The political use of death penalty in the Fifth Republic (1959-1981)

Nicolas Picard Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne / ENS de Cachan

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Repartition of the death sentences (1959-1981)

Military courts (FLN)Military courts (OAS & other)Criminal courts (mainland France)Criminal courts (Algeria, overseas territories)

1945 1950 1959 1962 1969 1974 19810

102030405060708090

Death sentences Executions

Charles de Gaulle (1959-

1969)Georges Pompidou (1969-1974)

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (1974-1981)

I/ Individualizing and depoliticizing the decision

II/ The right of reprieve under pressure

III/ Defining a policy of clemency?

I. Individualizing and depoliticizing the decision

1) The administrative procedure of pardon

Death sentence

Reports of the president of the Assizes, the attorney general and

the prosecuting attorneyePre-trial investigation of the

case

Memorandum of the lawyerRequest of pardon : report of a Ministry’s magistrate

Opinion of the Board of Directors of the Ministry

of Justice

Report of a member of the SCM

Opinion of the Commission of Pardons

of the SCM

Examination of the report by the

President

Lawyer’s audiency granted by the

President

Decision of the President :

commutation/execution

Opinion of the Minister of Justice, vice-

president of the SCM

Examination and vote of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy (chaired

by the President)SUPREME COUNCIL OF

THE MAGISTRACY

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

PRESIDENCY

I. Individualizing and depoliticizing the decision

1)The administrative procedure of pardon

2) A lonely decision, “in all conscience”

Moussa Benzahra, pardoned in 1976

Christian Ranucci, executed in 1976

I. Individualizing and depoliticizing the decision

1)The administrative procedure of pardon

2) A lonely decision, “in all conscience”

3) A presidential duty

II. A right of reprieve under pressure

1) An absence of debate about executions and pardons during the 1960s

II. A right of reprieve under pressure

1) An absence of debate about executions and pardons during the 1960s

2) Suspicions of a bloody political agenda

Claude Buffet Roger Bontems

Executed in 1972

II. A right of reprieve under pressure

1) An absence of debate about executions and pardons during the 1960s

2) Suspicions of a bloody political agenda

3) Pressures of the lobbies and the public opinion

Death sentences and executions (1959-1981)

1959 1962 1969 1974 19810

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Death sentences Executions

Death sentences

Executions Rates

Charles de Gaulle (1959-1969)

32 12 37,5%

Georges Pompidou (1969-1974)

15 3 20%

Valery Giscard d’Estaing (1974-1981)

7 3 43 %1956 1960 1962 1969 1972 1978 1981

Support of the death penalty

78% 39% 34% 33% 53% 58% 63%

Support of the abolition

19% 50% 46% 58% 39% 33% 32%

III. Defining a policy of clemency?

1) A president shouldn’t bind his hands

III. Defining a policy of clemency?

1)A president shouldn’t bind his hands

2) The deterrent effect on some groups of criminals

III. Defining a policy of clemency?

1)A president shouldn’t bind his hands

2) The deterrent effect on some groups of criminals

3) Incomprehensible decisions...

Hamida Djandoubi, executed in 1977

Horneich and Keller,

pardoned in 1977