Mirties bausmės įvairių valstybių baudžiamuosiuose įstatymuose komparatyviniai aspektai

Abstract

The article "Comparative Aspects of the Death Penalty in Criminal Laws of Various States" reveals the outlook of different states on the death penalty. The author thinks that bearing in mind other states' legal regulations, as well the existing practice of imposing the death penalty in those countries, it is easier to find a solution to the death penalty problem in Lithuania. In the article states are classified into four groups: states, in which the death penalty is often imposed; states, in which the death penalty is imposed only for the gravest offenses commited during a time of peace or for military crimes; states, that foresee the death penalty in their criminal laws but do not impose it in practise; and states, that do not foresee the death penalty in the criminal law. In the author's opinion, the main criteria indicating the outlook of every state on the death penalty are the limits in which this penalty is applied, that is, for how many and for which criminal activities the death penalty is foreseen. Defining Lithuania's point of view on the death penalty, the author indicates that very often a preliminary prerequisite is made by the press or by certain politicians who claim that courts impose too mild penalties and that those penalties do not make any preventive effect on other persons. A high crime rate in Lithuania, its structure, and an increasing number of those that suffer from crimes stipulates that not only the inhabitants, but sometimes our lawyers as well, forget the academic truth: the most important thing is not the severity of punishment but its inevitability.