On Thisday November 8 1965 the murder act was given a royal assent. The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
It abolished the death penalty for murder in Great Britain (the death penalty for murder survived in Northern Ireland until 1973). The Act replaced the penalty of death with a mandatory sentence of imprisonment for life. The 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 July 31st 1970 "unless Parliament by affirmative resolutions of both Houses otherwise determines".[3] This was done in 1969 and the Act was made permanent.
It abolished the death penalty for murder in Great Britain (the death penalty for murder survived in Northern Ireland until 1973). The Act replaced the penalty of death with a mandatory sentence of imprisonment for life. The 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 July 31st 1970 "unless Parliament by affirmative resolutions of both Houses otherwise determines".[3] This was done in 1969 and the Act was made permanent.
The Act overlooked four other capital offences: high treason, "piracy with violence" (piracy with intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm), arson in royal dockyards and espionage, as well as other capital offences under military law. The death penalty was not finally abolished in the United Kingdom until 1998 by the Human Rights Act and the Crime and Disorder Act. However the last executions in the United Kingdom were in 1964, for murder.
THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 50 years and TBT blog remembers.
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