Race, Racialisation and the Death Penalty in England and Wales, 1900-1965

This poster will outline a new Leverhulme funded project, Race, Racialisation and the Death Penalty, 1900-1965. This is the first study to focus on issues of racial discrimination and racialisation in relation to capital punishment in England and Wales, 1900-65. Black and other minority ethnic (BME) people were starkly overrepresented in relation to the application of the death penalty during this period. This requires further investigation in order to understand the role of colonialism in shaping penal culture and practices of punishment in twentieth-century England and Wales, and in providing much needed historical context to the continued overrepresentation of BME people in the criminal justice system.