The Contemporary Debate on Capital Punishment – with Special Regard to that in Hungary

Abstract

The present paper deals with the contemporary controversy on the issue of death penalty, concentrating primarily on three aspects of the general debate on the matter. The goal of the article is to cover the arguments and counterarguments that have emerged today amidst the discussion on these topics. In order to achieve this goal, the present paper, after a short theoretical introduction, analyses the arguments of this debate in three separate chapters based on three distinct topics since an unintentional misunderstanding and deliberate misconceptions stem primarily from the fact that abolitionists and retentionists tend to talk alongside each other. Hence, the present article reviews three selected matters of the capital punishment controversy (humanity, necessity/death penalty vs. life imprisonment, and serving the purpose of punishment) separately. Presenting the idea in such a manner can, hopefully, clear the different standpoints and make it possible to reach a mutual understanding (albeit not agreement with each other). Due to the lack of space and for rationality considerations, this article does not cover other, also very important, matters (e.g. deterrent effect, miscarriage of justice, financial, and other aspects).