The British Judge's black sentencing cap (AKA Black cap)

I thought I did a post on my own blog about this, but this odd, little relic of court dress still exists in judicial garb: despite the abolishment of the death penalty. According the the UK Courts and Tribunal Judiciary's website:

 The black cap
The black cap – based on court headgear in Tudor times – was traditionally put on by judges passing sentence of death.
Since the permanent abolition of capital punishment in 1969, there has been no need for the cap to be worn. High Court Judges still carry the black cap, but only on an occasion where they are wearing full ceremonial dress.

 And Scott Turow writes in On Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflection on Dealing with the Death Penalty:

A friend of mine has just been made a High Court judge. Among the majestic paraphernalia that he has had to acquire—the scarlet robes, the wigs full-bottomed and otherwise, the pressed white gloves, the satin gaiters, the silver buckles and so forth—is a square of black silk, the Black Cap, that the court usher places on top of his wig before he pronounces the death penalty: or rather, would have had to place on top of his wig had the death penalty not been abolished in England thirty-eight years ago. 

Which is a good place to  move into WHY I am writing this.

They aren't flat pieces of cloth as the image to the above left demonstrates. Although, they do look like flat pieces of cloth when put on an actual head. In reality, they are more like floppy mortar boards (square academic caps), which this picture taken on a larger head on the right demonstrates better.

But they are flat with a hole in it. There are pictures of a couple of them at the Old Court House Law Museum, but I am going to post the one I have below since it shows the hole a bit better.
https://ehive.com/collections/204776/objects/2234527/death-cap-black

https://ehive.com/collections/204776/objects/2234734/death-cap-black 

You can sort of get an idea of what they look like in that one since you can make out the bottom triangle in the pictures (the Old Court House's and mine).  It's the little flaps hanging off to the side.

Sentencing caps are made from three pieces of cloth.

1. one flat square for the top
2.  a flat square with a hole in it for the middle
3. and a triangle with an indentation for the half hole in it for the bottom

you get  a better idea if you look at the bottom picture, since it's hard to see what they look like since they are black.

Also, when it's put on a full size human head the little flaps, which are what is called the skull on an academic cap, aren't as visible. The triangle bottom is like taking the skull, but leaving it open and flexible so it can flop around. You can see them in some of the pictures of a real cap.

Does that make sense, or do the pictures help?

Anyway, I'm getting annoyed with people saying it's a flat piece of cloth. Anyone who says that has never actually seen one in real life.

Although, these things are relics from when there was capital punishment, yet they are still part of a British Judge's full regalia. So, I'm surprised there isn't more knowledge about these things. I don't want what little is out there to be tainted by inaccuracy.

I'm also surprised that they are hard to find. I haven't put much effort into inquiring with Ede & Ravenscroft. On the other hand, Judicial wear is, according to the website (
https://shop.edeandravenscroft.com/pages/legal-specialist-contact):

These garments are hand cut and made to order in our bespoke workrooms.

Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

I guess the death penalty is not genteel enough to be discussed.

So, you will have to make an inquiry to Ede & Ravenscroft if you want one from them.

But someone should be able to crank these out on something like an Etsy for those of us ghoulish to want an authentic one.

I'm hoping this helps those people.

And this gets to a great time to put in a plug for my favourite pub owner and hangman, Albert Pierrepoint. He ran a pub in Lancashire from the mid-1940s until the 1960s. 

On the other hand, he was one of the last official hangman in Britain. who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him. 

There's a great film about him called Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman, or just The Last Hangman. But that's not really accurate since after Pierrepoint's resignation, two assistant executioners were promoted to lead executioner: Jock Stewart and Harry Allen. Over the next seven years they carried out the remaining thirty-four executions in the UK. On 13 August 1964 Allen hanged Gwynne Evans at Strangeways Prison in Manchester for the murder of John Alan West; at the same time, Stewart hanged Evans's accomplice, Peter Allen, at Walton Gaol in Liverpool. They were the last hangings in English legal history. The following year the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 was passed, which imposed a five-year moratorium on executions. The temporary ban was made permanent on 18 December 1969.

So, nothing like a bit of trivia about the death penalty 

Now, will someone correct this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cap

The Black Cap

The black cap – based on court headgear in Tudor times – was traditionally put on by judges passing sentence of death.

Ok, if you look this thing up on the internet it's usually called a "flat sheet of cloth" or "a plain square of black cloth", which is completely wrong.

This is demonstrated by the model's head being covered by the thing in the third picture. 

I would desribe it more like a floppy mortar board with the top portion being a square on top of a piece with a hole in it where the head fits in.

 There's a lower part which is a triangle. This is like the thing on a mortar board where one's head fits in.

But the real hole isn't that big, which is why it looks flat on most adult heads, but you can get an idea of how it works on the more lifelike (and larger statue). 

So it's actually a square with a triangle under it.

The lower triangle drops down when the cap is on the head. You can see the points sticking out on the bottom of the lower picture.

You can also see them on the top picture, but not as obviously. 

So, a better way to describe the thing is that it's like a floppy mortar board. 

It is in no way a flat piece of cloth. 

And, yes, this the the real thing.

Since there is a definite hole it it, the reason one corner is pointing out is that's the only way it can be worn. Unless the wearer wants the corner on the bottom to blindfold him.

I'm not a tailor, but I would create a pattern for this which would be three silk squares 33cm (13"). The first wouldn't have a hole and would be the top. The next two would have holes in the centre. One would be sewn onto the top. The other one would be folded in half to make a triangle. It would be sewn onto the hole in the middle piece.

