The Death penalty

Origins of the death penalty

World History Historically the first death penalty laws were established in the eighteenth century B.C in the king Hammurabi’s code of Babylon.

Britain & U.S.A
• Britain History The Britain used the capital punishment since the tenth century by hanging. • U.S.A History According to the History of America, the first execution was that of the captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia ordered was executed in 1608 for being a spy for Spain.

France
Capital punishment in France existed officially from the Middle Ages until it was abolished in 1981. The last executions took place in 1977, by guillotine, which had been the only legal execution method since the French Revolution. This was the last execution in the then European Community.

The abolitionist movement

Main actors
The abolitionist movement goes back to the writing of the European theorists as Montesquieu, Voltaire, or John Howard, which gave legitimacy to abolitionists and contributed to the abolition to the death penalty.

America and Britain
• America However the death penalty was applied in a lot of state of America even the law evolved to consider different degrees in crimes and it was not apply for any crime. • Britain The Abolition of the death penalty began in 1965 for a five-year experiment and will be completely abolished in 1999.

France
After several tries unsuccessful, Robert Badinter, a long time opponent of capital punishment and the defending lawyer of some of the last men executed, became minister of justice and proposed the final abolition of the death penalty in 1981, which was pushed through the National Assembly with the backing of newly elected president François Mitterrand.

The Current death penalty

U.S.A
• Today, 70% of people asked were in favour of the death penalty. • 16/50 states without capital punishment

France
• During the 20th century, French opinion on