Introduction: ‘The Bloody Code’: Capital Punishment in Law and Art

This exhibition was curated in collaboration with Art Responders, a community arts organisation that develops free public exhibitions on social justice and human rights themes. The curators are Daryl Stenvoll-Wells, the founding director of Art Responders, and Lauren Cummings, Assistant Librarian at Middle Temple Library, assisted by Dr. Renae Satterley, Head of the Library.

Though its roots go back much further, the 18th century marked the beginning of developed societies’ drive towards universal abolition of the death penalty. Since then, most countries have moved in this direction, while others have instead reinforced capital punishment via new methods and justifications. While this year marks the 60th anniversary of the UK’s Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act 1965, the British use of capital punishment stretches back centuries. The history of capital punishment law lays bare persistent tensions within the nation’s political institutions and social structures and reflects larger historical shifts worldwide.

The UN’s 1948 Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to life, steered the international community away from the use of capital punishment. More than two-thirds of countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. However, capital punishment remains remarkably resilient in the 55 nations that retain it, often employing contemporary methods that are no less cruel or unusual than those of the past.

Middle Temple Library’s collection offers a rich historical record of capital punishment law, tracing its evolution across the centuries through legislative documents, historical narratives, and personal accounts. Examining the historical trajectory of the death penalty enables legal professionals to situate modern legal theories of capital punishment law within the broader framework of global human rights legislation.hough its roots go back much further, the 18th century marked the beginning of developed societies’ drive towards universal abolition of the death penalty Since then, most countries have moved in this direction, while others have instead reinforced capital punishment via new methods and justifications. hough its roots go back much further, the 18th century marked the beginning of developed societies’ drive towards universal abolition of the death penal Since then, most countries have moved in this direction, while others have instead reinforced capital punishment via new methods and justifications.

Sir Julian Knowles, The Abolition of the Death Penalty in the UK: How It Happened and Why It Still Matters (2015)

The death penalty was effectively abolished in Great Britain by the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, which replaced the death penalty for murder with life imprisonment. While the Act left four capital offences (treason, “piracy with violence”, arson in royal dockyards and espionage), no further executions were carried out between 1965 and the final abolition of the death penalty in 1998.

While the 1965 Act passed in the House of Commons by 355 votes to 170, public opinion was not in favour of abolition and remains divided on the issue to this day. As Sir Julian Knowles discusses in this report, Parliament’s ultimate decision to abolish it was the result of a confluence of factors including several high-profile, controversial cases, and a Labour government that leaned more abolitionist than its opposition and the public itself. Knowles, Julian B. 2015. The Abolition of the Death Penalty in the United Kingdom: How it Happened and Why it Still Matters. London: The Death Penalty Project

William Schabas, The Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law (3rd ed., 2002)

William Schabas is a Canadian academic who specialises in the fields of international criminal and human rights law. In this acclaimed study, he outlines the progress in international law towards abolition, discussing its treatment in international criminal law, human rights law and the United Nations human rights system.


In Appendix II of the book, Schabas presents two articles from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Article 6, which states that “Every human being has the inherent right to life”, and Article 14, covering the right to a fair and public trial. Despite declaring the inherent right to life, Article 6 does not prohibit the death penalty entirely. It restricts its use to “only for the most serious crimes […] pursuant to a final judgment rendered by a competent court” and forbids its use against children and pregnant women. As of July 2025, 24 states have not become party to the treaty, while 6 have signed but not yet ratified it. Schabas, William A. 2009. The Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Laura Finley, The Death Penalty as State Crime: Who Can Kill? (2024)

This book offers a new academic perspective on the death penalty: that it is a crime committed by states against their citizens, as it infringes on their human rights. Focusing on the United States, Finley argues that the state is aware of flaws in the process such as racial bias, inadequate representation and arbitrariness, and that torturous methods are used in the application of the death penalty.

One such example given is of the 2022 “Year of botched executions”, during which one in three executions in the United States was mishandled. In one case, that of Joe N. James in Alabama, prison staff performing the lethal injection attempted 11 times to inset an IV into his veins, causing serious bruising. An autopsy funded by the non-profit organisation Reprieve US showed an incision indicating that his arm had eventually been cut to expose the vein. It took three hours for James to die. Finley, Laura L. 2024. The Death Penalty as State Crime: Who Can Kill?. London: Routledge

Richard Michael Rossi, Waiting to Die: Life on Death Row (2004)

Lethal injection is the most common method of execution in the United States. It was first approved in Oklahoma and Texas in 1977 and was seen as a more humane method of execution than electrocution or hanging. There have however been several instances of botched executions involving the injection. The drugs are administered intravenously, and issues can arise where a vein cannot be easily located (such as when prisoners are intravenous drug users); in these cases, a scalpel is used to cut the arm or leg to find a vein, often without anaesthesia. In Waiting to Die, Rossi quotes from a New York Times article from 9th June 2000, which recounts the case of Bennie Demps, who was subjected to such a ‘cutdown’:

