Moors Murderers Executed

I was doing some research for my story "The Wrath of the Half-Blood Prince" and someone theorized that Snape knew lots of Dark Magic prior to coming to school b/c his witch mother wanted him to be able to defend himself against the Moors Murderers, who were active in northern England at the time.

Here're the Moors Murders:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors_Murderers

The British government had abolished the death penalty five months earlier and I'd read there was a lot of public anger that these people could not be executed.

What if the public had pressured the government to revive the death penalty, in general or just for the murderers in question? I believe passing a law to deal with specific people is called a Bill of Attainder and although that is illegal in the United States, it might be doable in Britain.
 
There is a reason it is legaly difficult to do that. Laws are written down so people can se what they can and can't do. If the laws are changed after the deed, laws are useless since they don't inform what is legal to do.
 
There is a reason it is legaly difficult to do that. Laws are written down so people can se what they can and can't do. If the laws are changed after the deed, laws are useless since they don't inform what is legal to do.

I am well aware of the virtues of rule of law.

That being said, there was never any point where kidnapping, rape, and murder were legal, so the ex post facto argument doesn't apply here.

Furthermore, I was under the impression the Moors Murders were strung out over a period of years. Surely one or two of them was committed during a time where the death penalty was in effect?
 
I am well aware of the virtues of rule of law.

That being said, there was never any point where kidnapping, rape, and murder were legal, so the ex post facto argument doesn't apply here.

Furthermore, I was under the impression the Moors Murders were strung out over a period of years. Surely one or two of them was committed during a time where the death penalty was in effect?

Indeed, the trials where held in 1966, whilst the murders occurred from 1963 through to 1965.
 
Bill of Attainer

I suspect that something similar to what occured in the Canadian case would happen.

In two cases of attempts to pass laws inflicting a judicial penalty on a specific person (in the first case Clifford Olson, in the second case Karla Homolka), the speakers of the House and Senate, respectively, have ruled that Canadian parliamentary practice does not permit bills of attainder or bills of pains and penalties.

Even with overwhelming public support I can see many parliamentarians opposing this on constitutional grounds, (British politicians having more principles and balls back then), and I can't see the government of the day wanting to undermine it's own recent legislation.

Even if such a bill were passed or the abolision of the death penalty delayed the effect would be minor. Hindley and Brady have and will die in prison, a few less decades of life really means nothing.
 
Would such a bill be unconstitutional? I thought bills of attainder were legal, although the Wiki indicates that they haven't been used since 1798.
 
Britain has no constitution. A determined majority in the House of Commons can do anything. However Capital punishmen was limited in 1957 to murders with explosives or fire arms, or killings of police or prison officers or murders during robberies.

Even had they been caught and tried in 1963 Brady and Hindley would not have hanged.
 

Deleted member 5719

This is actually a fantastic "what if"...

Lets imagine that the government bow to public pressure to reintroduce hanging for Brady and Hindley, or, more realistically, does so for after the trial to make sure criminals of their callousness never escape the rope again. The new law states that the death penalty should apply for "callous and pre-meditated murder".

Unbeknownst to the framers of these laws, Northern Ireland is about to blow up, and, on Bloody Sunday, British troops will kill British citizens for the first time since the war. OTL Conservative M.Ps regularly called for the death penalty for IRA killers, now it seems very likely that IRA men would have been hanged for attacks on British troops or civilians.

What would the effect of the executions been on Northern Ireland catholic opinion? Would the punishment have been used with equal severity on Protestant and Catholic terrorists? Could there have been miscarrriages of justice?
 
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