History of the death penalty in Spain
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Throughout history, the death penalty has been one of the most common punishments for criminals. Although it is currently repealed in most countries, most states have used it at some stage in their history. The case of Spain is not an exception, since until relatively recently it was something common as punishment. That is why today in a PROFESSOR we are going to discuss the history of the death penalty in Spain so that you know better this historical fact that happened in our country.
Index
- What do we understand by "death penalty"
- The origins of the death penalty in Spain
- The death penalty in the Second Republic and the Franco regime
- Abolition of the death penalty in Spain
What do we understand by "death penalty"
The first thing we must know to understand this lesson is what the death penalty is. The death penalty consists of causing the death of a person by a country such as punishment for committing a crime. Crimes that carry the death penalty are often called capital offenses.
Most societies have used this method at some point in their history. But nowadays there are not many who continue to use it, having been abolished in most European countries and Latin American countries. Currently, only 38 countries maintain the death penalty as a punishment.
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The origins of the death penalty in Spain.
The death penalty was quite common in the Kingdom of Spain, both in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Age. The most common forms of the death penalty were gallows and beheading. Although these were the most common ways, they were not the only methods used.
Later the vile club appeared, which would eventually become the most widely used instrument. The vile club appeared in the 15th century, although in a more primitive form than that used in later centuries.
In its early years the death penalty was related to Inquisition. The spiritual court of the Kingdom of Spain used to punish religious crimes by the death penalty. The Inquisition could not condemn capital punishment, so it handed over those sentenced to death to the royal courts, so that they could apply the penalty to heretics. This transfer from the courts of faith to the royal courts was known as Relaxation.
The increasing use of the vile garrote made in 1828, King Fernando VII, name it the only legal method of death penalty in Spanish territory. Therefore, hanging, burning or beheading were no longer valid forms of the death penalty.
The death penalty in the Second Republic and in the Franco regime.
The use of the death penalty in Spain found its first abolition in 1932, during the government of the II Spanish Republic. But it was recovered again in 1934, punishing in 1935 the crime of murder with the death penalty.
After this theSpanish Civil War, which ended with the Franco victory. The Franco regime reinstated the death penalty, a large number of people being executed for crimes committed during the war. During the Franco dictatorship, 126 death penalty executions took place, 14 of them by firing squad, and 112 by vile stick.
The last death sentences carried out in Spain were the September 17, 1975, when five people were shot. These executions provoked an international reaction, which led to several countries removing their embassies from Madrid for a time in protest.
Abolition of the death penalty in Spain.
To end this lesson in history on the death penalty in Spain, we must talk about the abolition of this method in the Hispanic country.
After the Franco dictatorship, democracy arrived in Spain, and with it the 1978 Constitution. In it, the death penalty was abolished, except as may be provided by military criminal laws for times of war.
Later, several European countries, including Spain, prohibited the death penalty in any circumstance, even in periods of war. Even so, the Spanish Constitution still maintains the section on the return of the death penalty in the case of military criminal law.
Currently, most countries have abolished this way of punishing crimesSpain being one of the firm defenders of the disappearance of this practice. Spain has gone from being one of its greatest defenders, not so many years ago, to being an example of the belief that criminals can change.
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