Capital punishment in the United Kingdom espionage from "all spies for the enemy" to spies on naval ships or bases. Later, the Armed Forces Act 1981 abolished the death penalty for espionage. (The Official Secrets Act 1911 had created another offence of espionage which carried a maximum sentence of fourteen years.) Beheading was abolished as a method of execution for treason in 1973. Hanging, however, remained available until 1998 when, under a House of Lords amendment to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, proposed by Lord Archer of Sandwell, the death penalty was abolished for treason and piracy with violence, replacing it with a discretionary maximum
United Nations moratorium on the death penalty Human Rights, that there is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty's deterrent value and that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the death penalty's implementation is irreversible and irreparable, "Welcoming" the decisions taken by an increasing number of States to apply a moratorium on executions, followed in many cases by the abolition of the death penalty, 1. "Expresses its deep concern" about the continued application of the death penalty; 2. "Calls upon" all States that still maintain the death penalty to; (a) Respect international standards that provide safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the