“‘They butchered me back there,’ Demps said. ‘I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin, they cut me in the leg, I was bleeding profusely. This is not an execution, this is murder.’” Rossi, Richard Michael. 2004. Waiting to Die: Life on Death Row. London: Vision Paperbacks

William Schabas, The Death Penalty as Cruel Treatment and Torture: Capital Punishment Challenged in the World's Courts (1996)

In one section of this book, Schabas discusses ways in which those condemned to the death penalty have attempted to hasten their eventual fate. Socrates famously asked to be brought poison before his execution, believing that he would “become ridiculous in my own eyes for clinging to life” any longer. The UK’s Royal Commission on Capital Punishment considered offering prisoners a lethal dose of poison the night before their executions, but concluded that this would not be appropriate:

“The purpose of capital punishment is not just to rid the community of an unwanted member; it is to mark the community’s denunciation of the gravest of all crimes by subjecting the perpetrator, in the form of law, to the severest of all punishments.” Schabas, W. 1996. The Death Penalty as Cruel Treatment and Torture: Capital Punishment Challenged in the World's Courts. London: Vision Paperbacks

L. Benson ed., The Book of Remarkable Trials and Notorious Characters (1876)

This work could be considered an early example of a ‘true crime’ publication, with its accounts of sensational trials and criminals that captured the public’s imagination. The story of ‘Half-Hanged Smith’ is one recorded instance where a prisoner survived being hanged. John Smith was sentenced to death for burglary in 1705 and his hanging scheduled for 24th December. He was cut down after fifteen minutes of hanging and quickly revived; his vivid account of the physical experience of being hanged can be read from the bottom of page 30. Smith dodged death twice more and was eventually transported to Virginia. Benson ed., L. 1876. The Book of Remarkable Trials and Notorious Characters. London: Reeves and Turner

James B. Christoph, Capital Punishment and British Politics: the British Movement to Abolish the Death Penalty 1945-57 (1962)

This Gallup survey from May 1948 demonstrates the strength of feeling on capital punishment at the time, and the extent to which the public did not favour abolition. The number of respondents who chose “Don’t Know” is remarkably low for all groups, and even supporters of the Labour government of the time tended to disapprove of the experiment.

Recent polling by YouGov (21st July 2025) indicates that the public is somewhat more uncertain than it was in 1948. When asked if they would support the reintroduction of capital punishment for all cases of murder, 46% responded they would oppose it, 36% that they would support it, and 18% were unsure. Just as in 1948, age and gender do not affect the results significantly, but political party plays a notably greater role: 65% of Labour voters would oppose reintroduction, compared to 39% of Conservative voters. Christoph, J.B. 1962. Capital Punishment and British Politics: the British Movement to Abolish the Death Penalty 1945-57. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

The Newgate Calendar, vol III

The Newgate Calendar was a title given to various publications about crime and punishment in England in the 18th and 19th centuries, named after Newgate Prison in London. The stories in the Newgate Calendar were highly editorialised accounts of infamous crimes and the people who committed them. This volume forms part of an edition titled The Complete Newgate Calendar that was printed for the Navarre Society in 1926.

Sarah Malcolm was a young woman who worked as a laundress and maid in the Temple area. Her employers included Mrs Lydia Duncomb, an elderly widow who lived in Tanfield Court, in the area now occupied by Inner Temple Library. Mrs Duncomb was found murdered on 4th February 1733 along with two women she shared her home with. Some of her possessions had been stolen. Malcolm was arrested when another of her employers found items with blood on them among her possessions, and money was found hidden in her cap following her transfer to Newgate Prison. Malcolm confessed to planning the robbery with three accomplices but claimed her role was to keep watch on the stairs and that she was not aware that the women had been killed until the following day. Nonetheless, she was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged.

The case caused a sensation due to Malcolm’s sex and age – she was just 22 at the time of the murders. While she was in prison awaiting her execution, she was sketched by William Hogarth, which further increased her notoriety. As illustrated in this plate from the Newgate Calendar, a large crowd came to watch her execution in Fleet Street in early March 1733. She is said to have been left briefly struggling and kicking the air before her death.

George Ryley Scott, The History of Capital Punishment (1950)

Robert Johnston was executed in Edinburgh in 1818. Johnston had been convicted of robbery and his hanging in Edinburgh’s Lawnmarket was botched: the executioner miscalculated the length of the rope and the table on which Johnston was standing did not break. The watching crowd were so incensed by the sight of Johnston’s struggling that they threw stones at the police and cut him down. When order was restored after the arrival of the military, Johnston was executed at the same place in a similarly brutal manner: the Newgate Calendar describes “his face uncovered, and one of his hands broke loose from the cords […] his fingers convulsively twisting in the noose.”

