Capital Punishment in Britain

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Do you think Capital Punishment acts as a deterrent and reduces crime? Do you think Capital Punishment brings justice to a victim’s family?

I am of the opinion that Capital Punishment should not be brought back into society. Statistics clearly show that in Westernised society Capital Punishment does not reduce crime. There are a number of arguments against the death penalty and I feel the most important one is that an innocent person would be executed for a crime he did not commit. Another reason that I am against Capital Punishment is the trauma that the condemned man’s family would have to go through before and after his execution.

Capital Punishment was first introduced to England by the Anglo-Saxons. By the 10th Century hanging had become the common method of execution. William Fitzosbern was the first recorded execution at Tynbern in 1196. The hanging tree in Hyde Park, London became notorious.

The debate on Capital Punishment has been an emotive issue for hundreds of years. During a debate in the House of Commons in 1810, Sir Samuel Romilly declared that, “No country on the face of the earth in which there are so many different offences according to law to be punished with death as in England”. The criminal law included some 220 different crimes punishable by death. Many of these offences had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy. A notable example of this was the Black Act of 1723 in which 50 capital offences were created to combat theft and poaching.

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Reform of the death penalty began in 1808 when Sir Samuel Romilly had the death penalty removed for pick pockets and lesser offences. This reform process continued over the next 50 years. The Judgement of Death Act, 1823 gave judges the power to commute for all capital crimes except treason and murder.

Public executions were abolished by the Royal Commission on capital punishment (1864-66). It recommended that all executions were to be carried out in prison.

The Children’s Charter in 1908 abolished capital punishment for all juveniles under 16. In 1922 a new offence of Infanticide was ...

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