La pena di morte “perfetta” quale fase storico-giuridica che necessariamente precede la sua abolizione nell’ordinamento internazionale

The main hypothesis of the research presented in this volume is that the still-dominant view that general international law does not prohibit capital punishment in principle and absolutely will necessarily evolve in an abolitionist direction, thanks to a series of legal dynamics destined to become absolutely prevalent within the international legal system. These abolitionist "urges," which are being explored in depth by authoritative scholars in this collective work, can find their legal synthesis in the provocative assertion that today only the "perfect" death penalty is permitted under general international law—that is, capital punishment imposed and applied in compliance with all procedural, substantive, and personal limitations deriving from international human rights law. However, not only does legal perfection not exist, but even if it did exist, it would be difficult to imagine a state so advanced as to respect all existing constraints and yet so backward as to apply the "law of retaliation" in its own legal system. In short, the “perfect” death penalty is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms that logically does not exist and which constitutes the historical-legal phase that necessarily precedes its definitive abolition in the international legal system.