Death Penalty in Wartime: Arguments for Abolition

• NCJ Number: 164878
• Journal: International Review of Penal Law Volume: 67 Dated: (1996) Pages: 319-325
• Author(s): A Marchesi
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 29 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: France

Annotation

Arguments for and against the retention of capital punishment in wartime are considered.

Abstract

By mid-1993, 52 countries had totally abolished capital punishment, while 16 had abolished it for all but exceptional offenses such as war crimes. Nineteen countries retained capital punishment in their legislation but had not executed anyone for the past 10 years or more. One hundred three countries retained and used the death penalty for ordinary crimes. Although retentionist countries continue to be the majority, the world has been moving toward abolition faster in recent years than ever before. Abolitionists consider the death penalty to be a violation of the fundamental right to life in all cases, while retentionists believe that the death penalty is a legitimate exception to the enjoyment of the right to life. Those favoring total abolition insist that capital punishment has never been proved to have a unique deterrent effect in peacetime or in wartime. Others believe that in both wartime and peacetime it does not cease to be an ultimate deterrent. Some argue that capital punishment is also useful or necessary to maintain military discipline in wartime. However, no particular relationship between military effectiveness and the death penalty has ever been proved, and it is unacceptable in principle and dangerous in practice to let the choice of putting someone to death be strongly influenced by elements of a general nature such as military effectiveness. Other arguments relate to retribution, the death penalty as self-defense, the arbitrary use of the death penalty in wartime, and the opinions of the military. International law does not contain a general prohibition of the death penalty, the Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights strongly suggest that abolition is desirable. Footnotes and appended descriptions of the status of capital punishment in 16 countries