The vocation of abolition is to be universal. By Robert Badinter Senator and editorialist of Nouvel Observateur. Author of "L'Abolition", Fayard, 2000. The Prize of the Political Book 2001 (Prix du Livre politique 2001) has been awarded to Robert Badinter for "L'Abolition".

The poisons that are carried by death penalty are at work by distressing the justice in USA like everywhere and always. Social Inequality That are the most defavoured groups in society, the children of Black or Hispanic ghettos, who make almost the totality of the condemned men. Most of this accused are unable to afford the expenses needed for their defense in front of the considerable means of the accusation. They are only assisted by the court-appointed lawyers who are not well paid and often unexperimented. The statistics speak clearly : according to a recent survey of the University of Colombia, on 5700 death condemnations which have been pronounced from 1977 to 1995, 4578 have been cancelled as a result of different mistakes in proceedings : violations of the law, serious breach of duties among the advocates and the worst is the concealment of proves or witnesses for defense. These terrible grieves led to many judicial errors : 87 condemned to death have been released after having been recognized innocent. Racism When Afro-Americans represent 12% of the population in USA, they compose 34% of the executions. In Texas, 34% of the condemned to death have been accused for murdering white women. Conversely, 0.4% of the condemnations to death have been pronounced for murdering a Black. Inhumanity The USA hold the record of the executions of the condemned, who were under 18 at the time of their crimes, disregarding the international conventions that ban these executions. And what to say about the executions of the retarded persons, more particularly in Texas! (Excerpts) Death Penalty and Religion Christianism "The condemnation to death of a human person means the negation of his improvement capacity. By using this punishment, a Christian expresses doubts about the power of the grace, the universality of Redemption, and the possibility of the conversion. Even at the term of a regular judgement, the society cannot have man's life in one's hands under the pretence of his culpability. The right to live is absolute and death penalty is one of the manifestations of the contempt for human life." Social Commission of the French Episcopate, January 23th 1978.   Letter to The Island (Sri Lanka), Monday 4th December 2000. Death penalty : A bad noose by Rev. Dalston Forbes OMI Colombo 15 There is a proposal before parliament to restore the death penalty owing to the upsurge in grave crimes like armed robbery, murder and multiple murders, rape with murder, political assassinations etc. For several years now, the death sentence, though passed by the Judges in terms of the Law, is not implemented and is reduced to life imprisonment. Many organisations like Amnesty International have spoken against carrying out the death sentence. Pope John Paul II has come out against it on several occasions. Thus to quote the Encyclical on Human Life, 'Evangelisum Vitae' No. 56; "This is the context in which to place the death penalty. On this matter there is a growing tendency, both in the Church and Civil Society, to demand that it be applied in a very limited way or even that it be abolished completely. The problem must be viewed in the context of a system of penal justice ever more in line with human dignity...." He goes on to refer the expiatory and deterrent quality of punishment and then adds: "It is clear that, for these purposes to be achieved, the nature and extent of the punishment must be carefully evaluated and decided upon and ought not to go to the extreme of executing the offender except in cases of absolute necessity; in other words when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today however, as a result of steady improvements in the organisation of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent". The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the same thing in No. 2267. This being the case, it would be most unwise and retrogressive to implement the death sentence once again. Let other means be found to rid society of grave crimes. Donavan Moldrich, late editor of the 'Times of Ceylon' and well known journalist wrote well on this subject in his book: "Hangman, spare that noose", Committee for Abolition of Death Penalty", Colombo, 1983. I commend this book to your readers. Tibetan Buddhism August 29, 1999 Message Supporting a Global Moratorium on the Death Penalty   Bodhisattva Siddhartha, gold coloured bronze, end of 18th century, Musée Guimet. by the Dalai Lama In general, death is something none of us wants, in fact it is something we don't even like to think about. When death takes place naturally, it is a process beyond our control to stop, but where death is willfully and deliberately brought about, it is very unfortunate. Of course, within our legal systems there are said to be certain reasons and purposes for employing the death penalty. It is used to punish offenders, to prevent them ever repeating their misdeed and to deter others. However, if we examine the situation more carefully, we will find that these are not the real solutions. Harmful actions and their tragic consequences all have their origin in disturbing emotions and negative thoughts, and these are a state of mind, whose potential we find within all human beings. From this point of view, every one of us has the potential to commit crimes, because we are all subject to negative disturbing emotions and negative mental qualities. And we will not overcome these by executing other people. What is deemed criminal can vary greatly from country to country. In some countries, for example, speaking out for human rights is considered criminal, whereas in other countries preventing free speech is a crime. The punishments for crimes are also very different, but usually include various forms of imprisonment or hardship, financial penalties and, in a number of countries, physical pain. In some countries, crimes that the government considers very serious are punished by executing the person who committed the crime. The death penalty fulfills a preventive function, but it is also very clearly a form of revenge. It is an especially severe form of punishment because it is so final. The human life is ended and the executed person is deprived of the opportunity to change, to restore the harm done or compensate for it. Before advocating execution we should consider whether criminals are intrinsically negative and harmful people or whether they will remain perpetually in the same state of mind in which they committed their crime or not. The answer, I believe, is definitely not. However horrible the act they have committed, I believe that everyone has the potential to improve and correct themselves. Therefore, I am optimistic that it remains possible to deter criminal activity, and prevent such harmful consequences of such acts in society, without having to resort to the death penalty. My overriding belief is that it is always possible for criminals to improve and that by its very finality the death penalty contradicts this. Therefore, I support those organizations and individuals who are trying to bring an end to the use of the death penalty. Today, in many societies very little importance is placed on education or the development of human values through social programs and entertainment. In fact, if we take television programming as an example, violence, including killing, is regarded as having a high entertainment value. This is