Aristide Briand was appointed Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice in the Clemenceau government, under the presidency of Armand Fallières. For the first time, those in the highest offices of State presented a bill on abolition of capital punishment. After cancelling the budget of 37,000 francs allocated to executioners’ allowances, the bill submitted to the Chamber was worded as follows: “The death penalty is abolished, except in cases where it is decreed by the codes of military justice for crimes committed in wartime.” Briand spoke in support of the government’s project before the representatives of the Chamber. Three types of arguments emerged: the legitimacy of the death penalty, changes in criminality, and the deterrent effect of capital punishment.

“For my part, I have studied the issue from the point of view of the utility of the penalty. I said to myself: if the crime figures, either in France or abroad, show that it would be imprudent to abolish the death penalty at the present time, if it appears to me that it has a power of deterrence, well, I shall say so to the Chamber and I shall renounce my support for the Government’s project. It is because, from all the documents that I have consulted, it is clear to me that the death penalty is ineffective, as has been said, that I have come before you to try to persuade you to share in the deep conviction that has been formed in me. Moreover - and I will end here - the most serious aspect of the problem has been touched upon very lightly: the death penalty is not reparable. Oh, I know! It has been said: yes, there are many other things in life that are not reparable! There are many other cases in which irremediable injustices are carried out. Gentlemen, in this case the act is committed by society. I beg you, do not place it on the same level as individuals; make it play its role and take its responsibilities. Society, in the Penal Code, has arrogantly attributed to itself a right that has been described as divine, that of taking life; but, in the Code of Penal Procedure, as successively amended, it has had to descend from the summit of conceit to which the Penal Code had raised it; it has been obliged to admit its weakness, its fragility; next to the code that dispenses death, there is the code that provides for errors, and consequently, social fallibility.”[1]

But a terrible crime occurred before the vote. Marthe Erbelding, aged 11, was raped and killed by a friend of her parents. This horrific event was exploited by the press. Even before the verdict, Le Petit Parisien announced the punishment of the accused, Albert Soleilland. The assize court sentenced him to death, to the applause of the crowd. President Fallières pardoned him and commuted the death sentence to forced labour for life in Cayenne. There were loud protests from journalists who disavowed the presidential decision. A campaign in favour of the ultimate punishment began, while in the Assembly the supporters of abolition were preparing to assert their views. Le Petit Parisien seized on the news item, presenting it as a sensational event by focusing on the stereotype of the ″sadistic, recidivist, immoral and asocial child murderer″. Le Petit Journal did the same. Moreover, allied with part of the judiciary, juries orchestrated a death-seeking campaign. Death sentences multiplied during trials before assize courts. Le Matin contested the systematic use of the power of mercy and denounced the laxity of the State. Le Petit Parisien proposed a “referendum” to its readers. To the question “Are you in favour of the death penalty?”, out of a total of 1,412,347 responses, 77% of those polled approved of the use of the ultimate sanction. The journalists’ manoeuvre worked. It was one reason for the reversal of the position of Chamber representatives. In the Chamber, representatives decided to follow the vote of their electorate and the death penalty was maintained. Under pressure, the government’s bill was rejected on 8 December 1908 by 330 votes to 201. As Jean-Marc Berlière recalled, “This crime would push back the abolition of the death penalty by three quarters of a century.”[2]

Marie Bardiaux-Vaïente

[1] Aristide Briand, 11 November 1908 (Annales de la Chambre des députés, S.E. 1908).
[2] Jean-Marc Berlière, “1907, La France a peur! L’affaire Soleilland”, L’Histoire, No. 323, September 2007. L’Histoire, n° 323, septembre 2007.