High treason

[eileenb]

Is the crime of High treason still a hanging offence? My 15 year old said that in a lesson at school they had been told it was the only crime punishable by death that was still in law..Though seen as we have no death penalty,how would it be passed?

[Big Al1st]

1998 High treason was removed from the death sentence and 1999 Jack Straw signed the human rights protocol abolishing capital punishment altogether.

The last person executed for high treason was William Joyce ( Lord Haw Haw ) in 1946

[eileenb]

Thanks

[Lonnie]

Mores the pity.

[spacechimp]

No, more is not the pity!

[Tatty Rollox]

........ and here is William Joyce ........

[robbo82]

Can you still be charged for defacing the queen's image on eg currency, then?

[Golem]

Another crime that sometimes gets quoted as still a hanging offence is 'arson in a naval dockyard'.

This was abolished in 1971 and the parliamentary report that mentions both the High Treason and arson crimes being changed from "being hanged by the neck" to "such person shall be liable to imprisonment for life" can be found here;

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo980319/text/80319-08.htm

[waimarie]

Come on Tatty Rollox, that picture looks more like Bugsy Seigel !!!

[Drusilla1S]

I'm surprised William Joyce was hanged for High Treason by the British, as he was born in the USA, lived there until he was three and then moved to Ireland.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWjoyceW.htm

[THECORBYLOON]

Drusilla1S, Joyce had a valid UK passport until 2nd July 1940.

[Drusilla1S]

Thanks Corbyloon.

[Tatty Rollox]

..... well, marie, here is Benjamin Siegelbaum for comparison. William Joyce was hanged in 1946 for the technicality of being a traitor for a few months from September 1939 to July 1940 (he was a German citizen after that). Whilst he was generally detested many thought that this was not right - his defence seemed valid. "Bugsy" Siegel was murdered in 1947.But William Joyce was not the last man hanged for treachery in the UK, that honour belongs to Theodore Schurch who was hanged for treachery the day after William Joyce.Theodore Schurch was the bravest man that the hangman Albert Pierrepoint (who hanged both Joyce and Schurch) ever met ............

[THECORBYLOON]

Tatty, on 3.7.34, Joyce applied for his British passport on the basis he was a British subject by birth-although born in America- and renewed it in September '38 & August '39. He lied in order to get the passport and paid the price wi his life.

Joyce and Schurch were hanged for different offences, Joyce for High Treason and Schurch for Treachery under the 1940 Treachery Act

[Tatty Rollox]

"High Treason" is defined as a crime that "undermines the offenders government". Exactly the same definition is included in "Treachery". Joyce was American, Schurch was Swiss, so the UK government was neither offenders government. Both were hanged in the UK
without protest by the Americans or Swiss under a "catch-all" legality that is not built into either definition, but is too lengthy for discussion within the limits of AnswerBank. Schurch was the last man to be hanged in the UK for treachery, not Joyce.

[THECORBYLOON]

Tatty, the fact remains that the two men were hanged for reasons covered by different Acts. The Government considered there to be enough difference between them to repeal only the Treachery Act in the Criminal Law Act 1967.

[Tatty Rollox]

Under the "catch-all" of International Law an American and a Swiss citizen were prosecuted under UK Law. The American was prosecuted under a UK law which defined the only crime as that which "undermines the offenders government", and the UK government was deemed to be the American's government because the American possessed an illegal UK passport. The Swiss was prosecuted under a UK law which also defines the crime as that which "undermines the offenders government" and also adds half-a-dozen other specific crimes. The UK government was deemed to be the Swiss's government because he had voluntarily signed a statement saying "I am a British soldier and wish to be treated as such".

[arty7774]

This will tell you about Theodore Schurch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Schurch

and William Joyce.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Joyce