When the first Star Wars movie came out, France was still executing people with the guillotine. The first Star Wars movie, Episode IV, came out in 1977. France used the guillotine for capital punishment until it was abolished in 1981.
100 Mind-Blowing Punishment Facts
There was a time when suicide was considered illegal in the UK and those who survived such attempts were strangely enough hanged as a punishment. Suicide was decriminalised in the year 1961.