The death penalty , also known as capital punishment , is a government-approved practice in which a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The sentence that a person is punished in such a way is referred to as the death penalty , while the act of execution is known as execution . Crimes that can be put to death are known as capital crimes or capital offenses , and they usually include offenses such as murder, betrayal, espionage, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Etymologically, the term capital (lit. "from the head", is derived from the Latin capitalist from caput , "head") in this context alluded to execution by beheading.
Fifty-six countries defend the death penalty, 103 countries have completely abolished it de jure for all crimes, six have abolished it for common crime (while defending it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and 30 in abolitionist practices.
Death penalty is a matter of active controversy in some countries and countries, and positions may vary within a political ideology or cultural area. In the European Union, Article 2 of the EU Fundamental Rights Charter prohibits the use of capital punishment. The Council of Europe, which has 47 member states, has sought to eliminate the absolute use of the death penalty of its members, through Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, this affects only the member countries that have signed and ratified it, and they do not include Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan.
The United Nations General Assembly has adopted, in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, a non-binding resolution calling for a global moratorium on execution, with a view to its final elimination. Although most countries have abolished the death penalty, more than 60% of the world's population lives in countries where capital punishment is maintained, such as China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan and Sri Lanka.
Video Capital punishment
History
The execution of criminals has been used by almost all societies. Until the nineteenth century without developing a prison system, there were often no viable alternatives to guarantees the obliteration and crippling of criminals. The executions themselves often involve torture by cruel methods such as breaking wheels.
The use of formal executions extends to the beginning of recorded history. Most historical records and primitive tribal practices show that capital punishment is part of their justice system. Communal penalties for errors generally include compensation by the offender, corporal punishment, ostracism, expulsion and execution. Normally, compensation and ostracism are sufficient as a form of justice. Responses to crimes committed by neighboring tribes or communities include official apologies, compensation, or blood feuds.
Blood or vengeance occurs when arbitration between a family or a tribe fails or an arbitration system does not exist. This form of justice is common before the emergence of an arbitration system based on state religion or organized. This may result from a crime, land dispute or a code of honor. "Retaliation underscores the social collective's ability to defend itself and show the enemy (and potential allies) that an injury to property, rights, or that person will not be left alone." However, in practice, it is often difficult to distinguish between vengeance and one of conquest.
In most countries that practice capital punishment, it is now provided for murder, terrorism, war crimes, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries, sexual crimes, such as rape, adultery, incest and sodomy, carry the death penalty, as well as religious crimes such as Hudud crimes, apostasy in Islamic countries, formal rejection of state religion, defamation of religion, moharebeh, and witchcraft. In many countries that use capital punishment, drug trafficking is also a grave offense. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are punishable by the death penalty. In the military around the world, military tribunals have sentenced deaths to offenses such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and rebellion.
Ancient history
Elaborations of hostile tribal arbitration include the peaceful settlements that are often carried out in the context of religion and the compensation system. Compensation is based on the principle of substitution that may include material compensation (eg, cow, slave), bridal or groom exchange, or payment of blood debt. Settlement rules may allow animal blood to replace human blood, or transfer of property or blood money or in some cases a person's offer to be executed. The person offered for execution should not be the original offender because the system is based on a tribe, not an individual. Blood enmity can be arranged at meetings, such as Norsemen things . The system derived from blood feuds can survive together with a more advanced legal system or given court recognition (eg, trial by battle). One of the more modern improvements of the blood feud is the duel.
In certain parts of the world, countries in the form of an ancient republic, monarchy, or tribal oligarchy emerged. These countries are often united by common linguistic, religious or family ties. In addition, the expansion of these countries often occurs with the conquest of tribes or neighbors. As a result, various classes of nobles, nobles, various commoners and slaves appeared. Thus, the tribal arbitration system is submerged into a more integrated system of justice that formalizes the relationship between different "classes" rather than "tribes". The earliest and most famous example is the Code of Hammurabi which establishes different penalties and compensations, according to the different classes/groups of victims and perpetrators. The Torah (Jewish Law), also known as the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament of Christ), prescribes the death penalty for murder, kidnapping, magic, Sabbath-keeping, blasphemy, and sexual crimes. , although evidence suggests that real executions are rare.
