Capital punishment in the United Kingdom

Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the Acts of Union 1707, having been used in Great Britain and Ireland from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969 (1973 in Northern Ireland). Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last person to be executed for treason was William Joyce, in 1946.

In 2004, Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention (regardless of the UK's status in relation to the European Union).

Background

During the reign of Henry VIII, as many as 72,000 people are estimated to have been executed. In Elizabethan England, the death penalty applied for treason, murder, manslaughter, infanticide, rape, arson, grand larceny (theft of goods worth more than a shilling), highway robbery, buggery, sodomy and heresy. Hanging was the method used for all but treason, which was punished by drawing, hanging and quartering for men, burning for women, and beheading for the nobility; and heresy, which was punished by burning. About 24% of those facing trial for such offences were actually executed. About 75% of hangings were for theft.