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Capital Punishment In The French Revolution

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The dictionary meaning of capital punishment is the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime. The purposes for the use of capital punishment vary from retribution to deterrence (National Police Committee). Retribution would only come into play when the same amount of pain the victim has suffered is given to the criminal as punishment. Deterrence, on the other hand, according to the National Police Committee, implies a utilitarian purpose. Specific and general are two forms of deterrence (National Police Committee). Specific deterrence leans more towards punishing a criminal for his or her crimes in hopes that they will not commit another crime in the near future. General deterrence is to prevent such crimes from occurring in the first place (National Police Committee). In addition, the public openly knowing that the state can institute and practice the death penalty “serves to deter others from committing capital crimes to avoid similar punishment” (National Police …show more content…

In the French Revolution, capital punishment was also known as the usage of the guillotine. Although the start of the guillotine is quite unusual, the guillotine was argued for to the National Assembly (Klein) . A parisian deputy and anatomy professor, Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, stood before the National Assembly and “argued that it was unfair for common criminals to be executed by all kinds of torturous methods while aristocratic felons had the privilege of having quick decapitations” (Klein). In addition, the guillotine was seen as a good method for correcting criminals whom have committed crimes to a certain degree to deserve this kind of punishment. This being its use, the guillotine was well known during the French Revolution because it beheaded many important figures in history Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI, all within

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