Hanging in the Balance: A History of the Abolition of Capital Punishment in Britain

291 Pages·1997·11.51 MB·English

by  Brian Block

Hanging in the Balance
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A History of the Abolition of Capital Punishment in Britain n Hanging
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Hanging in the Balance traces the history of capital pun- Brian P Block and John
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ishment in the United Kingdom from ancient times to the Hostettler have written n
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modern day — through periods of reform until hanging many books and articles t
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was abolished by Parliament. It describes in careful detail on facets of law, lawyers, e

the Parliamentary and public debates, and notes the stance politics and social history. B
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taken by organizations and individuals (including the This is their third book as
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tenacious and persistent Sydney Silverman MP). co-authors.
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The book collates data and references not previously

brought together in one place — and in exploring the
underlying issues and the recurring arguments about
A History of the
deterrence, retribution and expediency it provides an B
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invaluable resource vis-à-vis the same debate in the many o
‘A masterwork’: c Abolition of Capital Punishment in Britain
countries where capital punishment still exists. k
Justice of the Peace &
Lord Callaghan was home secretary at the time of aboli-
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tion. His Foreword conveys how strong his feelings were
o Brian P Block
concerning the death penalty from the time he entered s
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Parliament in 1945. The book’s closing chapters record
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how his insistence that abolition become permanent ulti- l
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mately overcame the still considerable opposition. r
For all practic al purposes, capital punishment was abol-
ished in the UK in 1969 when the Murder (Abolition of
Death Penalty) Act 1965 (which had suspended its use) was
Foreword by Lord Callaghan
made permanent. It was later outlawed entirely when the
United Kingdom implemented Protocol 13 of the European
Convention On Human Rights in 2004.
www.WatersidePress.co.uk
WATERSIDE PRESS
Putting justice into words
WATERSIDE PRESS

