Verzet tegen de doodstraf: een historisch en rechtsvergelijkend overzicht
Abstract
Opposing the death penalty. A historical and comparative law perspective - Up to the Middle Ages, the death penalty was not called in question. After 1250 A.D., opinions changed: the application of the death penalty is related to Evangelical principles. The frequent and irregular use of the death penalty is also opposed to the ideas of the enlightened philosophers: Beccaria, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Marat, etc. came up with rational arguments against it. In Belgium, no death penalty in common law has been carried out since 1863 - except on one occasion in 1918. When the death penalty is given, it will automatically be commuted to life imprisonment. In France, the death penalty was abolished in common law in 1981, in the Netherlands in 1870 and in Great Britain in 1969. However, many of these countries still enforce this sanction in their military laws. In the United States, the death penalty is still carried out in several states.
How to Cite:
Willems, C., (1994) “Verzet tegen de doodstraf: een historisch en rechtsvergelijkend overzicht”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 39(3), 276–302. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95178
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