CASE STUDIES

• Conscientious Objector - Men who refused to fight because their conscience would not allow it. Usually on moral, religious or political grounds.
• Tribunal - A special court to determine whether the claims of COs were genuine.
• Absolutists - Not supporting the war in any way (pacifists)
• Alternativists - No weapons or military service, but worked as stretcher bearers, ambulance drivers or other auxiliary work.
• Difficulties in winning a tribunal:

  • Not always fair
  • Held in local areas
  • Judging members usually had fixed views about fighting
• WWI:

  • Many absolutists imprisoned and put in solitary confinement
  • Some COs sent to France's front line and if they refused to fight they were court-martialled
  • Death sentences/10 years in prison
• WWII:

  • Alternative occupations (farm work)
  • Prisons were a last resort
  • Anti-war campaigns (such as the Peace Pledge Union) were taken to court and put on trial
• In WWII, the aim was to unite against Hitler. Harsh punishments for COs would be hypocritical.
• The public opinion of COs was hostile. They were verbally and physically assaulted and many lost their jobs.
• Why were COs treated so harshly in WWI?

  • Stop pacifist ideas
  • High casualty numbers
  • Conservatives - cowardly, unpatriotic
  • Publicised as a deterrent
• Derek Bentley was 19 years old and had a mental age of 10.
• Derek and his friend Christopher Craig (16) tried to rob a warehouse in 1952. Christopher shot an officer after Derek said "Let him have it, Craig". Christopher ran off, but Derek sat with the officer until the police arrived.
• Both boys were arrested and went to court. Craig could not be hanged as he was underage, so was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Derek was hanged for murder.
• Derek had special educational needs, but Christopher did not.
• The execution of Derek Bentley resulted in a huge public outcry and eventually the abolition of the death penalty.