International Practices and Perspectives

Despite indications that capital punishment’s flaws outweigh advocates’ evidence in favour of the practice, executions continue in around 55 nations around the world. Most executions occur in states notorious for human rights abuses, such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. These countries are known for targeting ethnic minorities, state critics and protestors, often rendering capital verdicts for non-violent crimes.

However, the United States and Japan are also among the 55 remaining nations that continue to carry out executions. The United States is alone among Western democracies in its continued practice of the death penalty, with over two thousand prisoners currently on death row. Contemporary theorists have claimed that the death penalty is more easily reinforced in societies with pronounced social and economic inequality. Societies fractured by social distance and weakened communal bonds provide fertile ground for repressive penal policies, including long-term incarceration and capital punishment.

One of the volumes here discusses Norway’s refusal to re-institute the death penalty after a horrific 2011 crime by an anti-immigrant extremist. The country’s steadfast commitment to prevention and rehabilitation —and its resistance to retributive impulses — are seen by some as naïve and by others as admirable. Reactions to this punishment could serve as a bellwether for public attitudes toward the death penalty worldwide.

Lilli Scherdin ed., Capital Punishment: A Hazard to a Sustainable Criminal Justice System? (2014)

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted several resolutions calling for an international moratorium on capital punishment since 2007. These resolutions are not binding, and call on states that retain the death penalty to suspend its use with a view to abolition. This table lists the states that voted against the fourth such resolution in 2012. Since then there have been six further resolutions; the most recent in 2024 saw 32 countries vote against the resolution, a reduction of 10 from 2012. Scherdin ed, L. 2014. Capitol Punishment: A Hazard to a Sustainable Criminal Justice System? Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Rita James Simon, A Comparative Analysis of Capital Punishment (2002)

One argument for capital punishment is that it acts as a deterrent to the most serious crimes like murder. Several studies have attempted to determine whether this is the case, but problems arise when comparing countries with and without the death penalty as wider socio-economic factors may strongly influence crime rates and often cannot be directly compared. Generally, though, studies have not shown capital punishment to be an effective deterrent. These tables from a 1983 study present the homicide rates in 14 different jurisdictions before and after the abolition of the death penalty; they do not show a consistent effect across the countries. Simon, R.J. 2002. A Comparative Analysis of Capital Punishment. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Edward Fitzgerald CBE KC and Sir Keir Starmer KC, A Guide to Sentencing in Capital Cases (2007)

The Death Penalty Project is a legal action charity that provides free legal representation to people facing the death penalty around the world. Since its establishment in 1990 it has fought several significant cases that have contributed to the abolition of capital punishment in Caribbean countries. This document, written for the Project in 2007, serves as a practical sentencing guide for judges and lawyers in jurisdictions that retain the death penalty, including where it is no longer a mandatory sentence.

Lord David Pannick KC, Judicial Review of the Death Penalty (1982)

In some countries where the death penalty is retained, it is imposed as a mandatory punishment for certain crimes. This prevents judges from taking into account any mitigating circumstances when sentencing. Pannick uses examples from Singapore and Pakistan to argue that mandatory sentencing conflicts with the rights guaranteed by a written constitution, as it fails to ensure fair and reasonable treatment under the law.

Mai Sato & Paul Bacon, The Public Opinion Myth: Why Japan Retains the Death Penalty (2015)

In June 2025, serial killer Takahiro Shiraishi was hanged in Japan, marking the country’s first execution in three years. Conditions on death row in Japan have been heavily criticised by campaigners, as inmates are kept in solitary confinement and are typically only given a few hours’ notice of their execution. The Japanese government surveys the public on the topic every five years, with the most recently available results from March 2025 finding that 83.1% of respondents find the death penalty to be “unavoidable”. In this report, however, Sato and Bacon argue that the public form their opinions on the topic based on limited information and conclude that abolition would be embraced if the government were to change its stance. Sato, M. and Bacon, P. 2002. The Public Opinion Myth: Why Japan Retains the Death Penalty. London: The Death Penalty Project.

Disproportionality, Diminished Responsibility, & Other Miscarriages of Justice

The history of death penalty legislation reveals numerous undeniable injustices, often rooted in the social prejudices and flawed penal systems of their time. In 18th century Britain, political opponents of the ruling class and people of lower social status were disproportionately targeted for the death penalty, while the wealthy were often able to escape judgement for similar crimes.

