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| Harry Allen, Britain's last public executioner |
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UNITED KINGDOM: 45% OF BRITS WANT TO BRING BACK DEATH PENALTY – 50 YRS AFTER LAST EXECUTION
August 12, 2014: in a poll conducted to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the United Kingdom’s last legal executions, 45 percent of Brits said murderers should face the death penalty.
The YouGov poll of almost 2,000 people showed a significant number would like to see the return of capital punishment. While support for the practice is high, the figures show it fell by 6 percent on 2010 figures, down from 51 percent in a similar poll.
The poll shows opposition to reintroduction is strong (52%) among 18- to 24-year-olds. Overall, 39% were against the death penalty, while 17% were undecided. The strongest support for reintroduction was among United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) voters, the over-60s and those in lower social grades.
Less than half (45%) of those questioned believed executing murderers deterred others from committing murder. But 41% disagreed that it was a deterrent, with the remaining 13% answering they did not know. Slightly more (42%) believed spending life in prison with no possibility of parole was worse than being executed (40%).
Questioned about whether they approved of methods of execution, 51% either strongly approved or tended to approve of lethal injection, 25% of the electric chair, 23% of hanging, 19% by gas chamber, 17% by firing squad, and 9% by beheading. The last two convicted murderers to be executed in Britain were 24-year-old Gwynne Evans and 21-year-old Peter Allen on 13 August 1964. The 1957 Homicide Act removed the automatic death penalty for all murderers. Capital punishment was abolished for five years in the 1965 Murder Act then permanently in 1969. (Sources: theguardian.com, 12/08/2014; Russia Today, 13/08/2014)
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