indicative of how misguided we have become. I believe human beings are not violent by nature. Unlike lions and tigers, we are not naturally equipped to kill with sharp teeth and claws. From a Buddhist viewpoint, I believe that the basic nature of every sentient being is pure, that the deeper nature of mind is something pure. Human beings become violent because of negative thoughts which arise as a result of their environment and circumstances. I wholeheartedly support an appeal to those countries who at present employ the death penalty to observe an unconditional moratorium. At the same time we should give more support to education and encourage a greater sense of universal responsibility. We need to explain the importance of the practice of love and compassion for our own survival and to try to minimize those conditions which foster murderous tendencies, such as the proliferation of weapons in our societies. These are things even private individuals can work towards. Emphasis by the editor. The long way towards the ABOLITION Beccaria    Howard    Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau     Lamartine    Hugo     Jaures    Briand    Mitterrand     Badinter Revenge eliminates, justice reintegrates... Many countries have abolished the death penalty, others do not apply it. Nevertheless, in case of some threats for the society (violence, criminality, drugs...), there are voices calling for its reintroduction. This discussion goes back to the 18th Century. 18th Century Cesare Beccaria (Italy) In 1764, he published : Dei delitti e delle pene .Toscane is the first State to abolish the death penalty (1786). John Howard (England) In 1775, he published : State of the Prisons . 19th and 20th Century The death penalty progressively disappears from the whole battery of repressive methods. Nevertheless, the way toward the legal abolition remains a long and chaotic way. Sometimes, as a reaction to politic or criminal events, there is a reintroduction of the death penalty. These are the dates of legal abolition in different countries: Portugal, 1867; Holland, 1870; Norway, 1905; Sweden, 1921; Denmark, 1930; Switzerland, 1942; Italy, 1944; Finland and Germany, 1949; Austria, 1950; United Kingdom, 1965; Spain, 1978; France, 1981. Most of the South America States and a part of United States have also abolished the death penalty. In Europe, Greece and Turkey are not abolitionist. This evolution originates from emotional reactions against a blinkered justice This does not make it any the less necessary to think about the three fundamental questions which concern the death penalty issue : The question of principle or the right of the State upon life; The question of capital punishment or the concept of its deterrent nature; The question of alternative punishments and the reintegration of prisoners. THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES The right of the State towards life Has the society, in the person of the State, the right to suppress life as an ultimate sanction of an unpardonable crime? Everybody agrees that the state power possesses a constraint power, which is not allowed to individuals. Is this power excludes death? If we say yes, we postulate that there is a future for the convicted prisoner. It means that, on one side the society is ready for undertaking a process of reintegration, on the other side that the prisoner is ready for a process of reeducation, a process of change. Do the errors of the past allow think about the future? Are we disposed to live later with this criminal? It is the great challenge which is proposed to the society by all militants who, yesterday and now, have pursued their fight against the capital punishment. The partisans of the death penalty argue that the situation is irremediable, and no reintegration possible. The deterrent nature of the death penalty There is no way to reply to horror by using horror. (Abbé Clavier, prison chaplain) No convincing statistics can give the evidence that abolitionist countries know an increase in their rate of criminality. The use of death penalty reveals a state of panic and consequently, an admission of weakness which belittles the society to the levels of its subjects to judgement. By making an example, we always renounce to the justice and lapse into the terrorism. The judge echoes the social fear... The judicial assistance and the punishment conditions will be quite different depending on whether you are powerful or miserable... In vain, with a lot of international investigations, I took great care to establish that, in all abolitionist countries, the murders have not increased. The rate of serious crime is always the same, whatever the presence or the absence of the capital punishment in the criminal legislation. (...) The deterrent value is a myth. There is no serious study which is able to corroborate it. There is no example of a potential criminal who abandons the idea of committing a crime by fear of the guillotine. Whether the criminal believes that he will get away from the police and he will commit the crime, or he will be afraid to be arrested and he will renounce. So, life sentence or guillotine, the kind of punishment doesn't much matter. In case of "cold blood" criminals, the determinant point is the conviction that he will not be arrested, and not, in case of arrest, the nature of the punishment. And concerning the most dreadful crimes, most of the time they remain inexplicable. (Pr Roumajon, psychiatrist) The ritual of the execution always included the expiatory sacrifice ; death for death in order to calm the anger of gods that is only the projection of our insurmountable anguish.. Prisons and social reintegration The prisons' world should be the world of rehabilitation which starts, not the world of never-ending penalty : conservation of links between inside prisons and outside, coming out of the prison in a situation with open doors into professional, financial and affective dimensions. Modern societies reject the "definitive" solutions, and so acknowledge their responsibility and deficiencies, and intend to promote a repressive and curative approach at the same time. It means to have the courage to look at the practical consequences of this choice : refusal of prisons being places of exclusion and concrete definition of rehabilitation and reintegration programs. A society which bans the capital punishment as to be fully committed to become a society which allows the resumption of life. By giving to the prisoner all his chances of rehabilitation, our society manifests its respect of life, any life. I have given my preference, not to the passion of militants, but to the weight of experience. The purpose was to give evidence that the death penalty is useless. The purpose was to demonstrate that the death penalty is absurd, irrational, primitive. It was essential to convince that the death penalty is inhuman. This document on death penalty is based on the excellent article of the Encyclopaedia Universalis by André Dumas Pasteur, President of the magazine "Réforme" and quotations from "L'abolition" by Robert Badinter. Confluence Victor Hugo (1802-1885) "I vote for the pure, simple and definitive abolition of death penalty..." "...it is, for me, a deep and old conviction" 15th September 1848 Assemblée Constituante, Paris. In fact, the first movement has been an instinctive reaction of horror, anxiety and disgust. Sensation led to conviction, and conviction to the involvement in favour of he Abolition. Listen to the relation of Adele, Victor Hugo's wife, in her biography titled : "Victor Hugo raconté par un témoin de sa vie" (Victor Hugo related by a witness of his life).

