Death Sentence

[Obo]

Do any of the member countries of the EU still have the death sentence?

[sddsddean]

We used to have the death sentence for 'treason' and 'piracy on the high seas', but these have been repealed, in the late 1990's I think.

[Obo]

Turky have been declined admission to the EU

[Quizmonster]

For Turkey's current - ie less than a week ago - position re the death penalty and EU membership, click http://press.coe.int/cp/2002/470a(2002).htm Britain finally - and totally - abolished the penalty in 1999, as I understand it.

[5029]

Einstein is right - anyone commiting treason could in fact be hanged. I remember someone saying at the time that James Hewitt could have been hanged for what he did to Diana as it was classed as treason

[Quizmonster]

Princess Diana died in 1997, so the "hang Hewitt" idea might have applied THEN. However, capital punishment for treason - Hewitt's supposed 'crime' - and violent piracy was abolished in 1998, so that would have let him off the hook...or gallows, if you prefer! Also, on the 27th January 1999, Britain signed up to the 6th protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights. If you click http://ue.eu.int/pesc/human_rights/en/99/annex7.ht
m and read Paragraph (iii), you will see what that means. Capital punishment is now PERMANENTLY abolished here and - in answer to the original question - throughout the EU.

[5029]

So why couldn't he have been hanged in 1997? The allegations and the book were made public way before Diana died, so it still applied

[Quizmonster]

I didn't SAY he couldn't have been hanged in 1997; quite the reverse. My words were: "in 1997...the hang Hewitt idea might have applied." It is, however, only 'MIGHT'. The thing is, you see, before hanging someone, it has to be shown that a specific capital crime has been committed. Would what he did have been considered a crime at all - never mind a capital one - at the end of the 20th century, as opposed to the end of the 14th? I very much doubt it and, clearly, so did the legal authorities, given that they did nothing. Even had he been charged and found guilty, there is no guarantee that the sentence would have been one of death. To get back to what the actual question here is, the answer reains 'No...no EU country still has the death sentence.' And Britain does NOT retain that sentence for ANY CRIME. (End of story, as far as I'm concerned.)

[WendyW]

The last time someone was hanged for the act of treason is not so far back in the past .. I believe that it was used after WW2.