The Royal Commission on Capital Punishment was a royal commission on

capital punishment in the United Kingdom Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and t ...

which worked from 1864 to 1866. It was chaired by

Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox, and 1st Duke of Gordon, (27 February 181827 September 1903), styled Lord Settrington until 1819 and then Earl of March until 1860, was a British Conservative politician. Ba ...

. Commissioners disagreed on the question of abolition of capital punishment, but their report's recommendations including abolishing

public execution A public execution is a form of capital punishment which "members of the general public may voluntarily attend." This definition excludes the presence of only a small number of witnesses called upon to assure executive accountability. The purpose ...

, which was effected by the

Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 The Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c.24) received Royal Assent on 29 May 1868, putting an end to public executions for murder in the United Kingdom. The act required that all prisoners sentenced to death for murder be execute ...

Appointment

The Government agreed to a Royal Commission on 3 May 1864. In the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

, William Ewart proposed a select committee, but withdrew in favour of

Charles Neate Charles Neate (1806–1879) was an English politician and academic, economist and political writer. Life He was the fifth of the eleven children of Thomas Neate, rector and squire of Alvescot, Oxfordshire, and his wife Catherine, born at Adsto ...

's resolution requesting a Royal Commission. The Commission was formally appointed by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

on 8 July 1864. Its

terms of reference Terms of reference (TOR) define the purpose and structures of a project, committee, meeting, negotiation, or any similar collection of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal. Terms of reference show how the object in ...

were: :to inquire into the Provisions and Operation of the Laws now in force in the United Kingdom, under and by virtue of which the Punishment of Death may be inflicted upon persons convicted of certain crimes, and also into the manner in which Capital Sentences are carried into execution, and to report whether any, and if any what alteration is desirable in such Laws, or any of them, or in the manner in which such sentences are carried into execution. The commissioners were: Secretary to the Commission was James Henry Patteson

Evidence

The Commission took oral evidence on 15 days, between 29 November 1864 and 25 March 1865, dealing with three or four witnesses a day.

Questionnaire

Written questions were sent by the Commission via the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

to foreign law officers and experts: # What crimes, if any, are now punishable with death by the law of . . . . . ? # When a person is found guilty of a capital offence, is there any power in the jury, or the court, to reduce the punishment below that of death by finding attenuating circumstances ? If so, is this power frequently exercised? # What is the most severe punishment next to that of death by the law of . . . . ? and in cases where the sentence of death is reduced by the finding of attenuating circumstances, or commuted by the government to such lesser punishment, is the latter invariably carried out in full ? If not, to what extent is it mitigated ? # Have there been any changes of late years in the law of . . . . . by which certain crimes formerly capital have ceased to be so ? If so, have these crimes increased, and is their increase, if any, attributed to the diminution of the punishment ? # In what manner is the sentence of death executed, and does the execution take place in public or private ? # In what proportion of capital convictions is the punishment of death usually reduced by the clemency of the Head of the State to some minor infliction? Sent France, Belgium, Holland, Prussia, Bavaria, Austria, Saxony, Hanover, Italy, Tuscany, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Nassau, Anhalt, Oldenberg, Brunswick, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Maine and Rhode Island, Columbia, Indiana, Venezuela, Wisconsin, Ecuador, the Australian colonies, Scotland, Ireland

Report

The Report of the Commission was published in December 1865. The report proper summarised the evidence and gave the commissioners' recommendations. The oral testimony was printed verbatim over 471 pages; the written responses were gathered into an appendix of 195 pages plus an index. There followed statistical tables and a

Draft Bill A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature as well as, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an ' ...

infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...

by James Shaw Willes. In their report, they included a section summarising the response to the following questions: * the nature of capital punishment; its difference from all other punishments in its irrevocability, etc. * deterrent effect of the punishment of death * the Home Office * restoring to the judges the power of recording sentence of death * whether juries show a reluctance to convict in capital cases * the propriety of giving power to jurors to bring in verdicts of "guilty of murder" with "

extenuating circumstances In criminal law, a mitigating factor, also known as an extenuating circumstance, is any information or evidence presented to the court regarding the defendant or the circumstances of the crime that might result in reduced charges or a lesser sente ...

" in certain cases *

* allowing

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

s in capital cases * whether executions should be public or private * what secondary punishment should be inflicted in the event of the abolition of the punishment of death

Recommendations

The Commission did not come to agreement on abolition. On most matters, it offered a range of options for legislation. The exception was unanimity of the need for a law to stop public executions and to regulate executions within prisons. A declaration, drafted by Stephen Lushington, was included in the Report: " e. . . are not prepared to agree to the Resolution respecting private executions." Signed by Stephen Lushington, Wm Ewart, Charles Neate, J Moncreiff, John Bright. This is presumably because they strongly favoured abolition. William Ewart, Stephen Lushington, John Bright and Charles Neate signed a declaration drafted by Ewart: " e . . are of opinion that Capital Punishment might, safely, and with advantage to the community, be at once abolished." O'Hagan made a longer declaration: "I am of opinion,—with much deference for the great authority of those who think otherwise,—that the weight of evidence and reason is in favour of the abolition of Capital Punishment. "I should, therefore, sign the declaration prepared by Mr. Ewart, but that I doubt whether public opinion in this country is yet ripe for the acceptance of such a change; and if it should be accomplished, without the sufficient sanction of that opinion, I fear the reaction which might follow on the perpetration of some great crime. I think, also, that the substitution of a minor penalty would render essential serious modifications in the discipline and machinery of our prisons; and such modifications, whilst I believe them to be possible, may be difficult, and remain to be devised. On these grounds, having regard to the practical scope of Your Majesty's Commission, I cannot join in simply advising immediate abolition; but, so far qualifying my adhesion to the terms of the declaration, I am prepared to adopt the principle which it embodies."

References

Sources

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864-66

Capital Punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Capital punishment in the United Kingdom Death penalty law Penology 1860s in the United Kingdom 1864 establishments in the United Kingdom