The Hanging Debate - Should the UK Bring Back the Death Penalty? (1983)

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A compilation of special reports and interviews covering the 1983 free vote on the death penalty, when Members of Parliament voted on whether to re-establish capital punishment in the UK. Over two weeks, ITN looked at the history of the death penalty and its abolition in Britain and spoke to activists on both sides of the debate. For some it was a simple matter of deterring violent crime, which statistics showed was on the up. For others it was a constitutional issue; while Parliamentarians were overwhelmingly against the death penalty, the general public were more favourable to the policy. Some argued a parliamentary free vote was not enough, and that the public should be allowed a say via a national referendum. Had Parliament been out of step with the public on the issue for too long?

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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:36 27 June 1983 - Teddy Taylor interview
00:03:56 6 July 1983 - Sam Hall special report on history of death penalty
00:09:08 6 July 1983 - Glyn Matthias special report on upcoming free vote to reintroduce capital punishment
00:10:48 Leon Brittan (Home Secretary) interview
00:11:29 7 July 1983 - Sam Hall special report on whether whether hanging would help reduce crime
00:12:12 Interview with Lord Denning (Former Master of the Rolls)
00:16:28 Interview with Rt Rev Hugh Montefiore (Bishop of Birmingham)
00:17:33 Interview with Sid Powell (Society of Civil & Public Servants)
00:18:50 Interview with Dr John Dawson (Head of Ethics, BMA)
00:19:53 8 July 1983 - Sam Hall special report on wrongful executions
00:25:45 11 July 1983 - Elinor Goodman report
00:26:38 Eldon Griffiths MP (Con: Bury St Edmunds) interview
00:27:30 David Jenkins (Howard League) interview
00:28:58 Peter Thurnham MP (Conservative) interview
00:30:29 David Amess MP (Conservative) interview
00:31:24 Roy Jenkins (Social Democratic Party) speech
00:32:17 Julian Critchley MP (Conservative) interview
00:32:56 Lady Ewart Briggs (Widow of Christopher Ewart-Briggs) interview
00:34:05 Louis Blom-Cooper QC (Howard League) interview
00:37:45 Michael Harris (Former Under Sherrif) interview on role of the executioner
00:40:58 12 July 1983 - Martin Brandon-Bravo MP (Conservative) interview
00:44:11 12 July 1983 - Report on Church of England synod
00:45:58 Dr Robert Runcie (Archbishop of Canterbury) interview
00:46:37 Second interview with Archbishop Robert Runcie
00:47:47 Rt Rev Maurice Wood (Bishop of Norwich) interview
00:48:36 12 July 1983 - Report on Colin Moynihan polling his constituents
00:49:27 David Crouch MP (Conservative) interview
00:49:57 12 July 1983 - Glyn Matthias report on history of death penalty in UK
00:53:52 13 July 1983 - Interview with Georgina Enston, daughter of Ruth Ellis (last woman to be hanged in Britain)
00:55:46 13 July 1983 - Jon Snow report outside parliament as free vote takes place
00:57:05 13 July 1983 - Glyn Matthias report on free vote and parliamentary debate
01:00:39 14 July 1983 - Michael McNair Wilson MP (Conservative) interview calling for referendum on capital punishment

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