Britain to reconsider death penalty

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 6

Britain to reconsider death penalty

NZPA-Reuter Blackpool The British Parliament is to be given another chance to consider reimposing the death penalty, which it abolished 18 years ago, the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, told the annual Conservative party conference. In a stormy debate on maintaining law and order in a country where most police are unarmed, Mr Hurd said he opposed capital punishment but would raise the issue in the legislature. “I believe it would make it more difficult to convict guilty men. Certainly it would make mistakes impossible to put right,” he said. Mr Hurd announced a ban on carrying knives and brass knuckles, a move that he said would combat mounting street violence. The Minister, a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, warned that death by hanging could turn Irish Republican Army fighters into martyrs. He said capital punishment was opposed by Britain’s security services. The House of Commons in April rejected a Rightwing bid to reintroduce the death penalty by 342 votes to 230. Law and order emerged as a key issue in the fourday conference and touched off the most emotional debates since sessions began on Tuesday. More than 100 resolu-

tions were submitted to the assembly demanding tougher measures to combat crime. One-third of them called for the return of capital punishment. Speakers opposed to the death penalty were jeered. Those advocating execution won loud applause. Capital punishment was abolished by the Labour Government in 1969, five years after the last hanging in Britain.

The massacre of 16 people by a crazed gunman in the town of Hungerford in August led to increased public pressure on the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her Government to tighten gun laws and cut down on television violence. Mr Hurd has already pledged to restrict gun ownership.