In the United States, South Africa, and other nations with histories of codified racial discrimination, racial minorities have been far more likely to receive capital verdicts. Globally, women perceived as violating established norms of gendered behaviour are more likely to receive the death penalty, even in cases with evidence of gender-based violence such as domestic abuse. Although individuals with mental illness may struggle to understand their rights or the consequences of their pleas, the US has no official ban on their execution, and rates of serious mental illness and intellectual disabilities are higher among people on death row than in the general population.

Many stories and statistics in the Library’s collections document known miscarriages of justice, reinforcing the central argument against capital punishment: that the death penalty exposes societies’ systemic injustices more than it functions as a direct response to, or deterrent against, crime.

Saundra D. Westervelt and John A. Humphrey eds., Wrongly Convicted: Perspectives on Failed Justice (2002)

This table presents the numbers of wrongful convictions found at retrial in the United States (at the time of publication). While clear variations can be seen between states, almost one quarter of defendants in capital cases sent for retrial were then found not guilty, highlighting the clear and significant risk that an innocent person could be executed. Westervelt, S.D. and Humphrey, S.A. eds. 2002. Wrongly Convicted: Perspectives on Failed Justice. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

David R. Dow and Mark Dow eds., Machinery of Death: The Reality of America’s Death Penalty Regime (2002)

Machinery of Death is a collection of essays on the death penalty in the United States that illustrate deep flaws and issues with the capital punishment system. In this essay, Stephen B. Bright presents data that highlights racial prejudice and disparities in how the death penalty has been imposed in the US. He finds not only that African Americans are more likely to receive the death penalty, but that juries are more likely to impose this penalty where a murder victim was white. This is despite African Americans making up a higher proportion of victims overall. Dow, D.R. and Dow, M. eds. 2002. Machinery of Death: The Reality of America's Death Penalty Regime. New York: Routledge.

Hugo Bedau and Michael Radelet, Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases (1987)

This article from the Stanford Law Review presents 350 capital and potentially capital cases from the United States in which the defendants (many of whom had been sentenced to death) were later found to be innocent. The sample cases presented on these pages include an instance of inadequate legal representation for a defendant who could not speak English, and several cases that illustrate the role racial politics can play in capital verdicts.

Helen Prejean, The Death of Innocents: an Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions (2005)

Sister Helen Prejean is a Catholic religious nun who has been working with inmates on Death Row since the early 1980s. In The Death of Innocents, Prejean focuses on the cases of Joseph Roger O’Dell and Dobie Gillis Williams, both of whom she accompanied to their executions – and both of whom she believes to have been innocent. Prejean uses withheld evidence to argue their innocence, demonstrates the roles played by factors like race, poverty, politicking and publicity in capital convictions, and ultimately challenges the moral core of the death penalty itself by asking how we can ever justify the execution of the innocent Prejean, H. 2005. The Death of Innocents: an Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. Westervelt, S.D. and Humphrey, S.A. eds. 2002. Wrongly Convicted: Perspectives on Failed Justice. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Margaret Edds, An Expendable Man: The Near Execution of Earl Washington Jr. (2003)

Earl Washington Jr spent 18 years in prison, 9 of those on Death Row, for the rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Virginia. In February 2001, he was finally freed, having been pardoned in 2000. Williams was initially convicted based on confessions to police that his legal team argued were inconsistent and the words of a man easily led by police to confess, as he is intellectually disabled. After years of attempts to appeal, new tests found no trace of Washington’s DNA on the forensic evidence from the crime scene. Edds uses Washington’s case to demonstrate the potential for miscarriages of justice in the capital punishment system, arguing that many more “expendable men” – those living on the margins of society – are likely to have been wrongly prosecuted and executed over the years. Edds, M. 2003. An Expendable Man: The Near-Execution of Earl Washignton, Jr. New York: NYU Press.

Michael L. Perlin, Mental Disability and the Death Penalty: The Shame of the States (2013)

In Chapter 4 of this book Perlin argues that instead of being considered a mitigating factor by jurors and judges, societal prejudice and lack of understanding of severe mental illness can lead to it being used against a defendant. Organisations such as the American Bar Association and the American Psychiatric Association have called for a ban on the death penalty for defendants with significant mental illness, and a 2014 poll found that Americans did not favour the use of the death penalty in such cases. While some defendants may be considered mentally incompetent, such that they are unable to grasp the gravity and consequences of their actions, it is difficult to determine the level at which severe mental illness tips into this category. As society’s understanding of mental illness continues to evolve, it remains to be seen whether the attitude towards the death penalty in such cases will too. Perlin, M.L. 2013. Mental Disability and the Death Penalty: The Shame of the States. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Robert Vicat Turrell, White Mercy: A Study of the Death Penalty in South Africa (2004)

White Mercy is a historical and contemporary study of capital punishment in South Africa that focuses on official acts of mercy and reprieves. Through an examination of statistics, testimony and judges’ reports, Turrell explores how race and sex influenced the outcomes of death penalty cases. Women were often granted reprieves due to the belief that they were the ‘weaker sex’, while conversely, black South Africans were not extended the same mercy despite being seen as the ‘weaker race’. This concept of race also saw several white South Africans executed, because they were believed to be “degenerates” who had the so-called characteristics of the ‘weaker race’. Turrell, R.V. 2004. White Mercy: A Study of the Death Penalty in South Africa. Westport: Praeger.

