British Peers Oppose Abolition of Death Penalty

Grey River Argus, 3 June 1948, Page 8

British Peers Oppose Abolition of Death Penalty

LONDON, June 1. The House of Lords was packed this afternoon to hear the committee stages of the Criminal Justice Bill. Lord Llewellin moved an amendment to delete Clause I, which abolishes the death penalty. He said that since the death penalty was suspended murders had increased. “Send the Bill back to the Commons”, he said. “It will have repercussions in the colonies”. Referring to ritual murders on the Gold Coast and elsewhere, Lord Llewellin said there could not be one law for the white skins and a different law for the coloured skins. Lord Templewood (formerly Sir Samuel Hoare) said that overseas countries had abolished the death penalty without dangerous results. AGAINST ABOLITION The Archbishop of Canterbury, emphasising that he was speaking for himself, and not for his church, said he believed that public opinion was against the abolition of the death penalty,, "The security of law and order cannot. at present stand the shock of the diminution of the severity of the punishment for murder”, he said. It was the State’s duty to protect society against the horrible crime of murder, and there was the prima facie case for the State to inflict the death penalty on one who took the life of another. The vote of Lord Llewellin’s motion is being taken to-morrow. So many peers wished to speak that the debate had to be extended to two days.