It is well known that in the United Kingdom, upon committing a serious crime, the court will opt for life imprisonment, which is imprisonment that lasts until the death of the prisoner. Often, however, the prisoner will be qualified for early release after a minimum term set by the court. In the United States, on the other hand, twenty-seven of the states still hold the death penalty - also known as capital punishment - as a legal sanction. Among these states are Alabama, California, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
History of the Death Penalty in the US
In Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), the court banned the death penalty laws at the time, due to the fact that they allegedly violated the Eighth Amendment, which is that ‘Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted’. The Court stated that the laws were hugely disproportionate and actually discriminated against the poor as well as minorities, resulting in an inequality of legal retribution. However, four years later, in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), the Court held the death penalty was not actually unconstitutional due to the fact that it served to illustrate the social purpose of retribution and extreme deterrence.
Today, Congress, as well as any state legislature, may prescribe capital punishment, for certain offenses. It has in fact ruled that the death penalty does not violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on ‘cruel and unusual punishment’. The Eighth Amendment does, however, require that courts consider the threshold of decency to determine if a certain punishment constitutes a ‘cruel or unusual punishment’. Thus, courts search for objective factors to illustrate a change in these standards. Moreover, they make independent decisions as to whether the statute in question can be regarded as reasonable.
Proportionality
As per Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977), the Supreme Court held that a penalty must be proportional to the crime. It is not considered proportional, the punishment will then violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against ‘cruel and unusual punishments’. When deciding if a legal retribution can be considered disproportionate, the Supreme Court considers the offense's gravity and the stringency of the penalty; how other similar criminals have been punished and whether this is a comparable sanction; and how other jurisdictions are likely to punish the same crime.
Individualised Sentencing
In order to impose a death sentence, the jury must heavily consider and examine the exact circumstances of the criminal, and the court must have conducted what is known as an ‘individualised sentencing process’. As per Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002), it is considered unconstitutional for "a sentencing judge, sitting without a jury, to find an aggravating circumstance necessary for imposition of the death penalty."
The Death Penalty in the UK
In the United Kingdom, the last execution was held in 1964. In 1965, Parliament passed a law banning the death penalty across Great Britain for all crimes, barring crimes such as arson in royal dockyards and espionage. However, it was only with the Human Rights Act coming into force in 1998 that the death penalty was banned in all circumstances.
Why Is It Banned?
Ultimately, the United Kingdom has the European Convention of Human Rights to thank for the abolition of the death penalty, and it is protected by our own legislation, which is Protocol 13, Article 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
The Human Rights Act formally abolished the death penalty in the UK. Thereofere, a public official, which includes the police as well as the courts, cannot sentence a criminal to death as legal punishment for a crime that they have committed.
Sentencing someone to capital punishment is considered to be a violation of the right to life, which is Article 2 of the HRA, as well as the right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 3 of the HRA), The Human Rights Act also means that the UK cannot deport criminals to stand trial in another country, if there is a high potential that they could be sentenced to death or executed. This applies to criminals who are citizens or legal immigrants to the United Kingdom. Illegal immigrants remain permitted to be deported, despite the fact that their country allows for capital punishment.
Therefore, it seems to be a matter of legislation for the reasoning behind why the death penalty is legal in certain states of the United States, and yet illegal in the United Kingdom. The consideration of proportionality appears to be largely more lenient when considering the Eighth Amendment, than when considering the Human Rights Act.
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