Martyrdom as the result of death in some religions is well known, be it for being a convicted felon or not, so the death penalty is not an effective crime deterrent to that particular religion, especially if it is a convicted felon.
At the same time, once criminals are sentenced to a death penalty (which is more common in the US) as the death penalty was abolished in the 60’s in the UK, with forensic evidence becoming so much more sophisticated it has become a problem that the wrong person may as a result of their supposed crime is punished for it.
Needless to say that the death penalty would help to reduce the over crowding in prisons which is becoming so much more the case at the present time, but its still not the best way forward as to deal with criminals.
The saying an “eye for an eye” is in some peoples minds the right way to deal with convicts, but is it? It appears to make us as bad as the person who does the crime.
If you read the history books especially in England, people used to lose their heads frequently for adultery, not believing in a certain religion and for treason, which is a bit harsh compared to today’s crime acts.
Taking away someone’s civil liberties is a good deterrent, tagging their every day life with a special implant so that for the rest of their natural born life they are monitored to whatever they do. Life imprisonment is the best way forward, and even at the expense of the tax payer, if we know that the convict was 100% guilty of a crime that was so terrible is going to be locked away for the rest of their life and watched at every move they make, I think this would be the best way.
I am sick of hearing of human rights activists going on about what the prisoner is entitled to, at the end of the day, that prisoner lost all rights when he/she committed the crime (especially if it was a life they took or raped a child or woman or some indecent act). They are entitled to no rights.
The death penalty to me is an easy option as well, as it is final, even thought the family of the victim may be thinking “death is not good enough” the knowledge that the prisoner is serving a life long sentence with no exception for a parole, is a good thing as they will be in the knowledge that the prisoner will never be free to do their terrible act again, whatsoever.
It goes without saying that most child murderers, rapists have a pretty tough time in prison anyway as the true hardened criminal like bank robbers do not take too kindly to child murderers.
Getting back to the martyrs, as I said before, this would just be another notch on the belt of the terrorist organization knowing that their colleague died for their cause.
The prison service needs to look at the ways of dealing with life sentences more closely and making sure that the life sentence is a life sentence and not reduced to two years for being a good boy/girl and reading the bible every day.