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Article: Stain of capital punishment spreads across the nation.(Originated from Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- October 3, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BOULDER, Colo. _ I was 10 years old, growing up in England, when the last hanging took place there. The man executed was 19-year-old Derek Bentley, convicted of murdering a policeman in the course of a robbery. It was a controversial execution. Bentley was illiterate and slow-witted, and it was his mate who had actually pulled the trigger, Bentley having yelled to him, ``Let him have it, Chris.''
I remember waking on the morning of the execution, filled with dread, pushing my face into the pillow to block out the image of the young man being led to his death. In my ignorance, I had thought of deliberate state-sanctioned killing as something archaic, having to ...