In 2012, Latvia became the last EU member State to abolish capital punishment in war time. Would that be of any news value to us? Well, the truth of the matter is that from time to time and usually following some outrageous murder or massacre hitting the media, voices are heard clamouring for the return of the death penalty as the surest way to deter a repetition of a similar occurrence.
But it does not seem that public opinion in Europe would in general favour such an extreme view.
Latest reports on the use of capital punishment in Europe in the case of homicide or other serious crimes in war time clearly show in fact that the death penalty is on the way to extinction.
The death penalty in Malta was abolished from the Criminal Code in 1971. But it was only in 2000 that it was completely suppressed and struck off the Military Code in the case of treason in times of war.
In all, 18 executions were carried out under British rule in the period between 1875 and 1943. The last occurrence on record was a double take.
On 5 July 1943, brothers Karmenu and Guzeppi Zammit were hanged following their conviction for murder. Just a few months earlier though, on November 25, 1942, another execution took place after Carmelo Borg Pisani was found guilty of treason by a panel of judges and sentenced to death.
Subsequently, two other death sentences were handed down by the criminal court in 1962 and 1963 respectively, but both were commuted to life imprisonment.
Incidentally, although there were also sentences condemning female convicts to death by hanging, all were reprieved.
There is no reason to believe that its abolition has had an impact on crime patterns in Malta with regard to the incidence of wilful homicide. Malta has moreover signed and ratified Protocol 13 of the European Convention of Human Rights that prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances, even in war time.
At European level, the overall record in the stance against the death penalty is impressively positive. In fact, capital punishment has almost been abolished, or at least suspended, throughout the whole of Europe with the exceptions of Belarus and Kazakhstan.
According to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, which resorts to the death penalty quite frequently, all executions are carried out by means of a firing squad.
There is no reason to believe that its abolition has had an impact on crime patterns in Malta with regard to the incidence of wilful homicide
The Russian Federation has suspended the death penalty indefinitely under what is called a moratorium. Historically, San Marino and Portugal were the first two European states which abolished the death penalty in all circumstances.
Some Church leaders too have taken a firm stand on this issue. Pope Francis, in particular, has also spoken a number of times on the death penalty in no uncertain terms calling it “inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed”.
The Pontiff even chose to address questions of methods of execution remarking that “there is some discussion in some quarters about the method of killing, as if it were possible to find ways of ‘getting it right’... But there is no humane way of killing another person”.
Since 2007, the European Day against the Death Penalty is marked each year on October 10 by means of a declaration issued by the Council of Europe along with the World Day against the Death Penalty. The European Union has also shared this initiative since 2008. The ultimate goal is to achieve the universal abolition of the death penalty.
From a global perspective, however, the aim towards total abolition of the death penalty, or at least a temporary stay through a moratorium, still seems to be quite a long way off. According to a recent Amnesty International report, 1,634 people were known to have executed in 25 countries during 2015. This figure represents a 54% rise over the number of executions recorded the previous year.
Most of the executions took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa and the US, in that order. In the US, a number of states have opted to abolish it and there is a growing debate among other states against maintaining it.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to know precisely what the overall situation worldwide is like in terms of statistics due to lack of information. For example, China does not publish any information as to the number of executions conducted in its territory. The same situation prevails in some other countries.
Then there is the question of how these executions are carried out, although all pro-abolitionists would rather not be engaged in such a subject since to them, whatever the form it takes, it remains reprehensible.
Different methods of execution are in fact employed: beheading, hanging, electric shock, lethal injection and shooting. All of these methods are cruel but the lethal injunction method has often been the subject of harsh criticism since quite often the fatal drug concoction that is used takes time to take effect, subjecting the condemned person to a long excruciating pain until death occurs.
Death through electrocution (commonly known as the “electric chair”) has also been much criticised for prolonging the sufferance before death ensues.
Without in any way forgetting or dismissing the terrible ordeal, extreme pain and deep anguish caused to the victims of homicide and their families and friends, I still believe that inflicting the death penalty on the perpetrator of the crime on the part of the State is neither the right answer nor an effective remedy in the circumstance.
Stefano Filletti is a lawyer and the Head of Department of Criminal Law at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta.