The Abolition of the Death Penalty in Great Britain

Abstract

The purpose behind this research paper is to discover the British history of the death penalty and to know its reforms. It also aims at finding the major reasons behind its abolition and mainly the impact of abolition on the British population. It is hypothesized that the death penalty was a reason for murdering many innocent people and violating the human rights for life. This hypothesis is proved through the study of two cases. The first is of Timothy Evans who was accused for the murder of his little daughter that was killed by his neighbour John Christie; he was hanged on the 9th March 1950. The second case was of a young person named Derek Bentley who was executed on 28 January 1953 as a reason for killing a police officer shot by his friend Christopher Craig. These two persons were innocent and for that reason the death penalty was abolished in Great Britain.