La fine della pena di morte

In this speech, Gustav Radbruch publicly speaks out against the execution of the condemned Peter Kürten. This becomes an opportunity for him to reiterate the humanitarian, legal-political, and psychological reasons against the legitimacy of the death penalty; and to express his deep concern about a possible regression in criminal law. Radbruch thus expresses his fear that primitive popular feelings of revenge could call into question the achievements of civilization, which must always be vigilantly guarded.