Doyle, David M. and O'Donnell, Ian
(2012)
The Death Penalty in Post-Independence Ireland.
The Journal of Legal History, 33 (1).
pp. 65-91.
ISSN 0144-0365
Abstract
The history of capital punishment in post-Independence Ireland has received
scant scholarly attention. This essay is an attempt to set out what can be
learned about the executed persons, the executioners, and the politicians
whose inaction (not reforming the law) and actions (deciding against clemency) brought the two former groups together. The death penalty was
deployed strategically against IRA members during the early 1940s as
part of a package of legal measures designed to crush subversive activity,
but more usually its targets were murderers whose acts had no wider ramifications. One notable aspect of the Irish arrangements was that when a prisoner was to be taken to the gallows an English hangman was always
contracted to arrange the ‘drop’. Reflecting popular antipathy towards the
practice the Irish state was unable to find a willing executioner within its
borders.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Death Penalty; post-independence Ireland; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Law |
| Item ID: |
11678 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1080/01440365.2012.661141 |
| Depositing User: |
David Doyle
|
| Date Deposited: |
12 Nov 2019 14:12 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
The Journal of Legal History |
| Publisher: |
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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