THE late great socialist orator Dr Donald Soper is heard speaking out against capital punishment in 1958 in a remarkable exhibition launched in Islington this week.
In the Pathé news clip Dr Soper explains why he is against hanging. “I’m against it because it’s cowardly,” he says. “I’m against it because it’s inefficient, I’m against it because it’s evasive – often sadistic, and out of date, but above all, I’m against it because I’m trying to be a Christian.”
Infamous murders and capital punishment are among the subjects explored in a A Fair Cop at Islington History Museum.
The exhibition, at the museum in St John Street, EC1, tells the story of crime and punishment in periods of mass crime including murder, muggings, prostitution and highway robberies far worse than today’s often perception of crime.
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