Over in the Religious Education Dept. Year 11 students came to the lesson not knowing what they were going to be focussing on and they were shocked to find that they would be studying the profiles and crimes of serial killers in the UK. Their GCSE course requires them to consider the issue of Capital Punishment, which is not legal in the UK but is in at least five other countries, including 38 states in the USA.
The students gathered details of the killers and their crimes from the profiles and then shared their findings and decided their own punishments, with their groups and the class. The students had some lively debate as to their differing opinions, as to why they felt the likes of Ian Huntley and the Yorkshire ripper should have been executed or imprisoned for life, as they indeed were. They considered the arguments for and against the death penalty and made their stance known to others.
To lighten the atmosphere the groups then took part in a music quiz including tracks from Human by the Killers and Bang Bang by will.i.am. There were plenty of rewards for the winners.
Some then made placards to show their support for either point of view, as if they were going on a protest march.
Their next lesson will involve looking at the Christian responses to such crimes and their perpetrators through clips from Dead Man Walking and the work of Sr Helen Prejean.
