release. imprisonment till you croak is no release.

and that means no parole, no chance of parole: no soft terms, no playstation, no-TV-in-the-cell, no croissants, no conjugal visits, no write-your-memoirs-for-the-tabloids. just hard time, hard scrip and solitary. lots of solitary. life has GOT to mean life for the small number of crimes that deserve it. not that we see much passing as serious punishment for the most part today.

social liberals (ie the Left - isn't it always?) from the 1960s on have a lot to answer for as i believe they have fubarred the entire judicial system and to a significant extent, social values too.

i used to be pro death penalty, but there are too many (in relative terms) mistakes by the police & CPS (stoked by the media) to justify the state sanctioned death of someone who may turn out to be innocent.

at least if a miscarriage of justice has taken place - and they have - the innocent party can be released and compensated. and if that person was you - or one you love - then i'm sure you'd be grateful, quite literally, for small mercies.

this view may be at odds with the poll here, but all i'd say is think twice. if we ensure that the punishment fits the crime - without it being made a laughing stock by naive idiots who cannot think straight - then we have, i think, a happy medium that delivers a dignified justice without the vulgar brutality of those we deem guilty.