The death penalty is the most severe punishment in criminal law. It is the violent killing of a criminal in order to prevent the commission of similar crimes in the future.
Today, the death penalty is not used in Russia, however, this type of punishment is preserved in the country’s Criminal Code and can be brought back into effect.
Why the death penalty is not used in Russia
Capital punishment has not been applied in our country since May 1999. In 1997, Russia joined the Council of Europe and signed Protocol No. 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, which envisaged the introduction of a moratorium on the death penalty at least until jury trials began to function in all subjects of the federation.
Despite the fact that since 2010 the institution of juries has been operating in all corners of our country, the moratorium on the death penalty has not been lifted. This decision was made by the Constitutional Court.
The moratorium presupposes the actual absence of the application of such a penalty as the death penalty. That is, no court can impose the death penalty on a person, no matter how serious the crime he has committed. The duration of the moratorium has not been determined.
Do Russians support the death penalty and why?
- According to most sociological surveys, our fellow citizens consider the use of the death penalty acceptable in relation to terrorists, pedophiles, and murderers. But at the same time, the number of supporters of “exceptional punishment” is constantly decreasing. If in 2001, according to the Public Opinion Foundation, 80% of Russians were in favor of the death penalty, then in 2006 – 74%, and in 2014 – 63%.
- According to sociologists, the majority supports the death penalty because of the horror of the crimes committed. According to the FOM, 73% of those Russians who are in favor of the death penalty consider its use fair when it comes to sexual crimes against minors.
Features of the use of the death penalty
Despite the prohibition of imposing this penalty, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has a list of articles that include the death penalty in their sanction. This means that previously capital punishment was imposed for such actions. If the moratorium is lifted, the courts will again be able to impose such punishment for the following crimes:
- Murder with aggravating circumstances, for example, when there was more than one death or the method of committing the crime caused danger to an indefinite number of persons (Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code).
- Murder of a public servant or social activist in order to stop his active work (Article 277).
- Attempted murder of an investigator or judge (Article 295).
- Causing harm to an investigator or law enforcement officer in retaliation for his professional activities or to prevent him from performing his official duties (Article 317).
- Activities aimed at the destruction of any racial, national, religious or ethnic community (Article 357).
According to the Criminal Code, the death penalty in the Russian Federation cannot be imposed:
- A minor (age is assessed at the time the crime was committed, even if the offender turned 18 at the time of the trial, he will not face capital punishment).
- To a woman.
- An elderly person (over 65 years old, in this case age is considered at the time of sentencing).
Note!
Even if a sentence of life imprisonment is imposed, the defendant has the right to appeal the sentence. For more information about the timing of consideration of appeals, read this article https://lexconsult.online/8133-srok-podachi-rassmotreniya-apellyatsii-na-reshenie-suda Depending on the method of carrying out the sentence, the following types of death penalty are distinguished:
- execution;
- administering an injection;
- hanging;
- electric chair;
- decapitation;
- stoning;
- gas chamber.
Russian Federation Program Office of the Council of Europe in Moscow
Over the past 30 years, the Council of Europe has worked to abolish the death penalty in Europe. Over the past 10 years, not a single death sentence has been carried out in any of the 47 countries within the Council of Europe. In most of these countries, the death penalty is legally prohibited. But we believe that today it is important to consolidate this practice in Europe and continue to seek a ban on the death penalty throughout the world.
The right to life and the prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment lie at the heart of the European Convention on Human Rights. This Convention, drawn up by the Council of Europe and adopted in 1950, sets out the fundamental principles that guarantee respect for human rights across the 47 Member States, home to more than 800 million Europeans. The prohibition of the death penalty in peacetime is ensured by Protocol No. 6, and all but one country has signed and ratified it. Protocol No. 13 extends this prohibition to all circumstances, including wartime. Today this protocol awaits ratification by eight countries.