The scene occurs in 1812 in Burgos, Spain. The young Victor, ten years old, is on the way to join his father who is a General of the Napoléon's army. "A big crowd passed in front of the house. Victor, with his mother and brother, followed the crowd. They arrived to a square and saw a wood stage that was surmounted by a pal. They asked : "What is this?" and the answer was : "a scaffold on which a man will be garrotted". They were scared by this idea and run as fast as their legs could carry them. They met a brotherhood of penitents wearing cowls with two holes in the place of their eyes. This glances without visage looked gloomily for the children. Among these "ghosts", there was a man bound on a donkey. His back was turned towards the head of the animal. This man was stupefied by terror. Some priests presented him a crucifix, and he kissed it without looking at.

Children ran away being terrified."

Francisco Goya (1746-1828)

"Man's brutality to man was nevermore vividly indected than in the tamplit scene of "3 May 1808" where the French shoot hostages, painted six years later with no loss of actual horror." From Giotto to Cézanne, Michael Levey, Thames and Hudson, 1997.

3rd May 1808 (Los fusilamientos en la montana del Principe Pio),
Madrid, Prado (1814).

References Robert BADINTER Albert CAMUS / Alfred KOESTLER Victor HUGO     Jean IMBERT

L'Abolition, Fayard, 2000. Réflexions sur la peine capitale, Calmann-Lévy, 1979. Le dernier jour d'un condamné, Bibliothèque Gallimard, 2000 The last day of a condemned man and other prison writings, translated by Woollen Geoff, Oxford University Press. Ecrits sur la peine de mort, Babel, Actes Sud, 1992. La peine de mort, QSJ, PUF.

A translation in Sinhala :   Our reflections and comments will complete this file. Your opinions are welcome. Read more about death penalty.

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