Crime and Punishment / 1952-1998
Crime and Punishment: The Derek Bentley Case
The Bentley case became a major argument against the death penalty.
What To Remember
- Derek Bentley was hanged in 1953 for the murder of PC Sidney Miles, although Christopher Craig fired the gun.
- Bentley was convicted under joint enterprise, while Craig could not be hanged because he was only 16.
- The case became a major example of why many people thought the death penalty was unfair and irreversible.
What happened
In 1952, Derek Bentley and Christopher Craig were involved in an attempted burglary.
PC Sidney Miles was shot dead by Craig, who was 16.
Bentley was 19, had a mental age of about 10 according to the workbook, and did not fire the gun.
Why he was hanged
Bentley was convicted under joint enterprise because the killing happened during a crime they were involved in together.
The phrase "Let him have it, Chris" became controversial because it could mean shoot the officer or hand over the gun.
The jury recommended mercy, but Bentley was still sentenced to death, while Craig was too young to hang.
Public reaction
Many people thought the execution was unjust because Bentley had not pulled the trigger and was already under arrest when Miles was shot.
About 5,000 protesters gathered outside Wandsworth Prison on the night of the execution.
Bentley's family campaigned for decades through the media, and his case became a symbol of the dangers of irreversible punishment.
Long-term significance
Bentley was pardoned in 1993 and his murder conviction was quashed in 1998.
The case did not abolish the death penalty by itself, but it added force to arguments about mistakes, mental capacity and unfair sentencing.
It is a strong named example for explaining why attitudes to capital punishment changed before abolition in the 1960s.
Revision Prompt
Why did the Derek Bentley case matter so much?
Chronological Links
End of this path.