A further example comes from Ancient Greece, where the legal system of Athena was first written by Draco in about 621 BC: the death penalty was applied to a wide range of crimes, although Solon later revoked Draco's code and issued a new law, retaining only the Draco Draco's Statute. The word drakonian comes from Draco's law. The Romans also used the death penalty for various offenses.
Tang Dynasty
Although many are executed in the People's Republic of China every year in the present, there are times in the Tang dynasty (618-907) when the death penalty was abolished. This happened in 747, enacted by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (reigned 712-756). When removing the death penalty Xuanzong ordered his officials to refer to the nearest rules by analogy when punishing those convicted of a crime with the prescribed punishment is execution. Thus, depending on the severity of the crime, severe lash punishment with thick rods or exile to remote Lingnan areas might replace the death penalty. However, the death penalty was restored only 12 years later in 759 in response to the An Lushan Rebellion. At this time in the Tang dynasty only the emperor has the authority to punish the criminals for execution. Under Xuanzong's capital punishment is relatively rare, with only 24 executions in 730 and 58 executions in 736.
The two most common forms of execution in the Tang dynasty are strangulation and beheadings, which are the specified execution methods for 144 and 89 violations respectively. Strangulation is a prescribed sentence to file an accusation against one's parents or grandparents with a judge, who planned to kidnap someone and sell him into slavery and open a coffin while desecrating the tomb. Decapitation is the determined method of execution for more serious crimes such as treason and sedition. Despite the inconvenience involved, most Tang Chinese prefer strangulation to be beheaded, as a result of Tang China's traditional belief that the body is a gift from parents and therefore, disrespects one's ancestors to die without returning the body to the whole grave.
Some further forms of capital punishment are practiced in the Tang dynasty, the first two that follow at least are extralegal. The first is to whip to death with common thick stems throughout the Tang dynasty especially in cases of massive corruption. The second is cutting, where the convict is cut in half at the waist with a feed knife and then left to bleed to death. A further form of execution called Ling Chi (slow slaughter), or death by/of a thousand wounds, was used from the Tang dynasty's closure (around 900) to the abolition in 1905.
When a fifth or upper minister received a death sentence, the emperor might have given him a special dispensation that allowed him to commit suicide in lieu of execution. Even when this privilege is not granted, the law requires that the disappointed ministers should be given food and liquor by their guards and taken to the place of execution on the train instead of having to walk there.
Almost all executions under the Tang dynasty occurred in public places as a warning to the population. The executed heads are displayed on poles or spears. When the local authorities beheaded a convicted criminal, the head was boxed and sent to the capital as proof of identity and that the execution had taken place.
Medieval
In modern European medieval and early, before the development of modern prison systems, the death penalty was also used as a form of general punishment. During the reign of Henry VIII of England, a total of 72,000 people were thought to have been executed.
In early modern Europe, a great moral panic of witchcraft swept across Europe and then the European colonies of North America. During this period, there was a widespread claim that the evil wizard Satan operated as an organized threat to the Christian world. As a result, tens of thousands of women were sued for magic and executed through witch trials in the early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries).
The death penalty also targets sexual offenses such as sodomy. In the UK, the Buggery Act of 1533 is set to hang as a punishment for "buggery". James Pratt and John Smith were the last two Englishmen to be executed for sodomy in 1835.
Despite the widespread use of the death penalty, the call for reform is unknown. The twelfth-century Jewish law scholar Moses Maimonides wrote, "It is better and more satisfying to free thousands of guilty people than to place an innocent human being to death." He argues that executing criminals who are accused of something less than absolute certainty will lead to a slippery slope reducing the burden of proof, until we will only punish "according to the judge's judgment". Maimonides's concern was to maintain respect for the law, and he saw that commission errors were more threatening than omissions.
The Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad, like Al-Mu'tadid, were often cruel in their punishment.
Modern era
In recent centuries, with the advent of modern nation states, justice has increasingly been linked to the concept of natural rights and law. This period saw an increase in established police and permanent penitentiary institutions. The rational choice theory, the utilitarian approach to criminology that justifies punishment as a form of arrest, rather than retribution, can be traced back to Cesare Beccaria, whose influential treatise on Crime and Punishment (1764) is the first detailed analysis of punishment died to demand the abolition of the death penalty. Jeremy Bentham, who is considered the founder of modern utilitarianism, also called for the abolition of the death penalty. Beccaria, and then Charles Dickens and Karl Marx noted an increasing incidence of criminality at the time and place of execution. The official recognition of this phenomenon led to the execution carried out in prison, away from public view.
