None of you have touched on the MAJOR issue that lies beneath this.

Sure we all want justice and nasty crimes must be punished...

but then who are you trusting with this awesome power over our lives? All the time we hear about people in jail being let out after new evidence has come to light. I just DO NOT trust the police and the prosecution services that much. How many innocent people will be sent to the gallows. Do we really want our own Mumia Abdul Jamals over here? We criticise people like George Bush for signing death warrants that kill many black men in America only to wish for Tony Blair to have the same powers??

Fine, you may be thinking, some innocents dying might be acceptable to preserve the principle but when it is YOUR son falsely accused of something and the whole system is against him baying for blood... then you will know

The methods for determining guilt or innocence at court are not adequate enough for us to be killing people at the outcome. If they were then people would not be being let out and pardoned.