time Flashcards
capital punishment - how the law changed
In the past, physical punishment for criminal behaviour was common. At various times in British history, criminals could be punished by capital punishment (hanging) or corporal punishment (e.g. caning, branding with hot irons,
reasons we stopped using capital punishment
Capital Punishment was finally abolished in Britain in 1965.
Corporal punishment has also gradually disappeared.
Capital Punishment is now regarded as a breach of the most basic human right- the right to life.
Nothing can be done to correct a miscarriage of justice, where a person executed is later proven to have been innocent.
some people believe that crime declined as citizens didn’t want to die so there was no use for it anymore
homosexuality - how did the law change
In the UK, all homosexual acts between men were made a crime in 1885, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
However, homosexual acts between males aged 21 or over were legalised in England and Wales in 1967, in Scotland in 1980 and Northern Ireland in 1982. The age of consent was reduced to 18 in 1994 and the equalised with heterosexuals at 16 in 2000.
reasons - homosexuality
Wolfenden report -After WW2, there was an increase in prosecutions of gay men and by 1954 over 1000 were in prison. Due to this the government set up a committee under Sir John Wolfenden to consider reform of the law. After gathering evidence, the committee recommended that homosexual acts in private between consenting adults over 21 be legalised.
Campaign- The Homosexual Law Reform Society successfully campaigned for the change in the law that legalised gay sex in 1967. Further campaigns by Stonewall and the Campaign for Homosexual Equality led eventually to equalising the age of consent
at 16.
gun laws
In the UK, laws governing access to firearms changed following two mass shootings:
In 1987, Michael Ryan, an unemployed antique dealer, shot and killed 16 people in Hungerford, Berkshire.
In 1996, 16 children and one teacher were shot dead at Dunblane primary school near Stirling in Scotland by Thomas Hamilton, an unemployed scout leader.
It is now illegal to own a handgun in Great Britain.
gun law reasons
The Gun Control Network- set up by lawyers, academics and parents of victims to campaign for tighter gun control laws.
The Snowdrop Campaign- started by bereaved Dunblane parents and their friends, organised a petition and collected 750,000 signatures calling for a change in the law.
cannabis
From 2001, possession of drugs was changed from a crime to a civil offence, if the quantity involved was less than for a ten-day personal supply. The new law applied to both ‘hard’ drugs such as heroin and ‘soft’ drugs such as cannabis
The thinking behind the decriminalisation was that drug-use should be regarded as a public health issue aimed at harm reduction. Users are referred to health and other support services rather than being prosecuted.
cannabis reasons
The basic reason for the change was the sudden and rapid growth in the scale of drug addiction in Portugal. By the 1990s, one in every 100 of the population was addicted to heroin. This led to drastic action to tackle the problem.
It was also felt that, as a relatively poor country, the new law would reduce the costs resulting from drug use and one source points to a saving of 18%
