Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965

Provisions

The 1965 act amended the Homicide Act 1957, which had already reduced hangings to only four or fewer per year.

The 1965 act was introduced to Parliament as a private member's bill by Sydney Silverman MP. The act provides that charges of capital murder at the time it was passed were to be treated as charges of simple murder and all sentences of death were to be commuted to sentences of life imprisonment. The legislation contained a sunset clause, which stated that the act would expire on 31 July 1970 "unless Parliament by affirmative resolutions of both Houses otherwise determines". Resolutions were passed in the Commons and Lords on 16 and 18 December 1969, thereby making the act permanent.Hansard: HC Deb 16 December 1969 vol 793 cc1297, HL Deb 18 December 1969 vol 306 cc1264-1321;

Subsequent events

No executions have occurred in the United Kingdom since the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965. The last were on 13 August 1964, when Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans were hanged for murdering John Alan West during a theft four months earlier, a death penalty crime under the 1957 act.

The 1965 act did not extend to Northern Ireland, where Westminster seldom overrode the criminal law responsibility of the Parliament of Northern Ireland at Stormont. During the Troubles Westminster passed the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, abolishing Stormont, and the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973, abolishing the death penalty for murder there. The death penalty was not fully abolished in the United Kingdom until 1998 by the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

Notes

References

1. The citation of this act by this short title is authorised by [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1965/71/section/3 section 3(1)] of this act.
2. The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, section 3(4)
3. Seal, Lizzie. (12 March 2019). "A brief history of capital punishment in Britain". [[BBC History.
4. Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1965/71/pdfs/ukpga_19650071_en.pdf section 4]
5. Croker, Charlie. (2010). "8 Out of 10 Brits: Intriguing and Useless Statistics about the World's 79th Largest Nation". Random House.