In Britain in the 18th century, when there was no police force, there was a substantial increase in the number of violations of capital to over 200. This was mainly property violations, for example cutting down cherry trees in a garden. In 1820, there were 160, including crimes such as shoplifting, petty theft or stealing livestock. The severity of so-called Bloody Codes is often muted by jurors who refuse to punish, or judge, in cases of petty theft, which arbitrarily assign stolen value below the legal level for capital crimes.
20th century
In Nazi Germany there are three types of capital punishment; hanging, decapitating and dying by shooting. Also, modern military organizations use the death penalty as a means of maintaining military discipline. In the past, cowards, absence without leave, desertion, insubordination, looting, crucifixion under enemy fire and disobedient commands are often criminally executed (see thinning and running the challenge). One method of execution, since firearms began to be commonly used, has also fired the squad, although some countries use the execution with a single shot to the head or neck.
Authoritarian countries - for example those with fascist or communist governments - use the death penalty as a powerful tool for political oppression. According to Robert Conquest, a leading expert on the cleansing of Joseph Stalin, over a million Soviet citizens were executed during the Great Terror of 1937-1938, almost entirely with bullets to the back of the head. Mao Zedong publicly stated that "800,000" people had been executed in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Partly in response to these excesses, civil rights organizations began to place increasing emphasis on the concept of human rights and the abolition of capital punishment.
Contemporary era
Among countries around the world, all of Europe (except Belarus) and many Oceanic countries (including Australia, New Zealand and East Timor), and Canada have abolished the death penalty. In Latin America, most states have completely abolished the use of capital punishment, while some countries such as Brazil and Guatemala allow the death penalty only in exceptional circumstances, such as wartime betrayal. The United States (the federal government and 31 states), some Caribbean countries and the majority of countries in Asia (eg, Japan and India) retained the death penalty. In Africa, less than half the countries defend it, such as Botswana and Zambia. South Africa wiped out the death penalty in 1995.
Abolition is often adopted due to political change, as when countries shift from authoritarianism to democracy, or when the country becomes a condition of entry for the EU. The United States is an important exception: some countries have banned the death penalty for decades, the earliest being Michigan where it was abolished in 1846, while other countries are still actively using it today. The death penalty in the United States remains a heavily debated controversial issue.
In the retentionist countries, the debate is sometimes revived when unfairness occurs although this tends to lead to legislative efforts to improve the judicial process rather than abolishing the death penalty. In abolitionist countries, the debates are sometimes revived by very brutal killings even though some countries have returned them after removing them. However, a spike in serious crimes, such as murder or terrorist attacks, has prompted some states to effectively end the moratorium on the death penalty. One noteworthy example is Pakistan which in December 2014 lifted a six-year moratorium on execution after the Peshawar school massacre in which 132 students and 9 members of the Army General School and Peshawar High School staff were killed by Taliban terrorists. Since then, Pakistan has executed more than 400 inmates.
In 2017, the two big countries, Turkey and the Philippines, see their executives make steps to restore the death penalty. In March 2017, parts of the law in the Philippines awaited Senate approval.
Maps Capital punishment
Modern public opinion
The public opinion about the death penalty varies greatly by country and by the crime being questioned. Countries where the majority of people opposed the execution included Norway where only 25 percent were in favor. Most French, Finnish and Italians also oppose the death penalty. The 2016 Gallup poll shows that 60% of Americans support the death penalty, down from 64% in 2010 by 65% ​​in 2006 and 68% in 2001. A 2010 poll found that 61% of Americans would vote for punishment other than the death penalty for murder.
The use of capital punishment grew in India in 2010 due to anger over some recent brutal rape cases. While support for the death penalty for killing is still high in China, the execution has dropped dramatically, with 3,000 executed in 2012 versus 12,000 in 2002. A poll in South Africa found that 76 percent of the millennium generation of South Africa supported the re-introduction of penalty death, which removed in South Africa. A poll of 2017 found younger Mexicans more likely to support the death penalty than older ones. 57% of Brazilians support the death penalty. The age group that showed the greatest support for their condemned execution was the 25 to 34 year age category, in which 61% said they were supportive.
