Hi, I am looking for someone to write an article on the reintroduction of the death penalty and deterrence theory Paper must be at least 1750 words. Please, no plagiarized work! In 1810, Sir Samuel Romilly while speaking to the House of Commons declared that there is no other country in the world where there have been so many different offenses punishable by death other than in England. The criminal code included around 220 crimes that were punishable by death and it could be inferred from the code that it was designed to protect the wealthy at the cost of the poor. Some of the crimes that were punishable by death were. being in the company of Gypsies for one month, using a disguise while committing a crime, and strong evidence of malice in a child of 7-14 years of age.
A large number of death sentences were given even for minor crimes as stealing. The death sentences were at times postponed permanently for reasons such as official pardons and performance of military or naval duty. The death punishment was so common because there were no other punishments to be given. The common punishments were sending the offender to America, Tasmania or Australia or execution. The prisons were either unavailable or badly run. Later, new prisons were made and the old ones were reconstructed and the environment of the prisons was deliberately kept unpleasant so that the people would not commit crimes due to the resentment of the prisons. Reforms were made in the legislation over the years and several offenses were removed from the list of offenses punishable by death. These reforms were made throughout the 19th century and gradually the number of crimes punishable by death was reduced. In 1861, the acts of Parliament reduced the number of crimes punishable by death to five that were. murder, treason, espionage, arson in royal dockyards, and piracy with violence.
Several controversial cases in the 20th century brought the issue of the death penalty to public attention and the public was in favor of the abolition of the death penalty. As a result, the death penalty was abolished in the UK in the year 1965.
