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9 How. J. 3 (1954-1957)

handle is hein.journals/hjcj9 and id is 1 raw text is: NOTES OF THE YEAR PAGE PAGE The Royal Commission on Capital Publicity for Committal Proceedings 7 Punishment 1949-53 .. 3 The Maxwell Report 9 Regina v. Wilkinson .. .. 6 Homosexuality .. 10 The Treatment of Psychopathic An Experiment in Freedom 10 Offenders .. 7 Composition of Juvenile Courts 11 THE RoYAL COMbMSSION ON CAPAL PuN smENr 1949-53 In 1948 this country came near to the total abolition of the death penalty when the House of Commons (by a free vote) added to the Criminal Justice Bill a clause providing for the suspension for five years of the use of capital punishment for the crime of murder. The House of Lords rejected this amendment and there was then a hasty attempt by the Government of the day to introduce a compromise amendment which sought to limit the imposition of the capital penalty only to certain specified kinds of murder, generally regarded as the worst though in fact covering only those which caused the most public anger or anxiety. This compromise was an effort, made in about a fortnight, to find a solution to a problem that has baffled many law- makers and penal administrators during the last hundred years. The problem is, how, in modem civilised societies where humanitarian feeling is growing and belief in the possibility of helping the offender is the basis of penal policy, to meet a well founded concern about the continued use of the death penalty while at the same time not too seriously upsetting a deeply ingrained belief in the effectiveness of that penalty and a fear of what may happen in its complete absence. The compromise failed to do either and though accepted in the Commons (the Whips were then on) was promptly thrown out by the Lords; and to save the important Criminal Justice Bill no further discussion of the subject was attempted, the unamended Bill became law and the death penalty remained. The debates left things as they were, in law, but they had revealed a widespread concern about the death penalty. In the calm atmosphere before the Commons debate, Letters to the Editor in many newspapers were in the majority favourable to abolition. On the eve of the main debate several responsible newspapers, including The Times, Manchester Guardian, News Chronicle, The Observer and weeklies such as The Spectator and The New Statesman came out in support of the abolition, or at least of the experimental suspension, of capital punishment. After the debate, a wave of sensational comment by other newspapers invited and produced a heavy correspondence to their editors against abolition, and public opinion polls revealed considerable majorities in favour of keeping the death penalty. In this atmosphere the Lords were not only able to reject the Commons decision, but were able to do so with a very plausible air of representing and protecting public opinion against the hasty action of the Lower House. Nevertheless, the opinion was expressed in the Lords, notably and powerfully by the Archbishop of Canterbury, that, while an experimental abolition of the death penalty was quite idle , it would be a moral set-back to revert to the status quo; and he called for a modification of our present law. In these remarks he probably represented the true state of national feeling at that time. It was in this atmosphere and to try to meet this concern that the Royal Com- mission on Capital Punishment was eventually appointed. The Home Secretary, Mr. Ede, had said: In both Houses there has been revealed in all parties a considerable body of opinion which desires that some steps should be taken which will mark a definite amelioration of the law relating to the death penalty. The Government welcome this attitude and propose to explore without delay the practical means there are of limiting the death penalty to certain crimes -of murder in a manner which 3

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