Movement to non-painful execution
Trends in much of the world have long since moved on to less painful and personal executions. The French developed guillotine for this reason in the later years of the 18th century, while Britain banned drawing and quartering in the early 19th century. Hang by turning the victim from a ladder or by kicking a bench or bucket, which causes death from suffocation, replaced by a long drop "hanging" in which the subject is dropped a further distance to move the neck and cut the spinal cord. Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, the Shah of Persia (1896-1907) introduced the cutting of the neck and blowing of the gun (close range shot) as a quick and relatively painless alternative to the more tortuous execution methods used at the time. In the United States, electrocution and inhalation gas were introduced as a more humane alternative to hanging, but were almost completely replaced by lethal injections. A small number of countries still use slow and stoning methods.
A study of executions conducted in the United States between 1977 and 2001 shows that at least 34 of the 749 executions, or 4.5%, involve "unexpected problems or delays that cause, at least be debated, unnecessary suffering for prisoners or reflecting the inexperience of the executioner ". This "failed execution" rate remained stable during the study period. A separate study published in The Lancet in 2005 found that in 43% of cases of lethal injections, hypnotic blood levels were insufficient to warrant unconsciousness. However, the US Supreme Court ruled in 2008 ( Baze v. Rees ) and again in 2015 ( Glossip v. Gross ) that lethal injections are not a cruel punishment and ordinary. Glossip v. Gross was narrowly decided 5-4 with four "liberal" judges (including three female judges) disagreeing.
Abolition of death penalty
Many countries have abolished the death penalty both in law and in practice. Since World War II there has been a tendency to remove the death penalty. The death penalty has been removed entirely by 102 countries, six have done so for all violations except in special circumstances and 32 others have abolished them in practice because they have not used them for at least 10 years and are believed to have established policies or practices on execution.
The death penalty was banned in China between 747 and 759. In Japan, Emperor Saga abolished the death penalty in 818 under the influence of Shinto and it lasted until 1156.
In Britain, the public declaration of opposition is included in The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, written in 1395. Sir Thomas More's Utopia , published in 1516, arguing the benefits of capital punishment in the form of dialogue, comes no conclusion certainly. More he was executed for treason in 1535. The more recent opposition to the death penalty comes from Cesare Beccaria's Italian book Dei Delitti e Delle Pene ("On Crime and Punishment"), published in 1764. In this book , Beccaria aims to show not only injustice, but even futility from the point of view of social welfare, torture and death penalty. Influenced by the book, Grand Duke Leopold II of Habsburg, the future Austrian Emperor, abolished the death penalty in the now independent Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the first permanent removal in modern times. On November 30, 1786, after the de facto blocked the execution (the latter was in 1769), Leopold announced a criminal law reform that abolished the death penalty and ordered the destruction of all instruments for capital execution. in his country. In 2000, the regional authorities of Tuscany instituted an annual vacation on November 30 to commemorate the event. The event is celebrated on this day by 300 cities around the world celebrating the City for the Day of Life.
The Roman Republic banned the death penalty in 1849. Venezuela followed and abolished the death penalty in 1863 and San Marino did so in 1865. The final execution in San Marino took place in 1468. In Portugal, after the legislative proposals in 1852 and 1863, the death penalty was abolished in 1867. The final execution of the death penalty in Brazil was 1876, from which all the curses were alleviated by Emperor Pedro II to the abolition of civil violations and military offenses in peacetime in 1891. The penalties for committed crimes in peacetime were later restored and abolished twice (1938-53 and 1969-78), but on occasions it is restricted to acts of terrorism or subversion considered "internal warfare" and all sentences are lightened and not done.
The abolition occurred in Canada in 1976 (except for some military offenses, with complete abolition in 1998), in France in 1981, and in Australia in 1973 (although the Western Australian state retained punishment until 1984). In 1977, the General Assembly of the United Nations affirmed in its formal resolution that worldwide, it is desirable to "progressively limit the number of offenses which may be subject to capital punishment, with a view to the will to abolish this punishment."
In the United Kingdom, it was removed for murder (leaving only treason, violent piracy, arson in a royal shipyard and a number of wartime military offenses as a major crime) for a five-year experiment in 1965 and permanently in 1969, the latest execution has taken place in 1964. It was abolished for all violations of peacetime in 1998.
