The Editor, Sir:

In 2002, Americans were very happy because they had only 16,638 criminal homicides. And they were right, because from 1984 to 1993, criminal homicides were 22,000 per year. Au contraire, in the same 2002, in Italy, we were very afraid because, with a population that is about one fifth of the American one, we had 638 criminal homicides, and we were very concerned about it, even if those 638 were less than one third the homicides we had in 1991.

Americans love to think the drop is a benefit of the death penalty. We cannot agree, because we are a death-penalty-free country. (In Europe, this punishment is strictly forbidden and the majority of the world is abolitionist.)

Actually, Italy ended capital punishment in 1877 and had it again only under fascism. In those sad years, the homicide rate was five times bigger than we have now, and in the 20 years following the definitive end of the death penalty (1948-1968), the homicide rate dropped from five to 1.4.

Waste of life

Something like this happened in Canada in the years that followed the end of capital punishment in 1976. Curiously, in the same year, the Supreme Court gave the green light to the "new and improved" American death penalty, and with the shooting of Gary Gilmore (January 17, 1977), the hangman was back in business and the experiment began. Now, after more than 1,000 human sacrifices, we can say with Justice Blackmun: "The death penalty experiment has failed."

The death penalty is an enormous waste of life, money, time and resources. This cancer is destroying the American justice system. It is not a deterrent and kills the poor, the weak, the mad, the illiterate, and the black.

Of the thousand killed, some were innocent, many mad, and many not guilty of a capital crime. Quite a few would be alive, and some free, if they had had competent counsel. Hangman states are not in a better situation than states without the death penalty. Sooner or later, Americans will realise that the death penalty is an immoral, indecent, illegal, expensive, stupid, cruel, dangerous, racist, classist, not-working violation of human rights.

I am, etc.,

CLAUDIO GIUSTI

giusticlaudi@inwind.it

Italy

Via Go-Jamaica

Claudio Giusti participated in the first congress of the Italian section of Amnesty International. Later, he was one of the founders of the World Coalition Against The Death Penalty.