The Newgate Calendar, Vol IV

William Dodd was a writer and Anglican clergyman who lived an extravagant lifestyle. His attempts to continue his fashionable life in London left him in serious financial trouble, and in February 1777 he forged a bond in the name of a friend and ex-pupil, the Earl of Chesterfield, to clear his debt. The Earl discovered the forgery, and Dodd was arrested and sentenced to death. A petition to save Dodd from execution is said to have been signed by so many people that it reached 37 pages. His supporters wrote letters to newspapers, and the writer Samuel Johnson and the Lord Mayor of the City of London attempted to secure clemency for him. Ultimately this was denied, and Dodd was hanged on 27th June 1777. The perceived harshness of his sentence contributed to a shift in public opinion regarding the death penalty, and forgery was eventually removed as a capital offence by the Forgery, Abolition of Punishment of Death Act 1832.

The Other Executioners: Mobs, Juries, Prosecutors & Judges

Executioners have occasionally recounted their experiences of delivering the ultimate punishment, reflecting the psychological toll of this grim and morally fraught role. While they have generally taken on the final act of the death penalty, others have shared responsibility for adjudicating and administering capital punishment, including lawful and unlawful actors.

In cases of mob justice, vigilantes have carried out extrajudicial killings before verdicts were delivered and even prior to scheduled executions. Public lynchings in mid-19th century England expressed a bloodlust fuelled by the regular spectacle of public executions, with self-appointed vigilantes viewing themselves as rightful agents of justice.

While such public displays are rare today, citizens may still express their desire for retribution via service on juries in capital cases. Extensive research shows that jurors’ past experiences and personal biases, compounded by public pressure and complex group dynamics, can distort deliberations.

In the U.S. legal system, elected prosecutors may be driven by political incentives to secure convictions in capital cases. This has contributed to instances of prosecutorial misconduct, including evidence suppression, coerced confessions, and wrongful conviction. Judges in capital cases may also wield outsized influence, and memoirs from capital punishment advocates on the bench reveal how personal prejudices may have shaped past verdicts.

Brad Williams, Due Process: The Story of Criminal Lawyer George T. Davis and his Thirty-Year Battle Against Capital Punishment (1961)

George T. Davis was a prominent defence lawyer based in San Francisco. Over his long career his clients included the German industrialist Alfred Krupp, convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials; the Filipino opposition leader Ninoy Aquino; and the televangelist and convicted fraudster Jim Bakker. Davis worked on over 200 death penalty cases and was a committed abolitionist. He died in 2002 aged 98. In the author’s note to Due Process, Brad Williams writes:

“To Davis, an execution is a legal murder […] His dedication to this belief can perhaps best be shown by the fact that never has a person charged with a capital offense been refused counsel by Davis, even though this has often meant travelling from one end of the world to the other, more often than not at Davis’ own personal expense.”

Don Lasseter, Perfect Justice (2004)

Don Lasseter wrote Perfect Justice with Judge Donald A. McCartin, a California Superior Court judge who became known as ‘the hanging judge of Orange County’ and condemned 9 convicted murderers to death. Perfect Justice presents his memoirs of those cases and his time as a judge, never shying away from outlining his strong opinions or his habit of making racially insensitive statements.

In his retirement, Cartin’s view on capital punishment shifted, and he wrote articles in the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Times expressing his new opinion: that the death penalty should be abolished. While he still believed that murderers deserved to be executed, he felt that the process had become so expensive and inefficient that it constituted an enormous waste of taxpayers’ money, and that the length of time prisoners could spend on death row pursuing appeals led to serious emotional torment for their victims’ families. In addition, he wrote:

“Human error, inequities, bias¬es and per¬son¬al ide¬olo¬gies cre¬ate the prob¬lems that have caused my rejec¬tion of the death penal¬ty. Because these frail¬ties will not mag¬i-cal¬ly van¬ish, cap¬i¬tal pun¬ish¬ment can¬not be imple¬ment¬ed with any sense of bal¬ance or fair¬ness, thus it must be abolished.” Lasseter, D. 2004. Perfect Justice: A True Crime Book. Santa Ana: Seven Locks Press.