In the United States, Michigan was the first state to ban the death penalty, on May 18, 1846. The death penalty was declared unconstitutional between 1972 and 1976 under the case of Furman v. Georgia , but in 1976 Gregg v. Georgia case once again allows the death penalty under certain circumstances. Further limitations were placed on the death penalty at Atkins v. Virginia (death penalty unconstitutional for people with intellectual disabilities) and Roper v. Simmons (the death penalty is unconstitutional if the defendant is under the age of 18 at the time the crime is committed). In the United States, 18 states and the District of Columbia prohibit capital punishment.
Abolitionists believe the death penalty is the worst human rights violation, because the right to life is the most important, and the death penalty violates the law without necessity and gives punishment to the condemned psychological torture. Human rights activists opposed the death penalty, calling it "cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment". Amnesty International considers it a "last and irreversible denial of human rights".
Contemporary usage
The death penalty by country
Most countries, including almost all First World countries, have abolished the death penalty either in law or in practice. Notable exceptions are the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and some Islamic countries. The United States is the only Western country that still uses the death penalty.
Since World War II, there has been a tendency to remove the death penalty. 58 countries maintain death penalty in active use, 102 countries have abolished the death penalty altogether, six countries have done so for all violations except under special circumstances, and 32 others have abolished them in practice because they have not used them for at least 10 years and are believed to have policies or a well-established practice of execution.
According to Amnesty International, 23 countries are known to have executed by 2016. There are countries that do not publish information on the use of capital punishment, the most significant being China and North Korea.
The use of the death penalty has become increasingly controlled in some countries including Taiwan and Singapore retentionists. Indonesia did not execute between November 2008 and March 2013. Singapore, Japan and the United States are the only developed countries classified by Amnesty International as 'retensivists' (South Korea is classified as 'abolitionist in practice'). Almost all retentionist countries are located in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. The only retentionist country in Europe is Belarus. Death penalties are highly practiced in poor and authoritarian countries, often using the death penalty as a tool of political oppression. During the 1980s, Latin American democratization swelled abolitionist countries.
This was immediately followed by the fall of Communism in Europe. Many countries that restore democracy aspire to enter the EU. The European Union and the Council of Europe both strictly require member states not to practice the death penalty (see Death penalty in Europe). Public support for capital punishment in the EU varies. The final execution on the current territory of the Council of Europe occurred in 1997 in Ukraine. On the other hand, rapid industrialization in Asia has increased the number of advanced retentionist countries. In these countries, the death penalty has strong public support, and the issue has received little attention from the government or the media; in China there is a small but growing movement to eliminate the death penalty altogether. This trend has been followed by several African and Middle Eastern countries where support for the death penalty is high.
Some countries have returned to the practice of execution after delaying execution for a long time. The United States suspended the execution in 1972 but continued in 1976; there was no execution in India between 1995 and 2004; and Sri Lanka announced the termination of the moratorium on the death penalty on November 20, 2004, although it has not yet executed. The Philippines again introduced the death penalty in 1993 after removing it in 1987, but abolished it again in 2006.
The United States and Japan are the only developed countries that have just executed. The US federal government, the US military and 31 states have valid death penalty laws, and more than 1,400 executions have been committed in the United States since the death penalty in 1976, including 28 in 2015.
The last country to remove the death penalty is Burkina Faso in June 2018.
Juvenile offender
The death penalty for juvenile criminals (criminals under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes) has become increasingly scarce. Considering the age of the majority is still not 18 in some countries, since 1990 nine countries have executed juvenile offenders at the time of their crimes: the People's Republic of China (PRC), Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan , The United States, and Yemen. The PRC, Pakistan, the United States, Yemen and Iran have since raised the minimum age to 18 years. Amnesty International has recorded 61 verified executions since then, in some countries, both adolescents and adults who have been convicted of their offenses as teenagers. The PRC does not allow for the execution of those under the age of 18, but child executions have been reported to occur.
Beginning in 1642 in the United Kingdom, an estimated 365 juvenile offenders were executed by the state and the federal government of the United States. The US Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for offenders under the age of 16 at Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988), and for all teenagers at Roper v. Simmons (2005).
Between 2005 and May 2008, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen were reported to have executed children of the perpetrators, most of whom were from Iran.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the death sentence for juveniles under section 37 (a), has been signed by all countries and ratified, except for Somalia and the United States (although the recent Supreme Court decision abolished the practice). ). The UN Subcommittee on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights states that the death penalty for juveniles has become contrary to jus cogens of international customary law. Most countries are also parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of the United Nations (to Article 6.5 also states that "Death penalty shall not be imposed on crimes committed by persons under the age of eighteen...").
