Death and the Law

1
Death and the Law

• Suicide
• Abortion
• The Death Penalty
• Euthanasia

2
Revision

• What is a crime?
• How are crimes classified?
• What are three main categories of crimes?
• Who can be exempt from criminal liability?

3
Complete the following

• Indictable offences are more serious offences
  traible on ___________ by a judge and a jury in a
  ___________ Court.
• Summary offences are less serious offences
  triable summarily in a ____________ Court by the
  justices who sit without a _________.

4
Translate the following

• To secure conviction, the prosecution must
  normally prove beyond reasonable doubt that the
  accused committed a guilty act with a guilty
  intent. The accused is presumed innocent until
  proved by the prosecution in a court of law to be
  guilty.

5
Suicide

• The act of taking ones own life voluntarily and
  intentionally
• In the past an attempt to kill oneself resulted
  in a charge with a criminal offence

6
Suicide in the past

• In the 14th century English Common Law made
  suicide a criminal act and it was punished by
  forfeiture of all the goods and chattels of the
  offender.
• English Common Law distinguished a suicide
  committed by an unsound mind from an evil doer
  against himself, who had coolly decided to end
  his or her life (an infamous crime) entire
  estate forfeited to the crown
• Ignominious burial a corpse dragged through the
  streets and hung from the gallows, and finally
  buried beneath a crossroad with a stake driven
  through the body

7
The Suicide Act of 1961

• by the 17th century a suicide forfeited only
  personal property heirs could get his real
  estate
• until 1879 law did not distinguish between
  suicide and homicide
• The Suicide Act of 1961 abolished that

8
Abortion

• The termination of pregnancy before it is
  complete with the purpose of destroying the
  foetus
• Before 1967 it was a criminal act to end, or to
  help to end a pregnancy

9
Abortion Act of 1967

• A pregnancy may be terminated within the time
  limit of 24 weeks
• The time limit does not apply where abortion is
  performed to save lives
• An abortion must be performed by a registered
  medical practicioner in a hospital or a place
  officially approved for that purpose
• The Act does not apply in Northern Ireland

10
The Death Penalty

• In Great Britain, hanging was the preferred
  method of execution for hundreds of years
• Capital punishment was suspended in 1965 and
  abolished in 1970
• Abolitionists and retentionists

11
Ruth Ellis

• The last woman to be hanged in Great Britain
• Ellis (28) shot her boyfriend David Blakely in
  1955
• battered woman syndrome
• Ellis had a miscarriage 10 days before the
  killing because Blakely punched her

12
The Ellis trial

• It was obvious that when I shot him, I intended
  to kill him
• The jury reached the verdict in 14 minutes
• Ellis executed three weeks later

13
Ellis Case Reopened

• The case reopened in 2003 the relatives wanted
  to replace the decision with a verdict of
  manslaughter on the grounds of provocation or
  diminished responsibility
• Substantial error because the judge refused to
  allow the jury to consider the provocation
  defense
• New verdict refused

14
Euthanasia

• Literally Good death (from the Greek words eu
  and thanatos)
• Also called mercy killing
• Intentional killing by act or omission of a
  dependant human being for his or her alleged
  benefit

15
Voluntary and non-voluntary euthanasia

• Voluntary when the person who is killed has
  requested to be killed
• Non-voluntary when the person who is killed made
  no request and gave no consent
• Assisted suicide someone provides an individual
  with the information, guidance and means to take
  their life with the intention that they will be
  used for a purpose

16
Action and Omission

• Euthanasia by action intentionally causing a
  persons death by performing an action such as by
  giving a lethal injection
• Euthanasia by omission intentionally causing
  death by not providing necessary and ordinary care

17
Euthanasia and Law

• The Netherlands was the first country to allow
  so-called mercy killing
• Public approval ratings of nearly 90 for
  legalisation of euthanasia
• Doctors have the right to refuse and patients
  have the right to choose euthanasia

18
Conditions

• The patient must have an incurable illness
• There must be unbearable suffering
• The patient must be of sound mind and must have
  given consent
• The termination of life must then be carried out
  in a medically appropriate manner

19
Vocabulary

• Forfeiture oduzimanje imovine
• Goods and chattels - imetak
• Ignominious burial necasni pogreb
• Abolitionist protivnik smrtne kazne
• Retentionist zagovornik smrtne kazne
• Miscarriage spontani pobacaj
• Diminished responsibility smanjena odgovornost
• Incurable illness neizljeciva bolest

20
Vocabulary exercixe

• Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate
  word
• painless, intolerable, incurable,
  criminal,undignified
•  
• Euthanasia is the practice of terminating the
  life of a human being or animal with an
  ____________ disease, ______________ suffering,
  or a possibly _____________ death in a
  ____________ or minimally painful way, for the
  purpose of limiting suffering. It is a form of
  homicide the question is whether it should be
  considered justifiable or ___________.

