Can a person still be beheaded for treason?

Question

If so maybe the queen could consider the case of Paul Burrel

Answer 1

The death penalty was abolished for murder in 1964, but was retained for the capital offences of treason and piracy with violence. However it was abolished in 1998 under the Crime and Disorder Act.

In 1999 the home secretary signed the sixth protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights which formally abolished the death penalty in the UK and ensured it could not be brought back.

It seems that Paul Burrel is safe!

Answer 2

As others have pointed out, the UK abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 1999, having abolished it for most crimes in 1967 (and France did so in 1981, contrary to what someone else said). But people who repeatedly raise this issue do not understand what treason means. Sharing royal secrets as Paul Burrell has done is disgusting, but he is not betraying his country. People should have been more outraged by Melita Norwood, who passed state secrets onto the USSR and thus placed her country's security at risk. Paul Burrell is cashing in and no doubt exaggerating how close he was to Diana, but he is not endangering the country. Jack Straw decided not to prosecute Norwood because she was a cute little old lady by the time the truth came out. That was a scandal.

Answer 3

I'm not sure about British law but in American law the act of beheading was abolished I believe around the turn of the last century. The Navy and a few states were the last to use the execution style. England used it much longer then we did and it is still used in some middle East regions and for much more than treason.

Answer 4

No beheading was abolished in the eighteenth century.
Capital punishment for treason was abolished in 1999.
Free speech is not treason except in the very worst of societies.

Answer 5

See this :
United Kingdom
See main article: High treason in the United Kingdom
The British law of treason is entirely statutory and has been so since the Treason Act 1351 (25 Edw. 3 St. 5 c. 2). The Act is written in Norman French, but is more commonly cited in its English translation.

The Treason Act 1351 has since been amended several times, and currently provides for four categories of treasonable offences, namely:

"when a man doth compass or imagine the death of our lord the King, or of our lady his Queen or of their eldest son and heir";
"if a man do violate the King’s companion, or the King’s eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the King’s eldest son and heir";
"if a man do levy war against our lord the King in his realm, or be adherent to the King’s enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm, or elsewhere, and thereof be probably attainted of open deed by the people of their condition"; and
"if a man slea the chancellor, treasurer, or the King’s justices of the one bench or the other, justices in eyre, or justices of assise, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places, doing their offices".
Another Act, the Treason Act 1702 (1 Anne stat. 2 c. 21), provides for a fifth category of treason, namely:

"if any person or persons ... shall endeavour to deprive or hinder any person who shall be the next in succession to the crown ... from succeeding after the decease of her Majesty (whom God long preserve) to the imperial crown of this realm and the dominions and territories thereunto belonging".
By virtue of the Treason Act 1708, the law of treason in Scotland is the same as the law in England, save that in Scotland counterfeiting the Great Seal of Scotland and the slaying of the Lords of Session and Lords of Justiciary were adjudged treason until 1945. Treason is a reserved matter about which the Scottish Parliament is prohibited from legislating.

The penalty for treason was changed from death to a maximum of imprisonment for life in 1998 under the Crime And Disorder Act. Before 1998, the death penalty was mandatory, subject to the royal prerogative of mercy. William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for treason, in 1946.

As to who can commit treason, it depends on the ancient notion of allegiance. As such, British citizens (and British subjects who were Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies) wherever they may be owe allegiance to the Queen, as do aliens present in the United Kingdom at the time of the treasonable act (except diplomats and foreign invading forces), those who hold a British passport however obtained, and by aliens who - having lived in Britain and gone abroad again - have left behind family and belongings.

So the short answer is, no as the "do gooders" changed the sentence. That means anyone who committs this act against the crown,is detained at Her Majesty's pleaseure, and at the tax payers expense, damn!
I still say, off with their heads. If you live, or come to live in this country, you respect the establishment. If you don't want to, then leave and find a country whose establishment you agree with.

Answer 6

Not in the UK. For two reasons. One it was formally outlawed and where it was left in for high treason the Queen was expected to commute the sentence to life. Two: When the UK ratified the fist Human rights Act the death-penalty was formally outlawed.

Answer 7

In the UK 1946 was the last death penalty for treason and the crime & disorder act changed the penalty from death to life imprisonment

Answer 8

Depends.
I Cr 13;8a
10-1-6

Answer 9

Not in this country. We are too civilised to execute our criminals. We prefer to keep them in centrally heated prisons, allow them education, good food, exercise & early release for good behaviour. all of which is costing we taxpayers an arm & a leg each payday.
I think we should adopt a policy like USA & execute by lethal injection but, unlike USA, sentence & execute within 30 days. This would allow the preisoner to say his goodbyes to his loved ones & put his affairs in order but be cheaper for us & stop overcrowding in prisons.
Too simplistic, eh?

Answer 10

In America, you can get the death penalty, but we have never used beheading. In GB, no, but the same applies to penalty.