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Recently, I have seen a film made for TV, “L’abolition”. This film relates the route of the lawyer Robert Badinter toward death penalty’s abolition in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. It shocks me a lot and that’s why I chose to write an article about it.<o:p></o:p>

First I have to remind death penalty’s history.  In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the law decreeing the abolition had promulgated 9^th October 1981. It had suggested by Robert Badinter, the “garde des Sceaux” under Mitterrand’s precidency. Persons who were sentenced to death were guillotined. Voltaire, Hugo, Jaurès, Fallières, Camus, Badinter, Mitterrand, Brassens were opposed the death penalty.                                                      In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Great Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the last execution took place in 1964 and abolition’s law was promulgated in 1969. Since 2001 criminal can’t be executed for another reasons.        In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, supreme yard had prevented the death penalty during 10 years, from 1967 to <st1:metricconverter productid="1977. In" w:st="on">1977. In</st1:metricconverter> 2008, 14 states are abolitionists : Alaska, North Dakota, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island ( except for a life imprisonment), Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, Columbia District, New Jersey (December of 2007), Massachusetts and State of New York (2004). Persons sentenced to death have a big appeal’s possibility that’s why their wait’s length on death row is long. Methods used are electric chair, gas chamber, but above all legal injection. Georges W Bush, Barack Obama, Bill and Hilary Clinton, John McCain, Rick Perry, Ann Richards, Michael B Mukasey etc… support the death penalty, although there are abolitionists too, like Georges Ryan, Ralph Nader, John Kerry or Clarence Darrow.<o:p></o:p>

            In a majority of countries in the world, there is or there was a discussion opposing supporters the capital punishment and opponents.                                          Persons support it because they think it must avenge victims and to kill their murderer will bring justice’s feeling to help their family to do their mourning. They think also that a killer must suffer the punishment he had done. Death penalty is, for some, a way to prevent the second offence and to prevent to overload jails which are expensive for states, to deter from kill, rape and to fight crime.                                              Abolitionists ideas are: the capital punishment is immoral, society become criminal itself if it kills. Furthermore, life imprisonment is an heavy castigation, pools had proved death penalty not decrease criminality in relation to countries where it had been abolished. There are too the possibility of a miscarriage of justice and so perhaps to execute wrongly a convict, or still an unfair trial, for example in the case of racial discrimination, fake evidences or confessions given by violence.<o:p></o:p>

            I am agreeing with those last arguments. I think we are not the right to remove the life of a person even she is a criminal. Furthermore we take the risk to assassinate an innocent. For me, execute a convict is commit a murder, a crime, like the convict had done before. Convict sentenced to death’s family will become a victim family and will suffer as much as murderer victim’s family. Societies, instead of kill those convicts, should treat sick criminal (psychological disease) and prevent crime, by helping persons who have problems… I think some criminal, not all of course, a first-time offender and so they have the right to be given a second chance, others deserve a punishment but the life imprisonment is sufficient.

The key (for map)

Death Penalty World Map

Blue: Abolished for all crimes

Green: Abolished for crimes not committed in exceptional circumstances (such as crimes committed in time of war) Orange: Abolished in practice

Red: Legal form of punishment for certain offenses <o:p></o:p>

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