FIFTY years ago today, MPs voted to abolish hanging in Britain, but more than 50 countries around the world still retain the death penalty.

In 1969?

MPs voted by a sizeable majority to permanently abolish the death penalty for murder. The vote saw 343 in favour and 185 against, with then-Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Conservative leader Edward Heath and Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, all going through the same lobby to support abolition.

What happened then?

The House of Lords voted two days later in favour of abolishing the death penalty by a majority of 46, but it was officially retained for offences like treason until 1998, before being formally abolished for all crimes.

When was the last hanging in the UK then?

On July 13, 1955, Ruth Ellis was hanged at Holloway Prison in London. The 28-year-old former model and nightclub hostess had been sentenced to death for shooting her lover, 25-year-old racing driver David Blakely. Her family had argued she suffered from ‘battered woman syndrome’ and had suffered a miscarriage just days before the killing, after Blakely punched her in the stomach. Meanwhile, thousands of people signed petitions asking for the death penalty to be lifted, to no avail.

The case sparked debate?

It put British criminal justice and the death penalty at the forefront of debate and the mother-of-two’s execution ultimately swung public opinion against the death penalty in the UK.

But it’s still practiced around the world?

More than 50 countries still have the death penalty in law. Figures from Amnesty International – which campaigns to abolish the death penalty worldwide - show that by the end of last year, 106 had completely abolished it and executions were down 31% on 2017, with 690 taking place worldwide. This figure represents the lowest number of executions that Amnesty International has recorded in the past decade.

However?

This figure excludes China, where Amnesty estimate that ‘thousands of people were likely executed,’ although the numbers remain classified. North Korea figures are also unknown.

And not including China?

If you don’t include their figures, 78% of all reported executions last year took place in just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Iraq. Beheading – sometimes publicly, is the main method in Saudi Arabia, while in Sri Lanka, two hangmen were hired this summer as the government escalated the war on drugs.

Death sentences?

Amnesty recorded at least 2,531 death sentences in 54 countries in 2018, a slight decrease from the total of 2,591 reported in 2017. At least 19,336 people were known to be under sentence of death globally at the end of 2018.

In America?

On December 7, the US Supreme Court blocked a bid by the Trump administration to restart federal executions after a hiatus of 16 years. The US Attorney General had scheduled four executions for December and January, but the court put a hold on this and an appeal is now underway by the government. Capital punishment is legal in 29 US states and 25 people were executed in the US last year.