Iran, despite its ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is the world's largest executioner of juvenile offenders, who have received international condemnation; the state record is the focus of Campaign Stop Child Execution. But on February 10, 2012, the Iranian parliament changed the controversial law executing the teenagers. In the new law, age 18 (sun year) will apply to both sexes and juvenile offenders will be sentenced to separate laws than adults. Under Islamic law that now seems to have been revised, girls at the age of 9 and boys in 15 years of lunar (11 days shorter than solar year) are fully responsible for their crimes. Iran accounts for two-thirds of the global total of such executions, and currently has about 140 people convicted for crimes committed as teenagers (up from 71 in 2007). Past executions of Mahmoud Asgari, Ayaz Marhoni, and Makwan Moloudzadeh became the international symbol of the Iranian child capital punishment and the judicial system that imposed such punishment.
Saudi Arabia also executes criminals who are under age at the time of the offense. In 2013, Saudi Arabia was the center of international controversy after executing Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan domestic worker, believed to be 17 years old at the time of the crime.
There is evidence that child executions occurred in parts of Somalia controlled by the Union of Islamic Courts (ICU). In October 2008, a girl, Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was buried to her neck at the football stadium, then stoned to death in front of more than 1,000 people. The Transitional Federal Government established by Somalia announced in November 2009 (reaffirmed in 2013) that it plans to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The move was praised by UNICEF as a welcome effort to secure child rights in the country.
Method
The following implementation methods are used in 2015:
- Hang (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestinian National Authority, Yemen, Egypt, India, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Liberia, Chad, in USA)
- Shoot (People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Vietnam, Belarus, North Korea, Indonesia, Yemen, and in the US states of Oklahoma and Utah).
- Lethal injection (United States, Guatemala, Thailand, People's Republic of China, Vietnam)
- Electric and gas shutdown (some US states, but only if detainees ask for it or if lethal injections are not available)
- Beheading (Saudi Arabia)
Public execution
Public execution is a form of capital punishment that "members of the general public can voluntarily attend". This definition excludes the presence of a small number of randomly selected witnesses to ensure executive accountability. While today most of the world considers public executions unpopular and most countries have banned the practice, as long as most historical executions are conducted publicly as a means for the state to show its "strength before those under its jurisdiction, be they criminals, or political opponents ". In addition, it provides an opportunity for the public to witness "what is considered a great spectacle".
Social historians note that beginning in the 20th century in the US and Western Europe deaths in general became increasingly shielded from public view, happening more and more behind the closed doors of hospitals. Executions were also moved behind the prison wall. The last formal public executions took place in 1868 in England, in 1936 in the US and in 1939 in France.
According to Amnesty International, in 2012 "public executions are known to have been made in Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Somalia". There are reports of public executions by state and non-state actors in Gaza controlled by Hamas, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen. Public classified executions were also carried out in the US states of Florida and Utah in 1992.
Capital crime
Crime against humanity
Crimes against humanity such as genocide can usually be put to death in countries that defend the death penalty. The death penalty for such crimes was handed down and committed during the Nuremberg Trials in 1946 and the Tokyo Court in 1948, but the International Criminal Court does not currently use the death penalty. The maximum penalty available to the International Criminal Court is life imprisonment.
Murder
Deliberate killing can be put to death in most countries that defend the death penalty, but in general as long as it involves the aggravating factors required by law or judicial precedent.
Drug trafficking
Some countries provide capital punishment for drug trafficking and related offenses, especially in West Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia. Among the countries that regularly execute drug offenders are China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Singapore.
Other violations
Other crimes that can be put to death in some countries include terrorism, treason, espionage, crimes against the state (most countries with capital punishment), political protests (Saudi Arabia), rape (China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, ), (China) crime, separatism (China), adultery (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Brunei, etc.), sodomy (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brunei, etc.), and the religion of Hudud Violation such as apostasy (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, etc.), desecration of religion (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan), Moharebeh (Iran), Magic and Witchcraft (Saudi Arabia). and the compounded form of robbery/hirabah, (Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Zambia).
