‘In the 20th century we had a humanitarian offensive’

Whereas capital punishment used to be the “strongest expression of sovereignty”, now its rejection is a sign that Switzerland’s system of direct democracy is in good health, according to Pirmin Meier, an author and historian.  swissinfo.ch interviewed Meier 75 years after Hans Vollenweider became the last Swiss to be executed in peace time. He was beheaded by guillotine in Sarnen, canton Obwalden, on October 18, 1940, for murdering three people.  swissinfo.ch: The death penalty was first abolished in Switzerland in 1874. Five years later voters brought it back, before getting rid of it in 1938. What was guiding these changes?  Pirmin Meier: There were various reasons for the [first] abolition. Conservatives, above all the Catholic conservatives, were not against the death penalty. According to the Catholic view of natural justice, guilt was the worst possible sin and life was something that could be forfeited. Swiss liberals on the other hand were by 1845 already ...