THE DEATH PENALTY [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The
public conscience has been acutely shocked by the execution of Mrs. Major. Expressions of pity and horror have been compelled from quarters not normally affected by the reports of a hanging. There have been demands that the death penalty shall not again be applied to a woman.
This is an appeal that is always sure of considerable support even from many who would uphold the continuance of capital punishment for men. It is, of course, utterly illogical. Women cannot exercise all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and at the same time receive preferential treatment in the law. It need scarcely be said that I, and the -society I represent, would gladly have welcomed it if the Home Secretary had elected to be illogical in the case of Mrs. Major.
But there is a danger that the circumstances of this case may be used to obscure the real issue. The cruelty of this particular hanging is present in all executions. It is in- separable from the operation of the Death Penalty. Neither the sex, the age, nor the degree of criminal responsibility of the condemned person really affects the question : the death penalty is inherently brutal and barbarous. It is a savage anachronism that has remained too long in our penal code, exercising its demoralizing and degrading influence.
Most people instinctively recognize this, and are persuaded to accept its continuance only because they believe it to be essential for social security. How little solid foundation there is for this belief was shown by the evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of Commons four years ago by many of the States throughout the world which have long ago abandoned capital punishment. In some cases repre- sentatives, and in others official documents, unanimously gave the same testimony : abolition in these States had in no single case increased the number of murders but, on the contrary, in some, decreases had followed.
The awakening of the public conscience because of the execution of this unfortunate woman will be meaningless unless it stimulates practical effort by all who want this horror abolished and open support of the efforts of those of us who are working to that end.—Yours faithfully,
JOHN PATON (Secretary), National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty. Parliament Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W.1.
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