TWO recent front page stories in this newspaper represent the poles of opinion on crime and punishment.

In one report, a family affected by murder called for the return of the death penalty, following the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.

The next week, a man who had been the victim of a horrifying crime put the case for forgiveness.

Here were two heartfelt opinions on a topic which has fluctuated since capital punishment was abolished in 1969.

The debate has risen and faded, depending on the mood of the moment, usually dictated by a high-profile murder.

Certain unspeakable crimes put the heat back into the argument, at least momentarily.

After the Soham murders, a phone poll in the Evening Press revealed almost unanimous support for the death penalty.

Yet at the weekend a march in York in support of bringing back the death penalty for child killers managed to attract only 21 people.

Such a tepid turn-out does not suggest the massive support which had been indicated so recently.

Perhaps a more considered view had allowed people to think again; or maybe public opinion, ever fickle, had been deflected elsewhere.

Acomb woman Gillian Chambers organised the march in York, as part of her campaign to restore the death penalty for child killers.

Mrs Chambers is campaigning from the heart, because her young niece and a friend were sexually assaulted and strangled in a park in Brighton.

She was not perturbed by the low attendance, insisting that most people on the street supported her position.

Whether or not one agrees with Mrs Chambers, her case illustrates that the families of victims can so often feel aggrieved and abandoned by the legal system.

Updated: 10:17 Monday, September 16, 2002