NCJ Number
199740
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2003 Pages: 8-9
Date Published
March 2003
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of three European organizations concerning their stance on the death penalty and also offers a general analysis of the European view of the death penalty.
Abstract
The membership of three European organizations: the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union (EU), and the Council of Europe (COE). In particular, the author describes their stance on the death penalty. The OSCE, which is described as the largest regional security organization in the world, maintains that the death penalty, where it has not been abolished, should be imposed only for the most serious crimes. The EU, whose principle objective is to establish “European citizenship providing for fundamental rights, freedom of movement, and civil and political rights,” maintains that the death penalty should be abolished around the world. The COE, whose purpose is “to protect and promote human rights, pluralist democracy and the rule of law,” prefers to place restrictions on the death penalty so that it may only be imposed according to law and without any element of torture or inhumane or degrading treatment. The author then goes on to discuss the use of the death penalty in OSCE’s 55 participating states. Finally, in this article the author discusses the European view on the death penalty as difficult to ascertain given the way in which opinion polls are conducted in European nations. However, the author claims that European support for the death penalty among the general population seems to be growing, with 50 percent of the French, Italian, and Swedes favoring the reinstatement of the death penalty.