Europe's Commitments to Abolish the Death Penalty

In 1983, the Council of Europe opened Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights for signature, requiring abolition of the death penalty in peacetime for states that ratified it. National abolition had begun earlier in some countries, and Europe's legal path was gradual.

The protocol helped establish abolition as a regional human-rights commitment. It did not instantly change every law or remove all risks of wrongful conviction; the broader abolition process depended on domestic politics, courts, and later treaties.

Without the protocol, national reforms could still have continued, but regional pressure and common standards might have developed more slowly. It cannot be said that keeping capital punishment would inevitably have produced a specific number of wrongful executions.

A punishment that cannot be reversed demands exceptional scrutiny. Legal systems should be judged by the reliability of evidence and the safeguards owed to people whom the state accuses.

Legal systems should be judged by the reliability of evidence and the safeguards owed to people whom the state accuses.

What level of uncertainty would I accept before allowing the state to impose a punishment that cannot be undone?