Capital Punishment

By Eric Roux

Eric Roux is the Chair of the Global Council of the United Religions Initiative (URI), the largest grassroots interfaith network in the world, active in over 110 countries, and the Chair of the European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom. A longtime advocate for human rights, interreligious dialogue, and freedom of belief, he works to foster cooperation across cultural and spiritual traditions to address global challenges. In his leadership role, Roux champions initiatives that promote peace, dignity, and justice, with a particular commitment to defending fundamental rights where they are most at risk. What follows is his own view.

The death penalty is unjustifiable beyond appearances. Nearly three centuries ago, Cesare Beccaria, the French Enlightenment jurist and philosopher, denounced it as “legal murder” in his work “On Crimes and Punishments.” He argued that it does not deter crime but instead makes society cruel, dressing murder in legal trappings and hardening rather than elevating society.

Poets and the death penalty

Victor Hugo also opposed the death penalty, publishing “The Last Day of a Condemned Man” as a universal plea against it, not just for special cases. Hugo’s work is timeless, confronting the age-old question of the right to kill. At least 93 countries have abolished the death penalty, and over 130 no longer carry out executions. However, more than 80 still officially retain it, with some having not executed anyone for decades. Yet, in countries that have abolished it, there’s no assurance it won’t return.

Oscar Wilde, after witnessing an execution during his imprisonment for homosexuality, wrote “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” He observed:

For each man kills the thing he loves,
Yet each man does not die.
He does not die a death of shame
On a day of dark disgrace,
Nor have a noose about his neck,
Nor a cloth upon his face,
Nor drop feet foremost through the floor
Into an empty space.
(…)
He does not know that sickening thirst
That sands one’s throat, before
The hangman with his gardener’s gloves
Slips through the padded door,
And binds one with three leathern thongs,
That the throat may thirst no more.

Voices calling for vengeance

Arguments for retaining or reviving the death penalty are familiar: taking a life may save others, and in the face of grave crimes, it’s seen as a harsher but justified punishment. The ultimate argument is deterrence, believing criminals will think twice if they face execution. These arguments are fueled by news and human anger at criminal barbarity. Yet, none justify state-sanctioned execution. While personal vengeance may be understandable, state vengeance cannot be.

Virtues that should be ours

The state should embody our best values: reason, kindness, justice, fairness, equity, honesty, benevolence, and respect. If it resorts to murder, even legally, it reflects those values. Legalizing the death penalty gives society a right to murder, shared by all its citizens.

Judicial and ontological errors

Miscarriages of justice occur, and with the death penalty, they’re irreversible. Even if guilt is certain, justice errs by denying the possibility of reform and improvement. Society becomes what it condemns: a murderer, with no mitigating circumstances. It shows weakness, unable to face criminals, preferring to erase them rather than confront its own powerlessness.

A collective assassination

Even the worst criminals are human. Ending a man’s life is collective murder. Despite angelic considerations, the supposed deterrent effect of the death penalty is ineffective. Severe punishment has not eliminated crime in countries that apply it heavily.

Criminals who disregard others’ lives also disregard their own. By legalizing the right to kill, society dehumanizes and fluctuates its standards, promoting a right to kill that is criminal.

Eradicate crime, not people

I accept the necessity of force and law to prevent harm but believe the law should reflect humanity and reason, not hatred. It should exalt honesty and goodness for effectiveness against crime. Our self-respect demands we prevent crime without hatred, maintaining love and hope for all, even the most degraded. The death penalty has no place; it degrades both its victims and those who support or deliver it.