Death Penalty Numbers Rise as Support Falls: Where does Libby Purves stand on it?

New reports reveal that, although there has been a trend against the death penalty in recent years, more executions than ever were carried out last year.

Personally, I’m strongly against the death penalty, no matter the case. Not because there aren’t, on occasion, people who appear to deserve it, and not because, on occasion, the ‘eye for an eye’ argument doesn’t seem the most effective form of justice, but because no government can promote a strong moral code in society while administering state approved murder.

For that reason, while I understand Libby Purves’ reaction to Josef Fritzl - she declares resolutely that Fritzl represents the ‘death of hope’ and makes even her, a left-leaning journalist, rethink the death penalty – I’m disappointed that she tells us nothing new. Her point is that some crimes leave even a liberal-minded person utterly despairing. But so what? We all know that. We all feel that.

So I prefer the views of Richard Davies and the rest of the psychotherapists at London’s Portman clinic. They treat some of the country’s most unpleasant characters: rapists, paedophiles and serial sex offenders. While going through old magazines I came across an article in the Observer magazine about the Portman clinic. Their views, which I applaud above Purves’ (totally understandable) emotion, make me think. And, unlike Purves’ hopeless sentiments, give me some hope. An extract from Simon Garfield’s article reads:

Davies and his colleagues believe that a sense of futility only arises from the belief that there is no solution to the unpalatable extremes in our lives. A scientific understanding does not imply sympathy or forgiving, but it may have advantages beyond mere punishment and retribution. It is a biblical conclusion, and a civilised one, and it may be the only way we can salve a troubled soul, both the patient’s and our own.

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