21
Answer key

• Euthanasia is the practice of terminating the
  life of a human being or animal with an incurable
  disease, intolerable suffering, or a possibly
  undignified death in a painless or minimally
  painful way, for the purpose of limiting
  suffering. It is a form of homicide the question
  is whether it should be considered justifiable or
  criminal.

22
The Death Penalty
23
Death Penalty

• Capital punishment
• Term capital from latin capitalis ?regarding the
  head?
• Killing of a person by a judicial process
• Punishment for an offense

24
Early Death Penalty Laws

• The first established death penalty laws date as
  far back as the 18th Century BC in the Code of
  King Hammurabi of Babylon
• It codified the death penalty for 25 different
  crimes

25

• Ancient Greece, where the Athenian legal system
  was first written down by Draco
• In 1700s Britain there were 222 crimes which were
  punishable by death

26
Death Penalty Today

• In April 1999, the UN Human Rights Commission
  passed the Resolution Supporting Worldwide
  Moratorium on Executions
• Over 90 countries still retain the death penalty
• In 2006, 91 of all known executions were carried
  out in 6 countries China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq,
  Sudan and the United States

27
Some countries that retain the death penalty

• Death Penalty Permitted
• Afghanistan, Cameroon, China, Congo, Cuba, Iraq,
  Jamaica, Japan, North Korea, South Korea,
  Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, United States etc.
• Death Penalty Outlawed for Ordinary Crimes
  -permitted only for exceptional crimes, such as
  crimes committed under military law or in
  wartime
• Bolivia, Brazil, El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Israel,
  Latvia, Peru

28
Public attitude

• Today over 60 of Americans support the death
  penalty in theory
• In most countries public opinion is against the
  death penalty, as it is regarded inhuman and many
  innocent persons were wrongfully executed

29
Abolitionists

• People who are against the death penalty
• Lord Kennets speech given on November 9, 1961 in
  the House of Lords outlined main arguments
  against the death penalty

30
Exercise summarising

• Read Lord Kennets speech (Unit 21) and summarise
  his arguments under five verbs he uses
• Prevent
• Reform
• Research
• Deter
• Avenge

31
Summarising

• Giving a brief account of the main points of some
  writing
• Use key words and find a topic sentence
• Paraphrase when necessary

32
Structure

• Introduction (topic)
• Development (presentation, analysis and
  discussion) main idea
• Conclusion

33
Lord Kennets main ideas

• To prevent the same man from doing it again
• Rehabilitate a man should be helped with his
  social function by a rehabilitatory treatment
• Research We should find out about the motives,
  characters and personality structures of
  criminals, thus finding things that would enable
  taking measures to reduce the crime rate

34

• Deter The evidence proves that the death penalty
  is not an effective deterrent against violent
  crime
• Avenge Vengeance is not a proper motive for the
  State in dealing with convicted criminals

35
Retentionists

• People who support the death penalty
• Main arguments deter and avenge (an eye for an
  eye)
• Main question is the capital penalty a uniquely
  effective deterrent against murder?

36
The 14th Dalai Lama on the Death Penalty

• The death penalty fulfils a preventive function,
  but it is also very clearly a form of revenge.
  The human life is ended and the executed person
  is deprived of the opportunity to change, to
  restore the harm done or compensate for it.
  Before advocating execution we should consider
  whether criminals are intrinsically negative and
  harmful people or whether they will remain
  perpetually in the same state of mind in which
  they committed their crime or not. The answer, I
  believe, is definitely not.

37
Dalai Lama cont.

• However horrible the act they have committed, I
  believe that everyone has the potential to
  improve and correct themselves. Therefore,
• I am optimistic that it remains possible to
  deter criminal activity, and prevent such harmful
  consequences of such acts in society, without
  having to resort to the death penalty.

38
From the Constitution of the RC

• Article 21
• Every human being has the right to life.
• In the Republic of Croatia there shall be no
  capital punishment.