In the artistic field, execution refers to the way of doing something.
From the Latin exsecutio , the term execution allows us to name the action and effect of executing . This verb has several meanings: to carry out something, to perform something with ease, to play a piece of music, to execute, to claim a debt through an executive procedure or, in computing , to carry out operations that are specified by a program .
An execution can be, therefore, an action that takes place. For example: "I gave an order and I want to see its execution" , "The execution cannot take place three days after the order was made" , "Martínez made a mistake in taking the penalty and his team could not tie the game" .
In art , the execution is linked to the way of doing something : «The pianist's execution was phenomenal: the audience applauded him standing for several minutes» , «The sculptor's idea seemed interesting, but when he saw the finished work, he was the feeling that it failed in the execution .
Execution as a judicial procedure
In the field of law and justice , the concept of execution has two major uses.
On the one hand, this concept can refer to a judicial procedure with the seizure and sale of assets to achieve the payment of debts: «Nothing and no one can prevent the execution: we are going to have to leave the house» , «The mayor promised that he will stop foreclosures that affect mortgage debtors .
Death sentence
On the other hand, execution refers to killing a convicted person : "The execution of the Iraqi dictator was carried out despite the protests of thousands of people," "A few hours ago the execution of the Texas serial killer, who was executed with a lethal injection .
In this sense, we speak of execution when, after a legal procedure , an individual's life is taken because it is the only alternative that justice can find to be carried out properly. This way of understanding justice is absolutely strict and authoritarian. It tries to assert itself in a dangerous arbitrariness, of which people who have not committed the crime for which they are being executed are often victims .
Many literary works have been written regarding this topic. One of them is the one published by Víctor Hugo , "The last day of a person condemned to death" . A horrifying narrative where we are shown the humanity behind the individual who is taken to the scaffold.
The application of the death penalty is known as execution.
Extrajudicial execution
In this same meaning, the term can also refer to an illegal act . It is called extrajudicial execution and refers to a murder perpetuated by a government or person with a certain authority that is carried out outside the law, disregarding the rights of citizens and without waiting for legal approval.
This type of murder includes those committed by various unconstitutional governments , such as the dictatorships that ruled in several Latin American countries over time.
From legal to illegal
It is curious to think that the line that divides constitutional acts from those carried out outside the law is so blurred and that the same concept can be used in both cases. At this point one might wonder if human beings really have the right to take the life of another individual , beyond their actions or crimes committed.
Not only with regard to the possibility of misunderstanding, irrefutable in human beings, but also with regard to the right of all living beings to choose for life. Surely the solution is not to free criminals, but to allow them to choose their own sentence .