The Shadow of Subversion

This chapter examines the abolition of the death penalty in Ireland. The Criminal Justice Act 1964, introduced by the Minister for Justice and staunch abolitionist Charles Haughey, removed the death penalty for all offences apart from murder committed under certain circumstances. Among these was murder of an on-duty member of the Garda Síochána, who, the government decided, warranted the additional protection assumed to be afforded them by the death penalty. The legislation was grounded in lingering fears, as old as the state itself, about anti-state subversive activities, mainly those likely to be carried out by the IRA. In light of this, the chapter compares the abolition experiences of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. That the death penalty was a dubious deterrent under the southern legislation was proven by a spate of garda murders (and resultant death sentences) in the 1970s and 1980s perpetrated by individuals specifically targeted by the 1964 Act. The potency of the 1964 Act was also undermined by the singular unwillingness of any Irish government even consider confirming a death sentence, especially in light of the abolitionist consensus among western European governments.

Women and the Death Penalty

This chapter discusses the fate of women sentenced to death in independent Ireland. The majority of the women sentenced to death had killed babies and the judiciary and politicians instinctively looked upon them with pity. Death sentences in such cases were quickly commuted until 1949 when new legislation created the offence of infanticide which was dealt with much more leniently. A smaller number of women were convicted of killing adults and, as this chapter argues, their culpability was usually called into question by the patriarchal judicial and political establishment. In particular decision-makers deployed discourses around morality, sanity and social circumstances to make sense of the actions of this group of women, most of whom were impoverished and socially powerless. Thus with one notable exception – Annie Walsh, who was executed in 1926 – governments were minded to draw back from executing women and closely controlled their lives post-reprieve.

Introduction

This chapter opens with a micro-history of the murder of Ellen O’Sullivan by David O’Shea in rural Cork in 1931; this case study is used to introduce some of the key themes of the book, particularly around the social history of capital punishment in Ireland. The chapter then outlines the history of capital punishment in Ireland in the nineteenth century before analysing, in detail, the executions carried out during the revolutionary period and the civil war, and the attendant legal proceedings. Political crime and emergency legislation would remain key themes in the history of capital punishment after independence. The chapter then outlines the legal and technical procedures associated with the death penalty in independent Ireland. This key contextual material sets the scene for the remainder of the book.

Community, Respectability and Sanity

This chapter examines, in-depth, the circumstances of individual crimes and perpetrators and how perceptions of these influenced the reprieves process. The varied materials gathered by the Department of Justice when reprieves were considered included correspondence from prison authorities, trial judges, doctors of varying expertise, petitioning letters from various institutions and individuals, and Garda reports. Through a close examination of these materials, this chapter argues that narratives around community, sexual morality, respectability, sanity and the conflation of all of these issues heavily influenced decision-makers’ perceptions of cases. Yet the degree to which these perceptions determined whether or not an individual under sentence of death was executed is difficult to determine and though these cases often caused revulsion among those in decision-making positions, it seems probable that the prerogative of mercy was applied in a sincere effort to objectively judge each case on its own circumstances. There was no conscious tendency to allow extraneous considerations such as class, gender and sexual morality to bear too heavily on cases.

The Death Penalty under Fianna Fáil and the Inter-Party Governments

This chapter, spanning the period 1932-54 continues the broadly political discussion of the death penalty initiated in chapter one. Though Fianna Fáil, in opposition, were critical of Free State institutions and policies, particularly those concerned with law and order, this chapter argues that little changed after the party came to power and the application of the death penalty was marked by continuity rather than reform. Indeed, the renewed threat to state security posed by the IRA during the Second World War led to the introduction of draconian emergency legislation and a series of executions of IRA men. The chapter also discusses the first tenuous steps taken towards reform of the capital punishment laws through the convening, by Fianna Fáil, of a committee to discuss the subject. Moreover, the arrival of the interparty government signalled a shift in the mood around the issue as two of the administration’s key figures, Seán MacBride and Noël Browne, were staunch abolitionists. This gave the death penalty a presence in public discourse not previously evident.

Conclusion: Ireland as a Mainstream Abolitionist Country

This chapter concludes the book by examining, first, the complete abolition of the death penalty through the Criminal Justice Act 1990 and, second, the constitutional prohibition of the death penalty by referendum in 2001. In so doing Ireland signalled position as a mainstream abolitionist state, one committed, along with fellow European union members, to oppose capital punishment internationally. The chapter concludes by considering why the death penalty was not a source of public or political controversy in Ireland.

Psychiatry, Criminal Responsibility and the Tempering of Punishment

This chapter, concerned mainly with the period between the last execution in Ireland in 1954 and the partial abolition of the death penalty in 1964, examines why hanging fell into disuse in this period. The chapter focuses on one phenomenon in particular: the development in Ireland and beyond of new ideas around criminal responsibility and psychiatry. The arrival, in Irish courtrooms, of the forensic psychiatrist meant that new expertise was brought to bear on judging the sanity otherwise of the accused. This, among other factors, led to an increase in the number of reprieves and called into question the desirability of mandatory death sentences. It was clear that the M’Naghten rules were now dated and that some murderers were of ‘diminished responsibility’ – a term given statutory definition in Britain. In Ireland, by the early 1960s, the commutation of death sentences was now routine and the way was clear for partial abolition of the death penalty.

Capital Punishment in the Post-Civil War Years

This chapter examines the application of the death penalty in the first ten years of the Free State. Historians to date have argued that the relatively high number of civilian executions in the early post-independence years was symptomatic of Cumann nGaedheal’s broader anxieties with issues of law and order. This chapter revises that assessment and argues that those convicted of murder in the civilian courts in these years were no more likely to have their sentence carried out than those convicted in subsequent eras. By closely examining the decision-making process leading to the execution or commutation of death sentences, particularly the role of judges and government officials, this chapter argues that the death penalty, as imposed by the ordinary courts, was an example of the government’s efforts to restore peacetime civilian norms to the criminal justice system and was not used to any political end.