Derek Bentley Case

[Aiden]

Do you think in the Derek Bentley case, he should of been hanged?

He was 19.

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I don't think he should of been. In the film, if that's really realistic, I'm surprised nothing happened! PROTEST!

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Bentley_case

[Kardan]

*should have

And I don't even know who this guy is.

A quick read of the Wikipedia article does make it seem the death penalty was very harsh.

[Gina]

i learnt about this in history last year and we had some big debate in class saying if we think he shouldve been hanged or not
i dont want to read through the wiki page because its reallly long but is this the one where bentley had mental disabilities or something and so his mental age was younger or something
dont remember too much about it but was good learning about it

[Jurv]

yknow before clicking this thread i thought you'd be asking where you could buy a phone case with some famous guy on

but yeah i don't know anything about the guy either but it does seem wrong that he was hung. what happened to his friend?

[MKR&*42]

I don't really know where I stand with the death penalty, but I wouldn't say that his mental disabilities (poor reading age/illiterate + low IQ) should have changed the outcome. I don't think there's enough detail on what the mental illness is, but even with his low IQ and mental age of 10 years that shouldn't excuse a crime. 10 Year olds still have a concept of right/wrong and are expected to know (assisting) murder is wrong (very few exceptions - Jon Venables being one) - you don't necessarily have to have a lot of intelligence to have a sense of morality.

It does seem 'kinda' harsh, but he basically did tell his friend to open fire... Oh I see why the phrase is ambiguous now, whether he meant give the officer the gun or shoot him oh okay then I don't know how harsh it actually is.

If he had something like schizophrenia then I guess I would feel different, but it's not specific enough.

if i misinterpreted everything i am so sorry

[Gina]

yknow before clicking this thread i thought you'd be asking where you could buy a phone case with some famous guy on

but yeah i don't know anything about the guy either but it does seem wrong that he was hung. what happened to his friend?

well his friend was younger like 15 or something idk so i dont think a lot could of happened where as bentley was classed as an adult
(i think anyway cant rememberrr)

[MKR&*42]

well his friend was younger like 15 or something idk so i dont think a lot could of happened where as bentley was classed as an adult
(i think anyway cant rememberrr)

while Craig was ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure. He was eventually released in May 1963 after serving 10 years' imprisonment, and subsequently became a plumbing engineer.

Ok that is nothing - he deserved so much more punishment and if Bentley got the death penalty, the law should have been rectified to give Craig it also.

[Gina]

Ok that is nothing - he deserved so much more punishment and if Bentley got the death penalty, the law should have been rectified to give Craig it also.

yeh craig was 16 and bentley was 19 (finally checked on the wiki page woo) so obv bentley being over 18 was treated as an adult but due to craig being only 16 he couldnt have been sentenced to death
i think thats right anyway


but yeh def

[Kardan]

I don't really know where I stand with the death penalty, but I wouldn't say that his mental disabilities (poor reading age/illiterate + low IQ) should have changed the outcome. I don't think there's enough detail on what the mental illness is, but even with his low IQ and mental age of 10 years that shouldn't excuse a crime. 10 Year olds still have a concept of right/wrong and are expected to know (assisting) murder is wrong (very few exceptions - Jon Venables being one) - you don't necessarily have to have a lot of intelligence to have a sense of morality.

It does seem 'kinda' harsh, but he basically did tell his friend to open fire... Oh I see why the phrase is ambiguous now, whether he meant give the officer the gun or shoot him oh okay then I don't know how harsh it actually is.

If he had something like schizophrenia then I guess I would feel different, but it's not specific enough.

if i misinterpreted everything i am so sorry

From my brief read through of the article, he said "Give it to him" which can be interpreted as "Shoot him" or "Give him the gun". I think they argued that his disability meant that he didn't really think of his choice of words, or something like that.

[GommeInc]

Hmm, seems strange he was sentenced to death just for saying "let him have it" to the actual murderer. Also that, from what it seems, the burglary didn't intend on killing a police officer in the process.

That said, police officers were heavily protected by the law so that didn't help the situation. It seems strange there was evidence he was mentally impaired, but I'm thinking of modern laws rather than what would have been around at that time. This was a time before diminished responsibility and loss of control came to be (basically, known mental disorders would see murderers charged with involuntary manslaughter rather than murder/voluntary manslaughter). Mental health and ability were also ignored back then - if you could be involved in a burglary they probably thought of him as dangerous as an ordinary person his age. Also he assisted and abetted the murder of the victim.