Capital punishment in Canada
|
|
The only method used in Canada for capital punishment was hanging. Before Canada eliminated the death penalty in 1976, 1481 people were sentenced to death, with 710 executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 were women.
| Contents |
Arthur Ellis
Arthur Ellis was the pseudonym of Arthur B. English, a British man who became Canada's official hangman in 1913.
All of his successors also adopted the pseudonym Arthur Ellis in their professional duties. The Crime Writers of Canada present annual literary awards, the Arthur Ellis Awards, named for this pseudonym.
History
In 1967, a moratorium was placed on use of the death penalty, except for murders of police and corrections officers. In 1969, legislation was introduced to reclassify murder into capital and non-capital offences. A capital murder involved a planned/deliberate murder, murder during violent crimes, or the murder of a police officer or prison guard. Only capital murder carried the sentence of death. On 14 July 1976, bill C-84 was passed by a narrow margin in a free vote, resulting in the abolition of the death penalty, except for certain offences under the National Defence Act. In 1987, the House of Commons held another free vote, but MPs favoured maintaining abolition of the death penalty (148 to 127). In 1998, Parliament removed the death penalty for National Defence crimes.
Reasons for Banning the Death Penalty
Canada banned the death penalty because of fears about wrongful convictions, concerns about the state taking the lives of individuals, and uncertainty about the death penalty's role as a deterrent for crime.
Last People Executed in Canada
The last two people executed in Canada were Ronald Turpin, 29, and Arthur Lucas, 54, convicted in separate murders, on 11 December 1962 at the Don Jail in Toronto. Like previous offenders they were executed by the "long drop" technique of hanging perfected in the United Kingdom by William Marwood. This method ensured that the prisoner's neck was broken instantly at the end of the drop, resulting in the prisoner dying of asphyxia while unconscious, which was more humane than the slow death by strangulation which often resulted from the previous "short drop" method. The short drop sometimes gave a gruesome period of torture before death finally took place.
Punishment for Murder
First-degree murder now carries a mandatory life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. Second-degree murder results in a sentence of between 10 and 25 years.
Canada's View of International Capital Punishment
The Supreme Court of Canada has determined that Canada should not extradite condemned persons, unless they have assurances that the foreign state will not apply the death penalty.
External links
Canada and the Death Penalty (Department of Justice Canada) (http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/news/fs/2003/doc_30896.html)