Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Who supports the death penalty?

by Aaron Wherry on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 11:05am - 145 Comments

In his interview with the CBC, Mr. Harper acknowledged that he personally supports the death penalty in certain unspecified circumstances. In his support, the Prime Minister is conceivably joined by the Justice Minister, who voted in favour of the reintroduction of capital punishment in 1987.

When Ekos polled on the issue last March, it found that 40% of Canadians supported such reintroduction.

Data from 2000 suggests that opinions on this issue have remained relatively unchanged in 10 years. In June of 2000, 43 per cent disagreed with capital punishment while 44 per cent agreed with it. Those who support the reintroduction of capital punishment tend to be Conservative supporters (53 per cent), residents of Alberta (48 per cent), men (43 per cent), seniors (45 per cent), high school grads (48 per cent) and college grads (46 per cent).

Tags: capital punishment, Crime, death penalty, Ekos, justice, Rob Nicholson, Stephen Harper

More by Aaron Wherry

Bob

If no one wants the death penalty because an innocent person may die, then I suggest we institute life means life and consecutive sentencing. No parole no rehab, just punishment. If they are later found innocent (not many are) then we let them go. As for the others, no CPP, No TV, no voting rights but to keep them busy a hard days work outside will do. I don't want to rehabilitate them I want them punished. They are after all murderers and some of them are pretty vile, like Paul Bernardo.

Mike T.

You have two ideas unrelated there, one doesn't necessarily follow from the other.

shane

Instead of the death penalty, how about lif in prison with no parole…ever?
http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2814648 Roy Berger

Capital punishment for Members of Parliament or Senators who are found guilty of indictable offences could be discussed. When compromised they can endanger the whole.
JamesHalifax

Andrew (not POrC) wrote:
"Harper claims to be Christian, right? One of the central tenets of Christianity is the Ten Commandments. One of those commandments is that you must not kill people."

Actually, Andy…..a closer interpretation is, "Thou shalt not Murder"

There is a difference.

Defending the innocent from murderers is not murder. If you were to kill someone in the act fo attacking a child….it does not make you a murderer. It makes you a good samaritan.

That being said……I'm still opposed to the death penalty.

Halo_Override

Good lord, I actually get to agree with you today. I need a nap now, or maybe a drink.

rob

instead of arguing over this topic, i think canadians should be more concerned over the economy and job creation for now and the future. this is just my opinion. on the other hand if you think you can do a better job running this country then you should get off your high horse and do it so that we may all be better off.
LdKitchenersOwn

You didn't even read my comment before posting that did you?

:-)

TimesArrow

er…probably not. :)

Trudeau lover

Spoken like a true "Liberal".
Trudeau lover

While this is a wonderful scare tactic narrative and deflection technique used by lefty media types, it is also a completely irrelevant topic. A "Liberal" party agent of the CBC (Mansbriges) asks the PM a question about a subject that is verboten to speak of, and is never going to be a topic of serious debate in this country. Like abortion, the subject of capital punishment is a subject that has been decided by politicians and therefore the debate is over. Topics like abortion and capital punishment are too contentious of subjects for such an immature country like Canada to have. Although, having said that, they are useful issues to inject when one is trying to manufacture divisiveness and nurture a fear mongering narrative, as the leftoid media continue their agenda of polarizing debate.
Ignoramus

You're skating awfully close to some pro-life talking points there. Just wanted to point that out.
Stormcrow

It's a typical 'easy answers to complex questions' issue and therefore of value to hardline conservative voters. Easy to talk about but very, very difficult to enact without 'complications'.
Ann

I have a few questions:
1) If your spouse killed someone because they were drinking and driving, would you support the death penalty?
2) If your spouse killed someone because they had taken a sleeping pill an then ended up behing the wheel of a car, would you support the death penalty?
3) If your spouse was killed by someone, and every 5 years they brought the case up again because we really don't want to kill innocent people, and thus you had to re-live everything one more time, would you support the death penalty?
4) If your spouse was playing with your baby and during this fun, bonding experience, the baby died; would you support the death penalty?

5) I'm told people can be so high on something they don't remember what they did; including killing people. I'm also told that more murders take place in family court than criminal court. In either of these cases do you really believe that a tougher sentence would have stopped the murder?

Would it not be better to deal with the problem (mental health and addictions), than the symptom (murder)?
http://stumblingabordeaux.blogspot.com Pato31

As much as I find the likes of Karla Homolka or Russell Williams disgusting and monsterous, I find it just as awful when others sit and applaud the riddance of products of their own society.
Leo

Read "Without Conscience" Dr. Robert Hare.

Psychopaths, he asserts, are neither sociopaths nor psychotics but rather are people who are well aware of the difference between right and wrong and ignore the distinction. Additionally, they are egocentric and have no feelings of empathy, guilt or remorse. They view others as potential victims, and they leave a trail of unhappiness behind them.
Holly Stick

Is he talking about murderers or poiticians?
madeyoulook

Harper's position is an easy one to share. Here are where my own thoughts on capital punishment have settled down (and I confess to having been all over the map on this one in my lifetime):

No desire to bring it back, probably more trouble than it's worth, and one of the LAST things I would ever want to see is the wrongful execution of an innocent person — and I do not trust the machinery of the state to be 100% right. But every once in a while, along comes a case that makes me wonder why I settled into that position.
LdKitchenersOwn

every once in a while, along comes a case that makes me wonder why I settled into that position

The problem for me is always where we'd draw the line for the "exceptional" cases. Not many people would go to the wall to keep Bernardo from being executed (though, I hasten to add, kudos to those who would, both for living up to their principles and for fulfilling an important part of our justice system) but the problem is, where do you draw the line between Bernardo and the potentially wrongly convicted person? The extreme cases may be relatively easy calls for the majority of us, but where does the line get drawn between Paul Bernardo and Steven Truscott?

I'd rather be 100% confident that we don't kill innocent people than take any chances. I guess I'm with Blackstone on this one, and the old "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" formulation. I'm pretty comfortable with that.
Pele

Well Said,

In my opinion, the only argument against capital punishment is the potential for an innocent person to be put to death for a crime he/she didn't commit. That may be enough.

However, Bernardo should be dead. When I consider how those girls begged, plead, cried and screamed for their lives….
madeyoulook

Well, it's no problem for me. I don't even want to draw the line. I have made up my mind that we will just have to get used to being stuck with them in jail.
LdKitchenersOwn

Yeah, me too, I just thought I'd share what I always think of when presented with those cases that occasionally make me wonder why I settled into that position.
Olivier

Death is too good for him.
wjm_19

agree