Abstract
In Chapter 3, I research whether capital punishment can be considered an inhumane punishment. In this regard, I do not focus primarily on constitutional considerations (e.g. the cruel and unusual nature of the death penalty), but on the physical pain of an “average” execution and the mental torment caused to the death row inmates awaiting execution. As part of this, I examine the question of whether or not it is possible to speak of a “humane execution.”
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Notes
- 1.
See the same in the parallel opinion of Tamás Lábady and Ödön Tersztyánszky (“it cannot be stated that entire deprivation of life is conceptually unlawful, that is, arbitrary”).
- 2.
See: József Vigh: A halálbüntetés eltörlésének időszerűségéről [The timeliness of the abolition of the death penalty], p. 118. In: Belügyi Szemle, 1995, pp. 15–20. (Highlighted by the original author.)
- 3.
See: Bertalan Szemere: A büntetésről s különösebben a halálbüntetésről. [On punishment, and more particularly capital punishment.] Halálbüntetést Ellenzők Ligája (Anti-Death Penalty League), 1990, pp. 123–126.
- 4.
Elemér Balás: A halálbüntetésről [On Capital Punishment]. Révai és Salamon Könyvnyomdája, Budapest, 1900, p. 18.
- 5.
See: Vigh: op. cit., p. 19; György Pálinkás: Requiem egy jogintézményért [Requiem for a legal institution], p. 67. In: Belügyi Szemle, 2001/6, pp. 63–73.
- 6.
For concrete examples of flawed executions, without further details, see e.g.: Marian J. Borg and Michael L. Radelet: On botched executions. In: Peter Hodgkinson and William A. Schabas, (eds.): Capital Punishment. Strategies for Abolition. Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 143–168.
- 7.
Cited: When the state kills … p. 170. Amnesty International Publications, 1989 In: Ágnes Sebes (ed.): A halálbüntetésről. (On Capital Punishment.) Medvetánc Füzetek, Magvető Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1990, pp. 95–218.
- 8.
Baze v. Rees 553 U.S. 35 (2008).
- 9.
In 2010 the average time spent on the death row was 178 months; in 1994 “only” 122 month (about ten years) and in 1984 74 months (about six years). (Find the summary chart of time spent at the death row for the period between 1984 and 2000 here: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics: Capital Punishment, 2010—Statistical Tables. December 2011, NCJ 236510, p. 12. In: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cp10st.pdf)
- 10.
Szilvia Antal, László Tibor Nagy, and Ágnes Solt,: Az életfogytig tartó szabadságvesztés empirikus vizsgálata. (Empirical investigation on real life imprisonment.), pp. 63–64. In: György Virág (ed.): Kriminológiai tanulmányok 46 (Criminological Papers 46). OKRI, Budapest, 2009, pp. 54–94.
- 11.
Robert Murray: Execution is Inhumane. In: Mary E. Williams (ed.): Capital Punishment: Current Controversies. Greenhaven Press, 2005, pp. 57–61.
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Toth, Z.J. (2020). Capital Punishment as an Inhumane Punishment. In: Changing Attitudes Towards the Death Penalty. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47557-4_3
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