Albert Pierrepoint, Executioner: Pierrepoint (1974)

Albert Pierrepoint was an English hangman who carried out over 400 executions. As early as his school days he had expressed a wish to become an executioner like his father Henry and uncle Thomas. He carried out his first execution as his uncle’s assistant in 1932, and by 1950 Pierrepoint had become Britain’s most experienced executioner, in part due to his role in executing German spies and war criminals during the Second World War. In the early 1950s he carried out three controversial executions that contributed to Parliament’s decision to abolish capital punishment: those of Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis. Reflecting on his career in this autobiography, Pierrepoint wrote:

“I do not now believe that any one of the hundreds of executions I carried out has in any way acted as a deterrent against future murder. Capital punishment, in my view, achieved nothing except revenge.” Pierrepoint, A. 1998. Executioner, Pierrepoint. London: Coronet Books.

Robert J. Lifton and Greg Mitchell, Who Owns Death?: Capital Punishment, the American Conscience, and the End of Execution (2000)

In Who Owns Death?, Lifton and Mitchell explore the opinions, feelings and motivations of those involved in the death penalty process, from death row prison wardens to the relatives of murder victims. A section on jurors is enlightening as to how their experiences affect them both during and after trials. Some jurors may believe at the beginning of a trial that they would be willing to impose capital punishment, but then experience conflicted feelings when faced with the reality of condemning the person in front of them to death. Other jurors report feeling emotionally troubled or regretful about their decisions for many years afterwards, making clear that the system of capital punishment can leave psychological scars on all involved. Lifton, R.J. 2000. Who Owns Death: Capital Punishment, the American Conscience, and the End of Executions. New York: Morrow.

Alex F. Young, The Encyclopaedia of Scottish Executions, 1750-1963 (1998)

William Burke and William Hare were an infamous pair of murderers based in 19th century Edinburgh. After selling the body of one of Hare’s lodgers to the anatomy professor Robert Knox, they turned to murder as a source of further corpses to sell. At trial, Hare was offered immunity if he would testify against Burke; Burke was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging, while Hare was released. Burke’s execution was attended by an unruly crowd which Young estimates at 35,000. A minor riot also ensued, when members of the public attempted to attend the lecture at which Burke’s body was dissected, having been ordered to be donated to medical science. His skeleton remains at the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh.

Benjamin Fleury-Steiner, Jurors’ Stories of Death: How America's Death Penalty Invests in Inequality (2004)

Benjamin Fleury-Steiner’s academic work examines the intersection of inequality, punishment and social control. Jurors’ Stories of Death is a survey of jurors who have served in capital punishment cases, that attempts to unravel the factors that contributed to their decisions in those cases. Fleury-Steiner believes that race is a key factor in capital punishment verdicts and that jurors often fall into a “us-versus-them” pattern of thought, allowing them to retain a sense of moral superiority and justice. Here, he presents a quote from Justice Antonin Scalia that summarises what Fleury-Steiner believes is the overarching theme of death penalty verdicts: punishment for committing the ultimate crime (murder), and a desire to seek revenge on behalf of law-abiding citizens. Fleury-Steiner, B.D. 2004. Jurors' Stories of Death: How America's Death Penalty Invests in Inequality. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press

Black cap (date unknown) & etching of Justice Coleridge wearing cap (1855)

The black cap was traditionally worn by judges in England and Wales when pronouncing a death sentence. It was placed on top of the traditional judicial wig with one of the four corners facing forward. While the abolition of the death penalty means the cap is no longer worn, it is still part of a judge’s full ceremonial dress and should be carried by High Court judges on occasions when this dress is worn. It was presented to the Library by Sir James D. Cassels in 1970.

This black cap, presented to the Library by Sir James D. Cassels in 1970, was worn by John Duke Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge, a judge and Liberal politician. Coleridge was Called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1846 and eventually became Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales of England in 1880. While he believed that capital punishment was justified in some circumstances, he shared in a letter to his father dated 3rd November 1864 that, “I hope to live to see public executions, at any rate, done away with; in these ages there does not occur to me a single real argument in their favour.” He did indeed live to see this happen, as the Capital Punishment Amendment Act of 1868 mandated that those sentenced to death be executed inside the prison where they were held, bringing an end to the grim spectacle and unruly crowds of public executions.

Theories & Satirist

At its height in the 18th century, the English penal system prescribed the death penalty for over 220 offences, earning it the grim moniker ‘The Bloody Code’. However, the global proliferation of capital punishment during this era provoked growing opposition, exemplified by Cesare Beccaria’s 1767 essay 'On Crimes and Punishments'. A century later, German Jurist Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier’s influential Capital Punishment (1865) presented an in-depth analysis of the legal, moral and social implications of the death penalty.

