The death penalty

A crowd demonstrates outside Wandsworth Prison at the execution of Derek Bentley in January 1953.
©TopFoto

By 1900, murder was the only civilian crime (with few and rare exceptions) that incurred the mandatory death sentence. The only exception was on grounds of diminished responsibility through mental illness. The death sentence was finally abolished with the Murder Bill of 1965.

Related documents

Search using Death penalty Homicide Act Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Bill