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A few journalists in the UK have espoused the merits of re-introducing hanging of vicious murderers which they contend would discourage others from murdering

 Hang it!  Here we go again  - Peter Hitchens  29 April 2013

“I favour hanging because of its extreme swiftness when efficiently carried out, combined with its huge moral force.  There are many arguments for the death penalty beginning with the placing a special value on human life, moving on to deterrence.  Beneath all those arguments lies a religious question (this is the case with most major issues of our time).

If man has no soul, and this is the only life we have, and there is no eternity, nor any divine justice, then the only arguments for the death penalty are utilitarian ones. In an age of unbelief, I tend to concentrate on the utilitarian ones. But even those lead me to the view that the act of execution, while not being actively cruel or involving mental or physical torture, should be frightening and violent, rather than pseudo-medical.  I would be cowardly if I did not say this. I do not enjoy saying it, or thinking it. But those who wish to have anything to do with standing between the populace and evil must sometimes face directly the unpleasant duties that may fall on them. The main reason for the abolition of the death penalty is the squeamishness of politicians, who enjoy office but do not like all the duties which power loads on to their (often rather narrow) shoulders.  Far easier to them to leave the matter to some trembling constable with a gun in a dark street, who can be disavowed if it all goes wrong later.  

The use of medical-seeming methods also tends to support the idea that crime is a disease rather than a willful act of conscious evil.  I formed this view when I witnessed an execution by lethal injection.”