Bio Mathieu Lère
Chief editor of the documentary
Motion designer
Summary
In 1981, the death penalty was officially banned under the leadership of Francois Mitterrand. Robert Badinter is the person who fought for the abolition of the death penalty. He was confronted with Nazi barbarism when he was young and in the early 1970s he became a lawyer fighting for the abolition of the death penalty. The election of Mitterrand enabled him to bring the abolition of the death penalty to a successful conclusion. Badinter received a lot of support from Mitterrand.
Death penalty
The death penalty is understood to mean a punishment that takes away life. It is pronounced by a competent judge after a criminal trial.
The death penalty is the heaviest punishment that can ever be given to someone. There are many different opinions about it. The death penalty is already prohibited in most countries. But in some countries it is still allowed. Also there are a lot of people who are fighting to ban the death penalty.
There are several reasons why people are so strongly against the death penalty. The death penalty literally takes away your life. So it takes away the right to life. One could say that it is a good way to eliminate murderers or rapists permanently, so that they cannot commit further crimes. This is, of course, against the law, as punishment should be based only on crimes committed and not on crimes that might take place in the future. So the death penalty cannot be reversed. Once this punishment is applied, you can never go back. There is always a risk that an innocent person will be punished.
The principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is also sometimes mentioned. By which is meant that you should get the same punishment as your crime. But a punishment should never be applied on the basis of revenge.
It is said that the death penalty is more terrifying than any other punishment. But research shows the opposite. There would be no connection at all between the death penalty and the number of serious crimes committed in a country.
So there are many reasons to ban the death penalty and Badinter thought so too. He fought for the abolition of the death penalty and he succeeded.