Some of the most impactful British publications against capital punishment have come in the form of art, including songs, illustrations, and creative writing. Several 18th century execution ballads embedded social commentary, expressing critical views of the practice by exposing dubious justifications and depicting its gory methods. Satirical illustrations tied capital punishment to underlying injustices against the working class and women. The trend continued into the 20th century with increasingly creative approaches such as Charles Duff’s A Handbook on Hanging.

One of the 20th century’s strongest abolitionist voices came from a Jewish Hungarian who migrated to the UK in 1940. Drawing on personal experience of totalitarianism and imprisonment, Arthur Koestler CBE advanced the case for abolition through powerful articles, novels and essays. He went on to establish Koestler Arts, the UK’s oldest prison arts charity.

Charles Duff, A New Handbook on Hanging (1954, 1961)

Charles Duff’s A Handbook on Hanging was first published in 1928, then revised, expanded and republished several more times; the editions displayed are from 1954 and 1961. A satirical examination of the “fine art of execution”, it confronts its readers with the grim details of the execution process, as in this recounting of the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. In the section on the necessary calculations needed to execute a man by hanging, Duff contrasts the banal and methodical requirements of the hangman’s role with the profound consequences of his actions. Duff, C. 1948. A New Handbook on Hanging. London: Andrew Melrose.

John Laurence, A History of Capital Punishment: with special reference to capital punishment in Great Britain (1932)

This satirical drawing dates to 1819. Bank of England notes at this time were inconsistently made, making them easily forged. Forgery was a capital crime, and anyone caught trying to use a forged note could be convicted. The artist, George Cruickshank, comments on the harshness of this punishment in his brutal drawing. Some people were instead convicted of the lesser crime of “being in possession of forged notes”, the penalty for which was transportation to Australia; this is represented in the drawing by the four ships surrounding the woman seated like Britannia. The note is signed “J. Ketch” in reference to a notorious executioner employed by King Charles II.

John Macrae Moir ed., Capital Punishment: based on Professor Mittermaier’s Todesstrafe (1986)

Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier spent most of his career as a professor of law and jurisprudence at the University of Heidelberg and was one of Germany’s most prominent legal academics of the 19th century. His treatise on capital punishment, Die Todesstrafe, was published in 1862. This volume, edited by Middle Temple member John Macrae Moir, presents the work in English, with some alterations to provide greater background and context for English readers. Jeremy Bentham’s views on capital punishment are outlined here, as part of a wider section exploring the opinions of several contemporary capital punishment theorists on the topic. Moir, J.M. ed. 1865. Capital Punishment: Based on Professor Mittermaier's Todesstrafe. London: Smith Elder and co

Arthur Koestler, Reflections on Hanging (1956) and Arthur Koestler & C.H. Rolph, Hanged by the Neck (1961)

Arthur Koestler was Born in Hungary to a Jewish family in 1905. He then studied in Vienna before spending several years as a journalist in Jerusalem, Paris, Berlin and the Soviet Union. He is a controversial figure due to his political views and activities, and his alleged frequent violent behaviour towards women.

The abolition of capital punishment was one of many political causes espoused by Koestler. His experience as a death row prisoner during the Spanish Civil War influenced his key work on the topic, Reflections on Hanging, which was published in 1956 and was highly critical of the British capital punishment system. Hanged by the Neck is a collaboration with Cecil Rolph Hewitt (writing here as C.H. Rolph), a journalist and former police officer, that continues in this vein. On the pages displayed here from Reflections on Hanging, Koestler illustrates the strength of Parliament’s opposition to abolishing the death penalty for shoplifting in the early 19th century. Koestler, A. 1956. Reflections on Hanging. London: Gollancz.

Special Report from the Select Committee on Capital Punishment (1930)

The Select Committee on Capital Punishment was established in 1929 in response to a resolution in the House of Commons calling for abolition. This reflected the growing abolitionist movement in the United Kingdom, particularly among increasingly prominent Labour politicians. The argument that capital punishment was not a deterrent to murder, as reflected in the statistics from countries where the death penalty had already been abolished, was new and influential. The Select Committee recommended at its conclusion in 1930 that the death penalty be suspended for an experimental period of five years, but this did not come to pass. Select Committee on Capital Punishment. 1930. Report from the Select Committee on Capital Punishment together with the Proceedings of the Committee, and the Minutes of evidence, taken before the Select Committee on Capital Punishment in 1929-1930. London: Stationary Office.

Prisoners’ Stories: The View from Inside Death Row

Few forms of creative expression have influenced the drive towards abolition as much as published narratives describing death row prisoners’ stories. Creative non-fiction, plays and journalism have exposed the tragedies preceding capital verdicts and subsequent struggles faced by both guilty and wrongfully convicted prisoners in their aftermath.

