INDEX

Chivalry – that set of values and code of conduct for the medieval knightly class – has long influenced American law, from Supreme Court decisions to substantive criminal law doctrines and the administration of criminal justice. The chivalrous knight was enjoined to seek honor and defend it through violence and, in a society which enforced strict gender roles, to show gallantry toward “ladies” of the same class, except for the women of the knight’s own household, over whom he exercised complete authority. This article explores, for the first time, whether these chivalric values might explain sentencing outcomes in capital cases. The data for the article comes from our original study of 1299 first degree murder cases in California, whose death penalty scheme accords prosecutors and juries virtually unlimited discretion in making the death-selection decision. We examine sentencing outcomes for three particular types of murder where a “chivalry effect” might be expected – gang murders, rape murders and domestic violence murders. In cases involving single victims, the results were striking. In gang murders, the death sentence rate was less than one-tenth the overall death sentence rate. By contrast, in rape murder cases, the death sentence rate was nine times the overall death sentence rate. The death sentence rate for single-victim domestic violence murders was roughly 25% lower than the overall death sentence rate. We also examined, through this study and earlier California studies, more general data on gender disparities in death sentencing and found substantial gender-of-defendant and gender-of-victim disparities. Women guilty of capital murder are far less likely than men to be sentenced to death, and defendants who kill women are far more likely to be sentenced to death than defendants who kill men. We argue that all of these findings are consistent with chivalric norms, and we conclude that, in the prosecutors’ decisions to seek death and juries’ decisions to impose it, chivalry appears to be alive and well.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Women,

The past several decades have seen the emergence of a movement in the criminal justice system that has called for a greater consideration for the rights of victims. One manifestation of this movement has been the “right” of victims or victims’ families to speak to the sentencing body through what are called victim impact statements about the value of the victim and the full harm that the offender has created. Although victim impact statements have been a relatively noncontroversial part of regular criminal trials, their presence in capital cases has had a more contentious history. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned previous decisions and explicitly permitted victim impact testimony in capital cases in Payne v. Tennessee (1991). The dissenters in that case argued that such evidence only would arouse the emotions of jurors and bias them in favor of imposing death. A body of research in behavioral economics on the “identifiable victim effect” and the “identifiable wrongdoer effect” would have supported such a view. Using a randomized controlled experiment with a death-eligible sample of potential jurors and the videotape of an actual penalty trial in which victim impact evidence (VIE) was used, we found that these concerns about VIE are perhaps well placed. Subjects who viewed VIE testimony in the penalty phase were more likely to feel negative emotions like anger, hostility, and vengeance; were more likely to feel sympathy and empathy toward the victim; and were more likely to have favorable perceptions of the victim and victim’s family as well as unfavorable perceptions of the offender. We found that these positive feelings toward the victim and family were in turn related to a heightened risk of them imposing the death penalty. We found evidence that part of the effect of VIE on the decision to impose death was mediated by emotions of sympathy and empathy. We think our findings open the door for future work to put together better the causal story that links VIE to an increased inclination to impose death as well as explore possible remedies.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families,

The Parliamentary Assembly is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. The European experience has shown conclusively that the death penalty is not needed to check violent crime. The United States of America and Japan, as observer states, and Belarus, which aspires to membership of the Council of Europe are invited to join the growing consensus among democratic countries that protect human rights and human dignity by abolishing the death penalty. The report addresses a series of specific recommendations to the United States, Japan and Belarus aimed at promoting a moratorium on executions followed by definitive abolition of the death penalty.

• Document type International law - Regional body
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages La peine de mort dans les Etats membres et observateurs du Conseil de l'Europe – une violation des droits de l'homme

This report details the administration of the death penalty in Taiwan. It discusses Taiwans obligations under international law, how executions are carried out, the profile of the condemned, discrimination in the sysem and discusses placing a moratorium on executions in Taiwan.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages 重啓死刑執行 廢死之路大倒退- 2010台灣死刑報告

A survey of the opinions of a representative sample of 1,000 residents of Trinidad, almost all of them citizens, on the very topical subject of the death penalty, in particular the support for and use of the mandatory death penalty for murder under current Trinidadian law, has just been completed. The data was collected in Trinidad (but not Tobago for reasons largely of the cost involved in collecting a small sample of interviews) by face-to-face interviews between 16th November and 16th December 2010.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public opinion,

In August 2010, the Chinese government announced a draft amendment to China’s criminal law which would eliminate the death penalty for a total of 13 “economy-related nonviolent offenses,” including the smuggling of precious metals and cultural relics out of the country. However, the government has provided no indication regarding if or when the draft amendment might be approved, and, in September 2010, Chen Sixi, member of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee and vice chairman of the NPC’s Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs, announced that the government would not in fact pursue these reforms.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,

This report is does not specificly concern the death penalty but examines the use of the death penalty on juveniles and those with mental illness in many retentionist countries. It contains information gathered in 2009.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles, Mental Illness,

In the last decade, more than 30 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Fifty-eight countries worldwide now retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and less than half of these carried out executions in 2010. This report analyzes some of the key developments in the worldwide application of the death penalty in 2010, citing figures gathered by Amnesty International on the number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out during the year.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Condenas a meurte y ejecuciones en 2010Condamnations à mort et exécutions et exécutions en 2010

Detailed Factsheet 2010

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Fiche détaillée 2010

Poster World Day against the death penalty 2010

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Poster Spanish 2010Affiche journée mondiale 2010