| Summary: | This short article looks to consider the use of punishment for those offenders suffering with a mental health issue and the particular difficulties inherent in a system that has little in the way of secure social provision (RCP, 2004). Particular attention is paid to the use of imprisonment, where clear guidance exists in the Mental Health Act 1983 for the diversion of such offenders from custody at the earliest opportunity. The article will consider the historic and current debate surrounding the role and use of capital punishment, looking to examples from within the United Kingdom and in the contemporary United States of America. Finally, the discussion will make reference to the argument of a moral panic (Cohen, 2002), which leads to a political and social discourse, and the media contribution to the debate of a return for capital punishment. © 2008 SAGE Publications.
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