 

 

Update in the Chapel Hill North Carolina triple homicide shooting, death penalty

It does not appear that the alleged shooter of three Muslim students, Craig Stephen Hicks, will be leaving the local slammer any time soon.  And when he does, if convicted in court, he could be facing the death penalty in North Carolina -- although the 'how' of state executions is somewhat in legal limbo at the moment.

Per the web site, deathpenalty info.org for North Carolina, where there have been recent releases of men on death row, sometimes for decades, who were innocent, and in the face of a lack of approved drugs for lethal injection, even conservatives (which dominate the political landscape of NC) are opposing the death penalty.  Notably a GOP party chair LED from last year opposed the death penalty continuing, where the right has previously strongly championed it:

Mark Edwards, chair of the Nash County (North Carolina) Republican Party, recently spoke about replacing the death penalty with a sentence of lfie without parole: "As a conservative seeking to find the best way to protect the residents of this great state from crime, I believe the death penalty has had its day in North Carolina. It is time to begin the debate on replacing the death penalty with life in prison without parole." He also said, "We are advocating that we replace the death penalty with life in prison without parole, which would will prevent debacles like the Oklahoma execution. It is a tough punishment, and inmates with no hope of release certainly do not live on 'easy street.'" Edwards is a member of North Carolina Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, and he pointed to the toll executions take on correctional officers, especially when executions go wrong: "No matter how professionally the staff carries out its duties, a community is formed and relationships established with the prisoners, including those who sit and wait on death row. Then they have to participate in the inmate’s execution. That cannot be easy for these men and women," Edwards said. "It is not fair for us to impose these untested (and, as the events in Oklahoma remind us, possibly unreliable) drug protocols on the dedicated staff of the Department of Corrections."

The Durham County prosecutor has filed the necessary papers as of Feb. 25th, per Raw Story and local station WTVD.

The federal inquiry into his actions, seeking to determine if this is a hate crime (presumably under federal statutes) and therefore a separate set of charges,is ongoing.

As we have noted here, and as continues to be the finding of the police investigation, this does not appear, so far as we can determine, a religious based hate crime but rather a crazy nut job obsessed with guns seeking to dominate and be an authoritarian figure, much like George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting several years ago.

An interesting if not particularly pertinent detail about Craig Hicks, he was studying to become a para-legal.  The information makes me wonder how this man could have such an apparent disrespect for the law, to have (allegedly) executed three people, and to have so clearly used his firearm for which he had a cc permit, to threaten and intimidate so many other people (many of whom were not Muslim).

Justice Stevens on His Death Penalty Opinion: It Was Wrong, and Why

From ABC.com / Good Morning America:

Execute a Corporation

Remember when Romney claimed, at the Iowa Presidential Candidate Fair and Circus, that corporations were people, too?  I wonder how long it will be until Romney not only takes the money from corporations, but tries to get them the right to vote, as well?

via Job Sanger and
MikeB's blog:

Perry SHOULD Worry About the Execution of Innocent People Wrongly Convicted in Texas

In recent debates, Texas Governor Rick Perry stated he had no worries about the execution of innocent prisoners. He should have worries; it is a problem in Texas.

 

and

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From the Innocence Project, which tries to reverse incorrect death penalty convictions, including an impressive list of convictions overturned because of DNA forensic evidence:

The Causes of Wrongful Conviction

As the pace of DNA exonerations has grown across the country in recent years, wrongful convictions have revealed disturbing fissures and trends in our criminal justice system. Together, these cases show us how the criminal justice system is broken – and how urgently it needs to be fixed.

We should learn from the system’s failures. In each case where DNA has proven innocence beyond doubt, an overlapping array of causes has emerged – from mistakes to misconduct to factors of race and class.

Countless cases

Those exonerated by DNA testing aren’t the only people who have been wrongfully convicted in recent decades. For every case that involves DNA, there are thousands that do not.

Only a fraction of criminal cases involve biological evidence that can be subjected to DNA testing, and even when such evidence exists, it is often lost or destroyed after a conviction. Since they don’t have access to a definitive test like DNA, many wrongfully convicted people have a slim chance of ever proving their innocence.

Common Causes

Here you will find further information about seven of the most common causes of wrongful convictions:
•Eyewitness Misidentification
•Unvalidated or Improper Forensic Science
•False Confessions / Admissions
•Government Misconduct
•Informants or Snitches
•Bad Lawyering

These factors are not the only causes of wrongful conviction. Each case is unique and many include a combination of the above issues. Review our case profiles to learn how the common causes of wrongful convictions have affected real cases and how these injustices could have been prevented.

To stop these wrongful convictions from continuing, we must fix the criminal justice system. Click here to learn about Innocence Commissions, a reform that can help identify and address the fundamental flaws in the criminal justice system that lead to wrongful convictions.

The chart below represents contributing causes confirmed through Innocence Project research. Actual numbers may be higher, and other causes of wrongful convictions include government misconduct and bad lawyering.

and this, the Texas Moratorium Network, which along with the Texas Innocence Project, looks at cases where innocent people are wrongly convicted, and in some cases, executed.  There is no lack of cases where Justice appears to have gone wrong.

Do we really want a man who doesn't acknowledge forensic evidence or the possiblity of innocent people convicted as President?  There are a lot more questions here to be asked - and answered; answered more honestly and with more depth and thought than Governor Perry appears to be giving the questions.