This is Andrew Dawson who 'completed' a life sentence for murder back in 1981.
He has now murdered two people in Derby.
So often we hear of attempts by abolitionists to persuade us that the 'finality' of a death sentence is its biggest drawback and they ally this with alleged cases of 'wrongful executions' from five, six or seven decades ago - every one of which I have personally investigated and every claim is seriously dubious. Perhaps it is 'the lack of finality' in our sentencing which must be considered!
Let us assume that there once had been a mistake with an execution - something which is very hard to believe - but SO WHAT?
Mistakes - even fatal ones - occur in every part of human life. Even if such a tragic error had occurred - would we really abandon an entire system because of it?
There are even very rare fatalities with tonsilectomies! Should those be banned as a consequence? The logic is seriously flawed.
If a system contains flaws, however - you aim to make that system as perfect as possible.
Let us return to Dawson and ask a very simple question:
Would those two people be dead today if he had died on the end of a rope in the 70s?
Stop and ask yourself this question:
Why do these proven deaths not matter a single jot yet highly dubious claims for ancient miscarriages of justice seemingly win the argument?
There are dozens of 'Mr Dawsons' about EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
It cannot be argued that 'real life sentences' must be imposed.
'Whole-of-life-tariffs' are as rare as hen's teeth and we now have so many life sentences not being served that if we started to use 'real life sentences' we would soon need a host of new prisons.
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