France, Oct. 10 -- As countries mark World Day Against the Death Penalty on Friday - a day after France honoured Robert Badinter, the man who ended it in the country - experts say capital punishment is still failing to stop crime and instead fuels violence.

On 17 September, 1981, Badinter, then France's justice minister, stood before the National Assembly and declared: "Those who believe in the deterrent effect of the death penalty misunderstand human nature."

Badinter, who was inducted into the Pantheon in Paris on Thursday, was unwavering in his conviction that the fear of dying does not stop people from killing.

And yet, 44 years later, the debate rumbles on. More than 50 countriesretain the death penalty, often using the argument t...