Capital Punishment

What is capital punishment?

Capital punishment is the use of the death penalty by the state.

There are various methods of enforcing the death penalty. The most widely used Western techniques are hanging, lethal injection, and electrocution, but stoning, beheading and shooting are still used in some parts of the world.

The punishment has been largely reserved for only the most serious offences, such as murder or treason.

The use and legality of the death sentence has been in steady decline since the turn of the 20th Century, but many countries retain the penalty.

Although abolished in the UK, many Commonwealth jurisdictions retain the death penalty and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London remains the final court of appeal for these cases.



Background

In the 1500s, eight capital crimes were formally defined, including treason, petty treason, murder, robbery, larceny, rape and arson.

Under the Murder Act 1752 a person convicted of murder was to be hanged within 48 hours. Public hanging was ended by the Prisons Act of 1868. The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 prohibited the use of the death penalty for anyone aged under 18 at the time of their offence.

In April 1948, the House of Commons voted to suspend capital punishment for five years, but this decision was overturned by the House of Lords.

In 1965, the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act abolished capital punishment for all offences, except treason, piracy with violence and arson in Royal Dockyards, all of which remained capital crimes. This was confirmed in 1969, after a quinquennial review of the law.

The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into UK law, banning capital punishment for murder except "in times of war or imminent threat of war". In January 1999, the then Home Secretary Jack Straw signed the Sixth Protocol of the ECHR, formally abolishing the death penalty in peacetime and in December that year, the Government ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This was followed by ratification of Protocol 13 in 2002, therefore totally abolishing capital punishment in Britain, including during times of war.


Controversies

The death penalty is felt by many to be a violation of the right to life guaranteed by the (ECHR) and the (ICCPR). On an ethical level, capital punishment opponents argue that the death penalty is little more than state-sponsored murder, which is as morally reprehensible as the crime itself.

There are also concerns about the irrevocable nature of the punishment, given the potential fallibility of the criminal justice system. The posthumous pardons of individuals such as Derek Bentley (in 1998) illustrate the problem. However, the evolution of forensic science and the use of DNA evidence may give this argument a more frail foundation.

Although many groups campaign against any re-introduction of capital punishment, its restoration remains popular with the public. Those in favour of its reintroduction cite natural justice and its value as a deterrent.

However, this apparent public support is not mirrored in the political establishment and any movement to reintroduce the penalty would be unlikely to survive a vote in any recent House of Commons. Indeed, despite three 'free' votes in the last 20 years, MPs have rejected all calls for its restoration.

Furthermore, the death penalty is clearly contrary to the UK's current international legal obligations.



Death penalty statistics

In the last death penalty debate in 1994, MPs voted 403 to 159 against introduction of capital punishment for all murderers

71 countries retain and use the death penalty, but the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller

In 2005, at least 5,186 people were killed by the death penalty in 53 countries
Statistics 1, 2 and 3 (Source: Amnesty International, 2006)



Death penalty quotes

"The ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment."

Amnesty International, 2003

"If somebody plans to carry out a series of murders ... then this is obviously an evil and pre-meditated attack and in that case, there could be a deterrent effect."

Conservative home affairs spokesperson David Davis on capital punishment, 2003

"Revenge is kindred with our nature and our instincts but not with the law. Law cannot obey the same rules as human nature. Murder may come naturally to mankind, but the law is not made to imitate or reproduce nature. The law is crafted to correct nature."

Hans Christian Kruger, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, 'The Death Penalty - Abolition in Europe', 1999