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University of Richmond

1982

Great Britain

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Capital Punishment : Public Opinion And Abolition In Great Britain During The Twentieth Century, Carol A. Ransone Aug 1982

Capital Punishment : Public Opinion And Abolition In Great Britain During The Twentieth Century, Carol A. Ransone

Master's Theses

Some form of capital punishment has been practiced for as long as there has been recorded history. Early laws were generally harsh and failed to consider the impact of crime on society. In 621 B.C. the Code of Dracon recorded the laws observed in Athens. The Code of Dracon revealed that almost all offences were punishable by death. Two centuries later a more humanitarian attitude was expressed in Greece. Plato believed in the segregation and reform of the criminal rather than his execution.

In England the death penalty for felony convictions was traced to the reign of Henry I. It …