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Capital Punishment - Coggle Diagram
Capital Punishment
History
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During the early 19th century, the number of crimes punishable by death was greatly reduced.
After 1861, capital punishment was only retained for four crimes (murder, piracy, arson in the Royal Dockyards, and high treason)
In 1829, Thomas Maynard was the last man in Britain to be hanged for forgery (capital punishment for forgery was abandoned in 1836)
The last woman hanged in public was Frances Kidder in 1868, for the alleged murder of her daughter. The last man was Michael Barret, also in 1968, who was wrongly hanged for causing an explosion at Clerkenwell Prison in London, despite not actually committing the crime.
The last woman to be hanged in Britain was Ruth Ellis in 1955 and her case caused controversy. Ruth shot her lover David Blakely but she may not have been in her right mind at the time.
This led to a compromise in 1957 being reached on capital punishment. The Homicide Act abolished hanging for certain kinds of murder. It was still allowed for murder during a theft, by shooting or explosion. Capital punishment was also kept for the murder of a police officer or prison officer while on duty. A person who was convicted of more than one murder could also be hanged. The Homicide Act also allowed people to plead not guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
The last people to be hanged in the UK were two men, Peter Allen and Gwynne Jones who were hanged on the same day in 1964.
The death penalty for murder was abolished for an experimental period of 5 years in 1965. It was abolished permanently in 1969.
In 1908, hanging was abolished for people under the age of 16. In 1933 the minimum age for hanging was raised to 18.
From the 1930s, opposition to capital punishment was led by a wealthy woman named Violet Van der Elst.
In 1937, she wrote a book called 'On the Gallows' about the subject of capital punishment.
In the mid-20th century, public opinion in the UK gradually turned against capital punishment.
An innocent man called Timothy Evans was hanged in 1950. Evans was supposed to have murdered his wife and baby daughter. In fact, it was later found out that a man named John Reginald Christie murdered them and several other women. Evans was pardoned in 1966. Another innocent man called Derek Bentley was hanged in 1953. His conviction for murder was overturned in 1998.
In 1999 the British Home Secretary signed the 6th protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights, formally ending capital punishment in the UK.
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