Controversy and debate
The death penalty is controversial. Opponents of capital punishment consider the death penalty as inhuman and criticize it because it can not be changed. They also affirm that the death penalty has no deterrent effect, discriminates against the minorities and the poor, and that it encourages a "culture of violence". There are many organizations around the world, such as Amnesty International, and country-specific, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has removed the death penalty as a fundamental goal.
Proponents of the death penalty claim claiming crime, are good tools for police and prosecutors in bargaining, ensuring that criminal convicts are not offensive, and are just punishment.
Levies
Supporters of the death penalty argue that the death penalty is justified morally when applied in murder primarily with incriminating elements such as the murder of police officers, murder of children, murder of torture, double killings and mass killings such as terrorism, massacres and genocide. This argument is strongly defended by Professor New York Law School, Professor Robert Blecker, who says that punishment must be painful in proportion to evil. The 17th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant defended a more extreme position, which he thought every killer deserved to die on the grounds that the loss of life was incomparable to a prison sentence.
Some abolitionists argue that vengeance is merely revenge and unforgivable. Others while receiving retribution as an element of criminal justice continue to argue that life without parole is a sufficient substitute. It is also stated that punishment of murder with other deaths is a relatively unique punishment for acts of violence, since in general violent crimes are not punished by subjecting the perpetrators to the same action (eg rapists not punished by corporal punishment).
Human rights
Abolitionists believe the death penalty is the worst human rights violation, because the right to life is the most important, and the death penalty violates the law without necessity and gives punishment to the condemned psychological torture. Human rights activists opposed the death penalty, calling it "a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment". Amnesty International considers it an "irreversible denial of human rights". Albert Camus wrote in a 1956 book entitled Reflections on Guillotine, Resistance, Rebellion & amp; Death :
Execution is not just death. It is just as different from personal life as a concentration camp from prison. [...] Since there is equality, the death penalty has to punish a criminal who has warned his victims about the date on which he would cause a terrible death to himself and who, since then, has restricted himself. at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not found in personal life.
In the classical doctrine of natural rights as described by eg Locke and Blackstone, on the other hand, is an important notion that the right to life can be lost. As John Stuart Mill explained in a speech given in Parliament to the amendment to abolish the death penalty for murder in 1868:
And we can imagine someone asking how we can teach people not to cause suffering with ourselves who denounce them? But for this I have to answer - all of us will answer - that to avoid the suffering of suffering is not only possible, but also the purpose of criminal justice. Does the criminal's finery want to respect the property, or imprison him, for personal freedom? It is equally unreasonable to think that taking the life of a man who has taken the life of another is by showing a desire to appreciate human life. On the contrary, we show, with utmost strictness our appreciation of him, by adopting the rule that he who violates that right in another sacrifices it for himself, and that while no other crime he can do deprives his right to life, it must.
Incorrect execution
It is often argued that the death penalty leads to a waiver of justice through the false execution of innocent people. Many people have proclaimed innocent victims of the death penalty.
Some people claim that as many as 39 executions have been done in the face of evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt in the US from 1992 to 2004. Newly available DNA evidence prevented the delayed execution of more than 15 death row convicts during the same period in the US but DNA evidence available only in capital case fractions. By 2017, 159 prisoners have been released by DNA or other evidence, seen as an indication that innocent prisoners are almost certainly executed. It is impossible to judge how many have been wrongly executed, because the courts generally do not investigate the innocence of a defendant who is dead, and defense lawyers tend to focus their efforts on clients whose lives can still be saved; However, there is strong evidence of innocence in many cases.
Improper procedures may also result in unfair executions. For example, Amnesty International argues that in Singapore "Abuse of the Drug Act contains a set of presuppositions that divert the burden of proof of prosecution to the defendant, this is contrary to the universally guaranteed right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty". This refers to situations when a person is caught with drugs. In this situation, in almost all jurisdictions, the prosecutor's office has a prima facie case.
Racial, ethnic, and social bias
Opponents of capital punishment argue that this penalty is used more often against perpetrators of racial and ethnic minorities and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, than against criminals from special backgrounds; and that the background of the victim also affected the outcome. Researchers have shown that white Americans are more likely to support the death penalty when told that it is mostly applied to African-Americans, and that the more stereotypically stereotyped defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death if the case involves a white victim.
