INDEX

Executions take a severe psychological toll on prison staff, with many experiencing PTSD, moral injury, and emotional distress. This article explores the hidden casualties of the death penalty, revealing how executioners and correctional officers face mental health challenges that often go unacknowledged. With insights from studies, personal accounts, and cases across the U.S., it highlights the urgent need for systemic support and reform.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Death Row Conditions / Mental Illness

Literature on opposition to the death penalty typically characterizes abolition as inexorable and attributes its fulfillment to the age of human rights. Although most countries abolished capital punishment after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, this article uses three comparative case studies to demonstrate abolition’s entanglement with a broader range of political, legal, and cultural factors. Applying a historically grounded nonteleological approach, we offer three insights. First, civilizationist values drove abolitionism in countries in the “vanguard,” such as Canada and England/Wales, where human rights rationales were expressed well after abolition and as a mark of superiority. Second, death penalty abolition has often allied with decolonization and penal reform, but assertions of independence and sovereignty have periodically provoked reinstatement, as in Mexican and Philippine history, which underscores the fragility of abolition. Third, state-centric approaches to de jure and de facto abolition overlook the practice of extrajudicial and summary “rebel” executions in polities such as Myanmar and Mali, which lack a state monopoly on force. Further historical studies that do not presuppose a human rights explanation of abolition and that compare jurisdictions within as well as between the Global North and South will better grasp the death penalty’s complex history.

• Document type Academic Article
• Countries list Canada / Mali / Mexico / Myanmar / Philippines / United Kingdom
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment / Trend Towards Abolition

Project 39A has launched Capital Letters from death row India, a unique digital exhibition curated by reFrame. Featuring letters, artwork, audio recordings, and photographs created by prisoners on death row, the exhibition offers a deeply humanizing look into their lived experiences. Through eight thematic sections, visitors can explore the complex realities of life on death row and engage with stories of hope, trauma, and resilience.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list India
• Themes list Death Row Conditions

The present report provides information on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 77/222, including on developments towards the abolition of the death penalty and the establishment of moratoriums on executions. Trends in the use of the death penalty, including the application of international standards relating to the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, are highlighted. Issues such as conditions of detention for persons on death row, the application of the death penalty to foreign nationals, its disproportionate and discriminatory application to women, its disproportionate impact on poor and economically vulnerable individuals, its discriminatory use on persons exercising their human rights, and various initiatives for advancing its abolition are also discussed. In the report, the Secretary-General welcomes progress made towards universal abolition in States representing different legal systems, traditions, cultures and religious backgrounds and concludes that all measures towards limiting the application of the death penalty constitute progress in the protection of the right to life.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Moratorium / Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages 2024 تقرير الأمين العام - وقف العمل عقوبة الإعدامInforme del Secretario General 2024 - Moratoria sobre el uso de la pena de muerte2024 Rapport du Secrétaire général - Moratoire sur l’application de la peine de mort2024 Доклад Генерального секретаря - Мораторий на смертную казнь2024年秘书长报告 - 暂停使用死刑

Human Rights Watch highlights a dramatic increase in unlawful executions in Iraq in 2024. At least 50 men were executed in September, often without fair trials or prior notice to families. Reports reveal torture, inhumane detention conditions, and arbitrary practices. The organization calls for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty and urgent reforms to Iraq’s judicial and prison systems.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Iraq

The Death Penalty Policy Project has published a comprehensive study analyzing over three decades of FBI homicide data. The findings reveal that U.S. states without the death penalty or with moratoria on executions are safer for both the public and police. By contrast, states actively carrying out executions rank among the least safe in the U.S. The study challenges long-held deterrence arguments and underscores the death penalty’s ineffectiveness as a public safety policy.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Countries list United States

The “Resolution on the United Nations General Assembly Biannual Vote Calling for a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty” (ACHPR/Res.614 (LXXXI) 2024) was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights during its 81st Ordinary Session in November 2024. The resolution emphasizes the importance of promoting human rights in Africa, particularly the right to life and dignity, as outlined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The resolution recalls past efforts to encourage African states to impose moratoriums on the death penalty, urging them to vote in favor of the UN General Assembly’s resolution calling for a universal moratorium. It highlights the significant support for these resolutions by African Union Member States, with increasing numbers of countries voting in favor over the years.

The Commission urges African countries that still have the death penalty to consider adopting moratoriums, reduce the number of crimes punishable by death, and ensure fair legal processes for those sentenced to death, including the right to seek pardon or commutation. It also calls for the possibility of abolishing the death penalty entirely in some states.

In summary, the resolution encourages African countries to align with global trends towards abolition, promote respect for human dignity, and consider the long-term benefits of a moratorium on the death penalty.

• Document type International law - Regional body
• Themes list Moratorium / Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages RESOLUTION SUR LE VOTE BIANNUEL DE L'ASSEMBLEE GENERALE DES NATIONS UNIES APPELANT A UN MORATOIRE SUR L'APPLICATION DE LA PEINE DE MORT. CADHP/Res.614 (LXXXI) 2024

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the Open Call for proposals for Financial Support to Third Parties of the Global Consortium for Death Penalty Abolition

• Document type Array
• Available languages FAQ Appel à propositions FSTP

As we commemorate the World Day Against the Death Penalty, Justice Project Pakistan presents the third edition of its annual statistics report, Death Penalty in Pakistan: Data Mapping Capital Punishment. This report offers a thoroughly updated and comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the death penalty in Pakistan.

Over the past decade, significant developments have shaped the landscape of capital punishment in Pakistan. This report delves into the data and provides an insightful overview of a period marked by a profound re-evaluation of the death penalty. Its aim is to highlight these developments through detailed statistical analysis and contextual insights.

Since the lifting of the moratorium on executions in December 2014, the administration of death sentences has undergone substantial changes. The statistics reflect a complex interplay of legal processes, judicial decisions, and evolving societal attitudes that influence the application of capital punishment. This edition captures these shifts and provides key findings on trends, patterns, and the underlying drivers.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Pakistan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On February 9, 2024, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) lifted the moratorium on executions that had been in place since 2003. This decision comes amid a deteriorating security situation in the eastern part of the country and increasing restrictions on civic space. Since the moratorium was lifted, human rights defenders who publicly oppose this decision have faced heightened repression from Congolese authorities. This note documents the violations suffered by these defenders in several provinces of the country, including:

– death threats and acts of physical violence;
– arbitrary arrests and detentions;
– baseless accusations and fabricated judicial proceedings;
– violations of property rights and freedom of movement;
– harassment targeting their relatives and collaborators.

These violations are mainly perpetrated by agents of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), the Military Detection of Unpatriotic Activities (Démiap), and security forces. The impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators allows this repression to continue.

This note also highlights the considerable impact that the criminalization of defenders has on their living conditions and those of their families, including:

– the inability to continue their activities due to fear of reprisals;
– economic and social consequences (loss of employment, marginalization);
– disruption of family life (forced relocations, separations);
– forced exile for some particularly threatened defenders.

The growing phenomenon of repression described in this note is part of a broader context of civic space restrictions in the DRC, exacerbated by the state of siege in place in some eastern provinces. This repression risks having a significant deterrent effect on the entire abolitionist movement and, more broadly, on any form of opposition to the government.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Themes list Moratorium
• Available languages Rapport sur la situation des défenseur.es abolitionnistes en République Démocratique du Congo