BOOKS: Abolition, One Man’s Battle Against the Death Penalty

A compelling narrative of the legal and political fight to end the death penalty in France has just been released in an English translation. Abolition: One Man’s Battle Against the Death Penalty is authored by Robert Badinter, probably the single person most responsible for abolishing the death penalty in France. He begins his story in 1972 when one of his clients was guillotined in a case he felt was unjust. Upon dedicating his career to abolishing the death penalty, he agreed to represent any convict facing capital punishment, and he succeeded in having six death sentences overturned. Readers follow Badinter’s journey from writing the legislation to ban the death penalty to the push through the National Assembly and Senate. His narrative moves from courtroom experiences to the political front throughout this memoir. Badinter currently sits in the French Senate and is one of the founders of the World Congress Against the Death Penalty.

The new edition can be purchased at Amazon.com. (R. Badinter, Abolition: One man’s battle against the death penalty, Northeastern University Press, 2008; translated by Jeremy Mercer). See Books.