Post-abolition: the anti-abolitionist press and the death penalty in Uruguay in the early decades of the twentieth century

Abstract

The present work considers the emergence of a series of propositions sustaining the need for the continued application of the death penalty in Uruguay after its suppression approved in 1907. To do so, the article examines a set of Montevideo diaries traditionally identified with the campaigns launched against abolition. Bodies such as La Tribuna Popular and El Bien, which played an active role in defending the preservation of the death penalty, continued to emphasize that it was the main impediment to crime. This study of the press paved the way for an investigation into the lingering of a discourse that questioned the very pertinence of the abolition, highlighting the negative consequences of its introduction. Deemed an idealist measure, the removal of the punitive arsenal was reflected in an increase in crime rates. Critics held prosecutors responsible for what they considered to constitute an alarming increase in crime linked to a strand of professional criminality spurred by the lenient nature of the criminal legislation in force. The article analyzes how calls for the reinstating of the death penalty were accompanied by a discourse in favor of more severe punishment, opposing legal modifications questioned for their benignity. This came to generate a new wave of support for the application of capital punishment that interpreted the tightening of punishment as an ideal social defense mechanism.