Cactus Kate has come out strongly in favour of the death penalty for our worst murderers, citing the cases of Clayton Weatherston and the self confessed necrophiliac double murderer in Christchurch. Perhaps because hers is a right wing blog, the vast majority of those commenting on her post support it. For those who have studied the issue in some depth, it is not quite as straightforward as it may seem – even where the crime is heinous, and there is no doubt of guilt.  Below is a comment I left on her post. 

As some readers will know, I have in the past (prior to my involvement with ACT) advocated a return of the death penalty for our worst murderers – the Bells, the Rufus Marsh’s  and the Burtons.

After ten years reflection, I have now changed my view somewhat. While most people wouldn’t have much of a problem if Bell or Burton were executed, as a matter of public policy it becomes very problematic.

Having lived in a country where the death penalty remains on the books as a discretionary sentence for murder, I can say with some certainty that one of the results of having a capital sentence even as an option  is what lawyers call “perverse verdicts” by juries unwilling to convict because they know or believe the person concerned will be executed, and they cannot cope with that on their collective conscience.

If we had the death penalty here, a significant section of the public would suddenly find Clayton Weatherston to be a poor mixed up fellow who wasn’t mothered properly, as evidenced by his bed wetting into his teenage years.

William Bell would turn in the eyes of some from a monster who killed three people and damned near killed a fourth to a deprived child who had been subjected to institutionalised or latent racism as he grew up.

I have also come to believe that Life Without Parole (LWOP) which is available as sentence in many American States – and soon will be here – IS actually probably a worse punishment than the 20 or so seconds of terror prior to instant death by judicial hanging as was practiced here and in England.

The downsides of LWOP of course include the cost, and as Burton has demonstrated (he will never leave prison alive and he knows it),  someone serving LWOP can kill again with impunity – there are guards as well as prisoners in jail – and there is nothing more the state can do.

And whatever one thinks of the competing arguments, the political reality is the death penalty would never pass here.