§ 19. Sir WILLIAM BYLESasked how many sentences of death have been passed upon women in the last seven years, and how many have been carried out; and how many such sentences have been passed in the same period upon youths not out of their teens, and how many have been carried out?
§ Mr. ELLIS GRIFFITHIn the last seven years twenty-one women have been sentenced to death. In one case the sentence was carried out. During the same period nine prisoners under twenty years of age have been sentenced to death, and in four cases the sentence was carried out.
§ Sir W. BYLESIs it not now the almost invariable practice not to execute the death sentence upon female criminals, and would it not be just to adopt some limit of age below which even male persons could not come under execution?
§ Mr. ELLIS GRIFFITHI have given my hon. Friend the figures in both cases. Of course the law is as I have stated it.
§ Sir W. BYLESIt is not the law I am thinking about. It is the practice of the Home Office; their extension of leniency and clemency.
§ Mr. ELLIS GRIFFITHI think it is impossible to make leniency a matter of law, rule, or regulation—
§ Sir W. BYLESCertainly not!
§ Mr. ELLIS GRIFFITHWe must judge each case on its facts.
§ Sir W. BYLESIt is a question of the practice.