GuardianOct 3Preview
What do Britain’s death-penalty cheerleaders have to say about Christa Pike? | Maya Foa
Her harrowing botched execution is a reminder of why we must not even entertain the idea of restoring capital punishmentMaya Foa is the CEO of the human rights charity ReprieveIn recent months, there has been a resurgence of interest in the death penalty among rightwing politicians in the UK. The leader of Restore Britain, Rupert Lowe, has made a manifesto commitment to holding a legally binding referendum on bringing back capital punishment. The Reform MP Lee Anderson is also in favour of a referendum, arguing that the public would vote in favour of the death penalty.Such supporters of capital punishment in Britain point to polls such as this “bombshell survey” that supposedly showed 47% of students favoured bringing back the death penalty. But these headlines are misleading, as surveys rarely include details about the grim administration of capital punishment and only present a binary