The United States-Europe Death Penalty Debate: A Comparison of Filmic Apologists

David S. Bettwy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Abstract

This article examines the structure of death penalty cinema in the United States and in Europe, with reference to over 50 films. American and European death penalty films mirror the principles that have guided death penalty policy in their respective societies. Pro-death penalty films are non-existent in European cinema. U.S. pro-death penalty films boldly convey the U.S. vigilante tradition in an entertaining and engaging manner by depicting real-life cases or real world scenarios. European anti-death penalty films effectively respond that incapacitation precludes the realistic hope of rehabilitation, but they ineffectively respond that “revenge” is futile, given the difference between vigilantism (which benefits the community) and revenge (which settles a personal score). U.S. anti-death penalty films are less daring than European anti-death penalty films in that they use fictional instead of real-life characters to warn of the danger of executing the wrong person, and often such characters narrowly escape injustice. Further, by excessively humanizing real-life murderers, they promote nothing more than a case-by-case evaluation of death-row inmates. Conversely, and more effectively, European anti-death penalty films tend to depict real-life cases of wrongly convicted and executed defendants, and they use fictional, unsympathetic characters to convey a universal message that the death penalty is immoral, aside from personal and practical considerations.