Early published accounts of prisoners awaiting the gallows were the true-crime stories of their time, detailing the unfortunate circumstances that led to capital crimes. These stories often included heavy moralising about the poor choices and disreputable characters leading up to the crimes, rarely questioning the ethics of state executions.

Later publications present direct accounts of prisoners’ lives, from childhood poverty, abuse, and neglect to the legal machinations that led to capital verdicts. Those who confess guilt often speak of profound repentance and transformation, while those claiming innocence describe gruelling appeals and the daily strain of living under constant threat of execution.

Some of this collection’s most poignant pages record the ephemera of day-to-day life on death row: letters and telegrams, lists describing last meal requests, drawings and personal belongings. These telling minutiae complicate the dehumanisation of death row prisoners, betraying the humanity of some of the world’s most publicly demonised figures.

Scott Christianson, Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House (2000)

Before the death penalty was abolished in New York in 1972, 614 people were executed at Sing Sing prison – more than any other prison in the United States. Christianson’s book uses archival materials to reconstruct the stories of some of those prisoners. These materials include photographs of the prisoners on their arrival at the prison, extracts from their letters to each other, and details of escape attempts. Christianson, S. 2000. Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House. New York: NYU Press.

Katya Lezin, Finding Life on Death Row: Profiles of Six Inmates (1999)

The prisoners’ stories in Finding Life on Death Row are taken from the files of Stephen B. Bright, a lawyer and legal academic best known for representing defendants in capital cases and for challenging inhumane conditions and practices in prisons. Lezin tells the stories of six Death Row prisoners, reconstructing the conditions in which their crimes were committed, the machinations that led to their death sentences, and the impact on their families.

One such story is that of Judy Haney, whose abusive husband Jerry was murdered in 1984. Judy and her children had endured 15 years of brutal violence and controlling behaviour from Jerry, whom she married aged 16. While Haney herself did not murder her husband, in August 1984 she paid $3000 to her brother-in-law Jerry Henderson, who informed her he had hired a hitman to do the job. Henderson confessed to the murder in 1987, claiming that Haney had hired him to kill her husband. Haney’s defence lawyer was found in contempt of court for appearing drunk at her trial and failed to provide key medical evidence confirming the abuse she had suffered; nonetheless, he was appointed to handle her case again on her first appeal.

After several more appeals in which new evidence was supplied, Haney’s case was settled and her sentence revised to life without the possibility of parole. Haney’s case and the others in Finding Life on Death Row illustrate both the desperate conditions in which some capital crimes are committed and the myriad ways in which the justice system risks failing defendants in their right to a fair trial Lezin, K. 1999. Finding Life on Death Row: Profiles of Six Inmates. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Sunny Jacobs, Stolen Time (2015)

In 1976, Sonia ‘Sunny’ Jacobs and her partner Jesse Tafero were convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Florida. Their convictions were based on the testimony of Walter Rhodes, another defendant who received a life sentence in exchange for his co-operation but who changed his story several times, and who physical evidence identified as the most likely culprit. Jacobs and Tafero maintained their innocence and after 17 years in prison, Jacobs was released following a plea deal in 1992 which allowed her to maintain her innocence. Tafero died two years prior in a horrific botched execution. Jacobs moved to Ireland and established the Sunny Centre, an organisation to support the wrongly convicted. The play The Exonerated tells the story of Jacobs and five other wrongly convicted prisoners; it premiered in 2000 and ran for over 600 performances, winning multiple awards. Jacobs, S. 2007. Stolen Time: The Inspiring Story of an Innocent Woman Condemned to Death.

Rex v. Roger David Casement (1916)

Sir Roger Casement was a diplomat and Irish nationalist who was executed for treason in 1916. Raised in Dublin, he joined the British Colonial Service and worked in the Congo and Peru, where he investigated and wrote reports on horrific human rights abuses in the rubber industry. These experiences led to Casement’s growing distrust of colonialism; he retired from the Colonial Service in 1913 and joined the Irish Volunteers. He organised the transport of weapons from Germany to Ireland for the Easter Rising in 1916, but the weapons were intercepted and Casement sailed to Ireland in a German submarine in an attempt to stop the rising. He was arrested in April 1916, found guilty of treason and executed on 3rd August. During his trial, documents purported to be his personal diaries were circulated which contained details of homosexual activity; there is debate among historians as to whether these diaries were forged.

This volume contains a record of proceedings in Casement’s trial. The index to exhibits records the objects that were shown as evidence in court. They include an image of the boat in which Casement landed at Tralee Bay; objects that were found alongside the boat including weapons and maps; and a train ticket from Berlin to Wilhelmshaven, where Casement boarded the submarine.