Once a death sentence had been passed the judge had to notify the Privy Council or after 1837, the Home Office by letter. In this letter he was able to make his private recommendations as to whether the person should hang or not. The King presided over what were known as “hanging cabinets” where together with members of the Privy Council, the fate of each condemned person was decided. They could be offered a reprieve on condition of transportation to America or Australia as an alternative to execution.
The Home Office takes over When Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837 it was not considered right to expect a 19 year old girl to preside over “hanging cabinets” and so the duty was delegated to the
Home Secretary who administered the Royal Prerogative of Mercy on her behalf. This situation continued up to abolition. The Home Secretary was advised by his permanent officials but was allowed to read the case papers for himself and had the final say. It is notable that reprieves were very rare in cases of murder by poisoning or shooting. If there was to be no reprieve the Home Secretary would endorse the prisoner’s file with the words “The law must take its course”. There was no formal death warrant in Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries and the prison governor had to communicate the news to the prisoner verbally. In the 20th century, 1,485 death sentences were passed in England and Wales of which 755 were carried out. The ratio of death sentences to executions was therefore 1.95:1. Those who were reprieved had their sentences commuted to ”life in prison” although this normally did not mean that they served the rest of their lives behind bars. In reality few served more than 12 years in practice but were subject to supervision upon release for the rest of their lives.
The Home Office exercised increasing control over the conduct of executions after the passing of The Prison Act of1877 and regularly circulated instructions to prison governors on all areas of the subject. It was, the Prison Commissioners, responsible for providing the execution equipment from 1891 on and maintaining the list of approved executioners and assistants for the High Sheriff to choose from. This system remained in place until abolition. Where there was a question as to the prisoner’s sanity the Home Secretary was required by the Criminal Lunatics Act of 1884. to order a medical examination of the person by two qualified medical practitioners and this was frequently done in the 20th century and could include the taking of an electroencephalograph if necessary.
World History