International view
The United Nations introduced a resolution during the 62nd session of the General Assembly in 2007 calling for a universal ban. Approval of the draft resolution by the third committee of the Assembly, which deals with human rights issues, voted 99-52, with 33 abstentions, endorsed the resolution on 15 November 2007 and put into voting in the Assembly on 18 December.
Again in 2008, most countries from all regions adopted a second resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly (Third Committee) on 20 November. 105 countries voted in favor of the draft resolution, 48 opposing votes and 31 abstentions.
Various amendments proposed by a small minority of states of capital punishment were defeated. It in 2007 passed a non-binding resolution (104-54, with 29 abstentions) by asking its member states to "moratorium the execution with a view to abolishing the death penalty".
A number of regional conventions prohibit the death penalty, in particular, the Sixth Protocol (abolition in peace) and Protocol 13 (abolition under all circumstances) to the European Convention on Human Rights. The same is also stated under the Second Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights, which, however, has not been ratified by all States in America, notably Canada and the United States. The most relevant international treaty agreements do not require its prohibition of serious crimes cases, in particular, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This, on the other hand, has in common with some other agreements, an optional protocol banning the death penalty and promoting its wider elimination.
Several international organizations have made the abolition of the death penalty (during peacetime) membership requirements, especially the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe. The European Union and the Council of Europe are willing to accept the moratorium as a temporary measure. Thus, while Russia is a member of the Council of Europe, and the death penalty remains codified in its laws, it has not used it since becoming a member of the Council - Russia has not executed anyone since 1996. With the exception of Russia (in slavery practice), Kazakhstan (abolitionist for ordinary crimes only), and Belarusian (retention), all European countries are classified as abolitionist.
Latvia abolished the de jure death sentence for war crimes in 2012, becoming the last EU member to do so.
Protocol no 13 calls for the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances (including for war crimes). The majority of European countries have signed and ratified it. Some European countries have not done this, but all except Belarus and Kazakhstan have now abolished the death penalty under all circumstances (de jure , and Russia de facto ). Poland is the most recent country to ratify the protocol, on 28 August 2013.
Protocol no. 6 which prohibits execution during peacetime has been ratified by all members of the Council of Europe, except Russia (who has signed, but not ratified).
There are also other international abolitionist instruments, such as the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has 81 parties; and the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Eliminate Death Penalty (for America, ratified by 13 states).
In Turkey, more than 500 people were sentenced to death after the Turkish coup of 1980. About 50 of them were executed, the last of October 25, 1984. Then there was a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in Turkey. As a step towards EU membership, Turkey made several legal changes. The death penalty was removed from the law of peace by the National Assembly in August 2002, and in May 2004 Turkey changed the constitution to remove the death penalty in all circumstances. This ratifies Protocol no. 13 European Convention on Human Rights in February 2006. As a result, Europe is a continent free from execution in practice, all states but Russia, which has entered into a moratorium, having ratified the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, with the sole the exception of Belarus, who is not a member of the Council of Europe. The European Parliamentary Assembly The Council of Europe has lobbied the Council of Europe observers who practiced the death penalty, the US and Japan, to remove it or lose their observer status. In addition to banning the death penalty for EU Member States, the EU has also banned the transfer of detainees in cases where the recipient can seek the death penalty.
Sub-Saharan African countries that recently abolished the death penalty include Burundi, who abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2009, and Gabon who did the same in 2010. On 5 July 2012, Benin became part of the Protocol Second Optional of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which prohibits the use of capital punishment.
The newly formed Southern Sudan is among the 111 UN member states that support a resolution endorsed by the UN General Assembly calling for the disappearance of the death penalty, thereby confirming its opposition to the practice. Southern Sudan, however, has not abolished the death penalty and stated that it must first amend the constitution, and until it happens will continue to use the death penalty.
Among non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were noted for opposing the death penalty. A number of such NGOs, as well as unions, local councils and bar associations formed the World Coalition Against Death Penalty in 2002.
Religious view
The world's great religions have diverse opinions about the death penalty, depending on the sect, the individual who believes, and the time period.
See also
- Death in custody
- Death penalty is required
- UN moratorium on death sentence
- The World Coalition Against Death Penalty
- Death Penalty: Opposing the Viewpoint (book)
- List of death penalty methods
- Revenge Revenge
- Culture of shame
- Guilt-Shyness of the cultural spectrum
References
Note
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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