Walrus, I don't see how torture (sensory deprivation) is better than the death penalty. Get civilised.

The most disturbing thing to notice from the Peter Woodhams murder is the complete collapse of citizenship and solidarity in parts of UK society. And I don't just mean that the yobs are a nasty bunch. I mean the (corrupt?) police who didn't investigate his stabbing, the selfish and uncaring attitudes of ordinary non- criminal people, bullying attitudes in the home, at school, at work. And the idiot drugs policies that hand over whole areas of our towns to criminal gangs. And the people who aren't citizen enough to pay their taxes or keep to speed limits. And the racial and religious bigots (of any group).

We aren't going to bget rid of these people, but society ought at least to make them ashamed of it.

Of a few random people convicted of previously capital crimes in the UK, which of these would have been usefully executed?

Bulger killers (little kids)
Stephen Lawrence killers (no convictions)
Birmingham bombers (innocent)
Fred West (killed himself)
Harold Shipman (ditto)
Stephen Downing (framed by local police)
John Duffy (in jail until at least 2030)
Ian Huntley (convicted, but found to be mad).