Capital punishment in Europe rights became a particular priority. The Kingdom of Italy had abolished the death penalty for civilians with the adoption of the Zanardelli Penal Code of 1889, but the Fascists had reintroduced it with the 1930 Penal Code. The European Convention on Human Rights was adopted in 1950, but some countries took many years to ratify it. The United Kingdom retained the death penalty for high treason until 1998; however, this technicality was superseded by the absolute ban on the death penalty in 1976. William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for high treason in the UK,
Death penalty in the Bible Death penalty in the Bible The Bible records various proscriptions and instances of the death penalty. In the Genesis creation narrative (Book of Genesis 2:17), God tells Adam "But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die." According to the Talmud, this verse is a death penalty. In Genesis 9:6, as part of the Noahide covenant, God tells Noah "Whoever sheds the blood of man through man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man."