The death penalty is controversial in society because its use affects some deep-seated instincts, including revenge, human dignity, hatred and fear. The news of a particularly cruel crime or cases where a loved one is a victim of violence often causes a sharp reaction in people, even to the point of a thirst for revenge and a desire to execute the criminal. Many people still consider the death penalty an acceptable response to particularly serious crimes. In addition, there are countries in the world where the death penalty still exists.
Such a legally sanctioned murder is as inhumane as the crime committed, punishable by death. Victims of crime need support and justice, but there are many reasons why the death penalty is incompatible with justice and other values of our society. We should keep Europe a death penalty-free zone.
The death penalty does not prevent crime
Statistics for countries that have abolished the death penalty by law constantly confirm the lack of connection between executions and crime rates. A major UN study in 1996 found that there was no evidence that “execution is any more deterrent than life imprisonment.” Data from the United States, where the death penalty is not used in all states, shows that this punishment does not prevent crime. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the number of crimes and murders in states with death penalty laws is no lower than in states that do not use it.
The justice system is not immune to mistakes and makes mistakes
The risk of an irreversible mistake and the execution of an innocent person is very real - and it happens more often than you might imagine. Since 1976, more than 113 people have been released from death row in the United States after being found not guilty. Innocent people can be executed not only as a result of a miscarriage of justice, but also purposefully: the death penalty in some countries is a notorious way of getting rid of political opponents. Such victims are simply sentenced to death after an unfair trial.
Murderers should not become martyrs
In some cultures, the death penalty means a kind of transformation of the executed into a martyr. Thus, political or pseudo-religious movements that resort to violence and death receive justification and support. Despite the need for just punishment for one of the world's worst tyrants, the hanging of Saddam Hussein brought neither justice nor peace to Iraq. Moreover, the inhumanity and cruelty of his punishment became the focus of international media attention.
Human rights: it concerns everyone
Violations of human rights should not be punished by violations of the right to life. A ban on the death penalty does not mean being lenient on crimes - people who have committed serious crimes must be severely punished, they must realize that their behavior is unacceptable.
It may seem paradoxical that a rapist and murderer is given the right to life, despite the fact that the victims of their crimes suffered so cruelly. However, state-sanctioned murder (which is what the death penalty is) does nothing to protect the rights of the victim. The murder of a criminal is another crime that cannot correct the past, no matter how much suffering and pain the victim experiences. It cannot resurrect the victim, but only widens the circle of violence and cruelty.
What can I do to support abolition of the death penalty?
Unfortunately, the complete abolition of the death penalty has not yet been completed.
Many Europeans still support the very idea of the death penalty, and it is necessary to constantly explain why it is untenable, why execution has been abolished in many countries and why it should remain prohibited. Your support in this matter is essential. Together we can influence the evolution of policy in this area in countries outside Europe (such as the USA and Japan) with the goal of legislative abolition of the death penalty. We must again and again call on these countries to follow the example of European and other countries where society has already said “Yes” to justice and “No” to cruelty, torture and death. “The fight for the abolition of the death penalty must continue” (statement by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights)
Which countries use the death penalty?
Despite the fact that global practice is moving towards abandoning such a radical measure of punishment, today there are 58 countries in which the state can kill criminals.
Among them are such developed powers as Japan, China, the UAE, Singapore and the United States of America. Most states that allow capital punishment are in Africa and Asia. Almost all European countries do not impose the death penalty. Among our closest neighbors, the death penalty is still used in the Republic of Belarus.
Does the death penalty help in the fight against crime?
- There is no direct connection between the introduction of the death penalty and a decrease in crime rates. Moreover, in those countries where the death penalty is in force and criminal legislation is clearly repressive, crime rates and levels of violence in society tend to be quite high. In countries where the death penalty is prohibited and the criminal law is “vegetarian”, both the crime rate and the level of violence are significantly lower.
- The only developed country where the death penalty is actively used is the United States. Only 19 states (out of 50) have abolished executions. And it is in the United States, unlike European countries, that a consistently high level of street crime is recorded. In the United States, there are 4.7 murders per 100,000 people per year, versus 0.6 in Norway and 0.7 in Switzerland.
