The recent launch of a UK government online petition website may force the UK government to debate the reintroduction of capital punishment. Any petition which gathers 100,000 signatories may be eligible for debate in the House of Commons. Petitions which are deemed to be 'libellous or offensive' or which relate to 'honours and appointments' are barred from the website. The website is monitored by UK Government departments along with the Officer of the Leader of Commons.
The petition, which has been presented by blogger Paul Staines, calls for the murder of children and police officers to be punishable by death. The petition will be open to the public for a year, and at the time of writing has collected 11,094 signatures. A number of MPs have backed the proposal, including Conservative MP Phillip Davies, who told The Guardian that he would like to see all murders punishable by death.
Amnesty International UK has voiced concerns about reopening such a debate. It describes the death penalty as a "cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment" and warned of the possibility of miscarriages of justice such as the Birmingham Six. According to Amnesty statistics, the death penalty is lawful in one-third of the world's countries.
The Bulletin notes that at the time of going to press, a related petition on the same website which seeks to maintain the ban on capital punishment has in fact collected more signatures than the original petition - 19,480 so far.