NCJ Number
210431
Journal
Journal of Law and Society Volume: 32 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2005 Pages: 241-266
Date Published
June 2005
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This article traces the history of the relationship between formal law and administrative practice regarding the shooting of escaping felons in Great Britain.
Abstract
The common law divided criminal offenses into treasons, felonies, and misdemeanors. For many years, this distinction between felonies and misdemeanors was particularly significant to prisoners, because felons were liable to be shot if they attempted to escape, but misdemeanants were not regarded as sufficiently dangerous to warrant such a response. Originally the commission of any felony subjected the felon to liability to capital punishment, so the use of deadly force against a felon attempting to escape was deemed justified in the interest of justice. Most of the shootings of felons attempting to escape prison in Great Britain occurred at Dartmoor Prison, one of the most isolated of the British prisons. The practice of shooting at felons to prevent escape eventually ended some 50 years after the last felon had been killed in an escape attempt. The law on the subject remained the same until 1967, when the distinction between felonies and misdemeanors was abolished by Britain's Criminal Law Act. 130 notes