Third commentary to Article 59 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. To date, a trend has clearly emerged aimed at the complete elimination of the death penalty as a type of criminal punishment. Article 20 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation emphasizes the temporary nature of this harsh measure: “The death penalty, until its abolition, may be established by federal law as an exceptional measure of punishment for especially serious crimes against life...”.
2. Currently, punishment in the form of the death penalty cannot be imposed regardless of the status of the court considering cases of crimes for which the sanctions include the death penalty, on the basis of a decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (see commentary to Article 44 of this Code).
3. The death penalty, like life imprisonment, is not applied to the specified categories of convicts.
4. The basis for the execution of the death penalty is a court sentence that has entered into legal force, as well as the decision of the President of the Russian Federation to reject the convict’s petition for clemency or the decision of the President of the Russian Federation not to apply pardon to the convict who refused to apply for clemency.
Federal Law of December 17, 2009 N 324-FZ, this article was supplemented by clause 2.1, which contains a ban on the use of the death penalty to a person extradited to the Russian Federation by a foreign state for criminal prosecution in accordance with an international treaty of the Russian Federation or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity .
The ban will be justified if, in accordance with the legislation of the foreign state that extradited the person, the death penalty is not provided for the crime committed by this person or the non-application of the death penalty is a condition of extradition, or the death penalty cannot be imposed on him for other reasons. ‹ Article 58. Assignment of a type of correctional institution to those sentenced to imprisonmentUpChapter 10. Assignment of punishment ›
Commentary to Art. 59 Criminal Code
1. The death penalty has the following characteristics: a) an exceptional measure of punishment; b) can be established only for especially serious crimes that encroach on life (Part 2 of Article 105, Articles 277, 295, 317, 357 of the Criminal Code); c) the accused is given the right to have the case tried by a jury.
2. On November 19, 2009, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation explained that as a result of a long moratorium on the use of the death penalty, stable guarantees of the human right not to be subjected to the death penalty were formed and a constitutional and legal regime was formed, within which - taking into account international legal trends and obligations undertaken by the Russian Federation, an irreversible process is taking place aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.
Witness
Boa Constrictor, who received the last death sentence in Russia, committed the following crimes with greater cruelty. The second victim is a teenager from the Zvezdny camp in the Odintsovo district. He cut off the boy's head and ripped open the abdominal cavity; the severed genitals were found next to the body in a bag.
The third victim was dismembered in the village of Zarechye. The crime was committed with great cruelty, because more than 30 stab wounds were found on the remains of the dismembered body.
After three cases, the Odintsovo district police department created an investigative and operational group to capture Golovkin, because it became clear that a serial, especially dangerous criminal had appeared in the city. That’s how they found the first witness in the pioneer camp “Zvezdny”, he claimed that he saw a Boa constrictor, and he said his last name.
Handwriting
The last time a death sentence was carried out in Russia was a few weeks before the abolition of the death penalty on the territory of the state.
During the “lull”, Fischer purchased a car and received a place for a garage on the territory of the Moscow stud farm, where he worked as a livestock specialist. Beneath it he set up a place of torture for his future victims.
This is how the criminal’s style changed, he lured people into his garage under various pretexts or picked up teenagers voting on the road. After the torture, Golovkin took the bodies to the “burial grounds.”
The history of the lethal measure of restraint
Talion’s principle of retaliation “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is the first semblance of a law on lethal restraint for a person. According to this principle, retribution must be carried out in accordance with the crime.
This is a crude expression of justice, according to which the person who committed the murder must himself be killed, and in the same way. This trend has many branches depending on the state. For example, in Russian legislation, a semblance of such a principle existed in the Council Code until 1649.
In the post-war period, the tendency to abolish this preventive measure actively began to spread. The main role in this trend was played by the norms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which came into force in 1948. Where it is said that each of the representatives of the human race has a legal right to life and no one else has the right to encroach on it.
By 2008, 135 out of 197 states abandoned this type of execution, replacing it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
This video will show the defendants' reactions to the judge's sentencing of their death penalty:
