The death penalty is a form of punishment that is used in over 50 countries in the world today. It is a form of punishment that has been used for centuries to deal with, deter and combat crime. The UK does not use the death penalty, however, this has not always been the case.
One of the first big public death sentences in the UK was in London, 1783. It was a public execution that was carried out in the king’s name. Death sentences in the UK were usually done by hanging. Hanging is when an individual is suspended off the ground by a noose around their neck; this could take up to 30 minutes to take somebody’s life.
The Death Penalty was suspended for 5 years in 1965 because of a man who went by the name of Sidney Silverman. Silverman submitted a private bill to parliament in December 1964 and it was debated on the 21st of December. The bill that Silverman submitted was passed successfully by parliament. Afterwards in 1965, because capital punishment was no longer available, a life sentence became mandatory for the crime of murder. In 1969 due to an overwhelming vote, Parliament voted in favour of abolishing the death penalty for murder. The death penalty was finally abolished fully in the UK in 1998. This was due to the Labour government passing the ‘Crime and Disorder Act’ which fully removed the death penalty from British law. (The death penalty was still available for crimes of piracy and treason up until 1998).
In the 1980s UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher supported the death penalty, and there was also some public demand to bring it back. This resulted in MPs being given a free vote on capital punishment throughout the 1980s. However, there was never enough votes to bring it back while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. To this day, the death penalty has still not been brought back, this is down to a few reasons, although two cases played a big part in the decision not to bring back the death penalty; These cases were the Guilford Four and the Birmingham Six.
In 1989, the Guilford Four were exonerated after serving 14 years in prison for being suspected of causing 5 deaths and over 60 injuries in two IRA pub bombings in Surrey, England. The people suspected of the bombings were Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong, Carole Richardson and Paul Hill. Due to the suspension of the death penalty 24, these Guildford Four were sentenced to life in prison and not death. Had Silverman’s bill not been passed, when the four were arrested and sentenced 14 years earlier in 1975, they would have faced capital punishment.
In 1991, the Birmingham Six were also freed after serving 16 years in prison for the murder of 21 people in two more pub bombings. The names of the six individuals here were Johnny Walker, Billy Power, Richard McIlkenny, Hugh Callaghan, Gerry Hunter, and Paddy Hill. Their conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal. After serving nearly 2 decades in prison for a crime that they did not commit, had the death penalty not been suspended years before, these men would have most certainly been facing the death penalty and would have been executed for crimes they did not commit.
Michael Howard, the Home Secretary from 1993–1997 said this in the BBC documentary ‘Crime and Punishment: The Story of Capital Punishment’ about the death penalty. “For a long time, I supported capital punishment because I thought it was a deterrent. And actually, I still think it is a deterrent. But I changed my mind because of the risk of a mistake. It was the cases of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four that changed my mind on that. I accepted that you could never completely eliminate the risk of mistake. And since then, I’ve become averse, as well, to the whole idea of the state deliberately taking someone’s life.” (BBC, 2011).
Due to the United Kingdom’s Government not being able to fully eliminate the change of making a mistake with the death penalty, as shown with the two cases of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, they would not be able to bring the death penalty back into action. Not without some serious backlash and criticism. The state could not risk putting innocent lives in danger. The cases of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six are two perfect examples of what could go wrong if investigations are not done carefully.
It is easier to sentence somebody to life in prison and release them if they are innocent, then deal with the repercussions and guilt that would come with taking the life of an innocent citizen.
A few other notable cases of the death penalty being carried out and being used to execute the wrong people are:
Timothy Evans executed in 1950 for the murder of his daughter. Timothy was later pardoned in 1966, this was the result of a public inquiry by Sir Daniel Brabin. Evan’s daughter was killed by John Christie.
George Kelly executed in 1950, he was convicted for the murders of John Catterall and Leonard Thomas. His conviction was overturned in 2003 by the Court of Appeal. The judges concluded that his conviction as ‘unsafe’.
Derek Bentley executed in 1953. He was convicted for supposedly shooting and killing police officer Frederik Fairfax in an attempted burglary. He did not fire the shot and had his conviction overturned in 1998.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article, I am currently studying criminology so I will be sharing topics I find interesting along the way. If you found this article interesting, please feel free to share it with others who may appreciate it.
References:
Websites –
Books –
Open University, DD105, Introduction to Criminology Book 1.