Hanging in the Balance
A History of the
Abolition of Capital Punishment in Britain
Brian P Block has a doctorate in pharmacology and has spent over 20 years
testing the safety of new medicines. He holds degrees in pharmacy (London),
criminal justice (Brunel) and Chinese (Westminster), and is a former Fulbright
scholar and a post-doctoral research fellow at Yale University. He is a magistrate
and a regular contributor to the weekly journal Justice oft he Peace.
John Hostettler practised as a solicitor in London, as well as undertaking
political and civil liberties cases in Nigeria, Germany and Aden. During this time
he played a leading role in the abolition of flogging in British colonial prisons.
His subjects as a legal biographer and historian have included Sir James
Fitzjames Stephen and Sir Edward Carson. A magistrate and a part-time
chairman of Social Security Appeal Tribunals, he is the author of The Politics of
Punishment (1964) and The Politics of Criminal Law {1992).
Former prime minister Lord Callaghan was Home Secretary at the time of the
abolition of capital punishment for murder and voted consistently in favour of
abolition from the time he entered Parliament in 1945.
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H a n g i n g
i n t h e
Balance
A History of the
Abolition of Capital Punishment in Britain
Brian P Block
John Hostettler
With a Foreword by
Lord Callaghan of Cardiff KG
WATERSIDE PRESS
Sherfield Gables, Sherfield-on-Loddon, Hook
Hampshire, RG27 0JG, United Kingdom
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PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby
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Hanging in the Balance
CONTENTS
Foreword by Lord Callaghan 7
Preface 11
CHAPTER
1 Capital Crimes 18
2 Gruesome Scenes 28
3 Moves to Minimise Capital Punishment 41
4 Rush to Reform 51
5 Executions in Private 59
6 Abolition of Public Hangings 69
7 The Campaign at Bay 76
8 Towards a Select Committee 85
9 Peace and War 97
10 The Silverman Amendment 102
v
11 The Royal Commission 127
12 Trials and Tribulations 137
13 A Quiet Report 159
14 Another Victory: Another Defeat 170
15 The Homicide Act 1957 186
16 Confusion 199
17 The Trend Towards Abolition 216
18 Abolition 233
19 The End of the Rope 252
Afterword 270
Appendices
I Milestones to Abolition 271
II Prime Ministers from 1800 to 1970 273
III Home Secretaries from 1800 to 1970 275
Bibliography 277
Index 279
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Foreword
Murder is a most dreadful crime from which heart and mind recoil, and
down the centuries, the penalty of death by hanging was exacted from
the guilty murderer, both as retribution and as a fearful example to
others. Execution was the ultimate sentence; one which, by its finality,
could never be revoked, and it was this very characteristic which, 30
years ago, led Parliament to abolish the death penalty.
This book tells the story of how Parliament, from the eighteenth
century onwards, often somewhat ahead of public opinion, moved
through the years to the final termination of capital punishment. Three
hundred years ago, there were those who asserted that even the
execution of an innocent person could be justified by the need to ensure
the security of civil life. Women and even children were hanged for
trivial crimes and a man could be, and was, executed for stealing
sixpence in the street.
As the years passed, such excessive cruelty was checked. During
the eighteenth century juries showed increasing reluctance to convict
prisoners charged with capital offences. And it was in this same century
that the argument took hold, which has lasted interminably, about such
various matters as the effectiveness of hanging as a deterrent, about
hanging as an appropriate punishment, and about its consequences as a
final act. During the nineteenth century the argument for prohibition
was given added force by the recognition that Britain's penal law was
more severe than that of any other European country.
It is with tracing the Parliamentary history of the struggle for
abolition with which Block and Hostettler are mainly concerned. They
concentrate particularly on the successful efforts of the reformers in the
period immediately after World War II, which led to the final victory.
The undoubted hero of the campaign was Sydney Silverman-
small in stature, uptilted head, erect carriage, a quick pattering footstep
and a prominent pointed beard which was almost a weapon in itself. In
the Commons he always perched himself (perched is the word) on the
comer seat just below the gangway adjoining the Government Front
Bench, his feet hardly touching the ground. From that advantageous
position he was always ready to jump to his feet at any moment. He
was fearless in the face of hostility, of which there was plenty, and
coupled this with great skill as a Parliamentarian and with considerable
legal knowledge and practical experience, brought from his profession
as a solicitor.
He carried a formidable armoury that convinced many of us just
back from the war in the late 1940s that hanging should go. I cannot say
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that until then, hanging had impinged on my thinking, and it was only
when I reached Parliament in 1945 and was confronted by the need to
take a position, that I concluded that hanging should be abolished. In
the debates of 1948, I voted for abolition for the first time and after that
decision, did so steadily thereafter, whenever the issue came before the
House.
As the authors show, it was not only the sustained campaigning
and arguments which eventualiy carried the day. There was also a
growing uneasiness among the public and in Parliament that
miscarriages of justice might have taken place, and innocent people
(such as Timothy Evans) had been hanged. The controversy over
Bentley and Craig also had an affect on Parliamentary and public
opinion, as did the execution of a woman, Ruth Ellis, in 1955. Some
former home secretaries, both Conservative and Labour, who had been
responsible for taking the final decisions which had resulted in certain
hangings, announced that they had changed their minds; and later the
judges concluded that attempts to define the scope of hanging were
leading to such uncertainty and anomalies, that they, the judges, would
prefer abolition to the continuance of the existing law.
The result was that by the time of the election of the Labour
government of 1964, there was a growing agreement that the existing
law could not be allowed to continue. Sydney Silverman brought
forward yet another Bill for abolition. The cabinet, in which I was
serving as chancellor of the exchequer, contained a number of
abolitionists, including the prime minister Harold Wilson, and a most
powerful advocate in the person of Gerald Gardiner, the Lord
Chancellor. As a government, we had no hesitation in offering support
for Silverman's Bill. Together with a free vote for government
supporters, the Conservative opposition also announced that their
followers would enjoy the same freedom.
The authors of this book describe in detail the long and tortuous
Parliamentary proceedings which followed, and the struggle and the
confrontations before both Lords and Commons agreed in 1965 to end
the death penalty but only for a limited period of five years. This
uneasy compromise of a five year period almost immediately became a
source of controversy which was intensified for me personally when I
became home secretary in the autumn of 1967.
I thought about the matter carefully and knew that I would find it
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to fulfil my responsibilities if a
case of hanging was likely to come before me when the five year period
ended, with the certainty that we would revert to the former
unsatisfactory law and practice. I talked with Harold Wilson, who
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