15-05-2025
EXCLUSIVE Britain needs the death penalty - I know because I witnessed the 'horrible' executions of two heinous murderers, PETER HITCHENS tells SARAH VINE on latest episode of provocative Mail podcast
Britain needs to reinstate the death penalty as a deterrent against the most cruel and unusual crimes, acclaimed broadcaster Peter Hitchens has told co-host Sarah Vine on the latest episode of the Mail's Alas Vine & Hitchens podcast.
The best-selling author argued that the logic in having the death penalty is 'inexorable', with scientific developments in the DNA analysis of crime scenes now meaning 'very few' falsely accused people would receive capital punishment.
Hitchens revealed that during his time as a correspondent in America, he forced himself to witness two executions, one by lethal injection, the other by electrocution, to test his convictions in the practice.
He explained to Mail columnist Sarah Vine that although the experience was 'horrible', his view on the death penalty remained unchanged, permitting its use under 'very strict conditions.'
'I concluded about 30 years ago that I supported the death penalty under very strict conditions', Hitchens began.
'When challenged, I couldn't deny it. I instantly made myself a lot of enemies among the sort of people I knew then. It is an absolute test in modern liberal Britain: if you support the death penalty, then you're some knuckle-brushing barbarian.
'The logic for it is inexorable – the thing which put the capstone on it for me was witnessing two executions in the United States. I thought I should face the thing I had supported and in a sense, willed.
'I went to these executions – now, no one can say to me: 'Well if you'd seen it, you'd stop being in favour of it.'
'It didn't alter my view. It was a horrible thing, but it was meant to be.
'In an age of DNA, establishing someone's guilt is easier and more likely to be certain than it was before. I certainly am not suggesting the execution of all murderers – only the most heinous of them.'
The broadcaster, who over his long career in journalism has written extensively on the subject, went on to detail his reasoning for supporting capital punishment.
The death penalty was abolished in Britain in 1965, mostly due to evolving social attitudes and several high-profile miscarriages of justice.
Hitchens said: 'You must make it plain as a society that you value life above all things. The only person who can forgive a murderer is the person who's murdered, and that person is not available – we do not have the freedom to forgive on their behalf.
'Then there's deterrence – when the death penalty was suspended in this country in the late 1940s, armed crime went up during that suspension and fell again when it ended.
'There is no question that since final abolition in 1965, the amount of homicide in this country has gone up.
'What's more, the amount of serious wounding has gone up, but that doesn't show in the homicide rates because the health service has gotten so much better.
'If people see someone getting away with murder, then it makes them angry. It makes them less inclined to keep the law themselves. Poorly enforced laws make people behave worse.'
Sarah Vine tacitly agreed with her co-host, adding that now, in the modern world, we have far less painful and graphic methods of execution than when capital punishment was abolished.
The most common method of execution in Britain was hanging.
The deeply controversial 1955 hanging of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be given the death penalty in Britain, turned the public against the method of execution and capital punishment in general.
Hitchens said however that if the death penalty was reintroduced, the method of execution should be 'genuinely frightening' by design.
'The thing has to have some force', the author proclaimed.
'When I saw the lethal injection, I thought it was morally creepy. It doesn't look like an execution – it's more like a medical procedure. That's dishonest – people are pretending to be doing something that they're not.'
To catch the full debate on the death penalty, listen to the latest Alas Vine & Hitchens now, wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
