INDEX

Published on December 18, 2023.

Initial impressions of others based on facial appearances are often inaccurate yet can lead to dire outcomes. Across four studies, adult participants underwent a counterstereotype training to reduce their reliance on facial appearance in consequential social judgments of White male faces. In Studies 1 and 2, trustworthiness and sentencing judgments among control participants predicted whether real-world inmates were sentenced to death versus life in prison, but these relationships were diminished among trained participants. In Study 3, a sequential priming paradigm demonstrated that the training was able to abolish the relationship between even automatically and implicitly perceived trustworthiness and the inmates’ life-or-death sentences. Study 4 extended these results to realistic decision-making, showing that training reduced the impact of facial trustworthiness on sentencing decisions even in the presence of decision-relevant information. Overall, our findings suggest that a counterstereotype intervention can mitigate the potentially harmful effects of relying on facial appearance in consequential social judgments.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States

Published on December 12, 2023.

In a recently published academic article, Emory University History Professor Daniel LaChance writes about an important and underrecognized distinction in the way newspaper editors and journalists covered the executions of Black and white men in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Professor LaChance argues that the portrayals of the defendants made legal executions “a high-status punishment that respected the whiteness of those who suffered it.” While the length and detail of articles about the executions of Black men shrank dramatically over time, he notes that journalists consistently highlighted the humanity of white men who were executed, making it “easier for those who wanted to project a modern image of the South to distance capital punishment from lynching, a form of violence that was becoming a source of embarrassment for respectable white Southerners.”

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public Opinion

Published on October 7, 2023.

Of all retentionist countries, Singapore seems to be the most vocal about the need to execute individuals as a form of criminal punishment. MAI SATO (Monash University) reviews studies conducted or commissioned by Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs that claim public backing for and the effectiveness of the death penalty in managing drug trafficking. Sato finds that these studies provide far weaker evidence for using the death penalty for drug trafficking than their authors and officials citing them claim.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list Singapore
• Themes list Drug Offenses

Published in December 2023.

In “Death by Design” Parts 1 and 2, Wren investigated the state of court-appointed capital representation in Harris County—the death penalty capital of the world. The second report examines why that poor representation has thrived, and the ways that the judges overseeing those cases have enabled it to continue that way.

Wren recommends a total overhaul to the system of capital representation for poor defendants in Harris County, with either the public defender absorbing those cases or the judges establishing a new, freestanding capital public defender that is independent from judicial oversight.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Legal Representation

Published in December 2023.

In “Death by Design” Parts 1 and 2, Wren investigated the state of court-appointed capital representation in Harris County—the death penalty capital of the world.The first report delves into the failings of the lawyers in capital cases.

Wren recommends a total overhaul to the system of capital representation for poor defendants in Harris County, with either the public defender absorbing those cases or the judges establishing a new, freestanding capital public defender that is independent from judicial oversight.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Legal Representation

Published on 22 January، 2024.

The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views 2023 as a year that demonstrated Saudi Arabia’s inconsistency in using the death penalty. Besides the unexplained shift in the types of executed sentences, the implementation of death sentences for drug-related charges, and the disregard for international legal opinions, the high numbers indicate Saudi Arabia’s determination to use the death penalty without restraint.

In Saudi Arabia in 2023, 172 executions were carried out according to data from the Ministry of Interior published by the official news agency. The number of executions increased by 15% compared to the figure announced by the Ministry of Interior in 2022, where 147 sentences were reported, despite the mass execution of 81 individuals in 2022.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Saudi Arabia

Un regard déchirant sur la vie des femmes condamnées et les failles du système judiciaire américain. Aux Etats-Unis, 54 femmes « attendent » l’exécution de leur peine. Linda Carty et Melissa Lucio sont emprisonnées au Texas, Shawna Forde en Arizona. Elles se livrent. Parmi les prisonnières, certaines espèrent la révision de leur procès.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Death Row Conditions / Gender / Women

International law and laws of various countries prohibit the imposition of the death penalty on persons
with mental illness or developmental and intellectual disabilities due to the special barriers faced by
them in defending themselves; their limited moral culpability; and their diminished ability to
understand the nature and reason for their execution. However, due to lack of accommodations in
criminal proceedings and legal safeguards, persons with mental illness, developmental and intellectual
disabilities are at a greater risk of being sentenced to death and having their fair trial rights denied.

Authors:
Maitreyi Misra, Director (Mental Health and Criminal Justice), Project 39A, National Law University
Delhi.
Namrata Sinha, Research Associate (Mental Health and Criminal Justice), Project 39A, National Law
University Delhi.
Neeraj Gill, Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra and Griffith University,
School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
Soumitra Pathare, Consultant Psychiatrist, Director, Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, ILS
Law College, Pune.
Afzal Javed, President, World Psychiatric Association.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Fair Trial / Intellectual Disability
• Available languages 世界精神醫學會針對精神健康與死刑之立場聲明

Detailed factsheet on the link between torture and the death penalty, to mark the 21st World Day against the Death Penalty.Detailed factsheet on the link between torture and the death penalty, to mark the 21st World Day against the Death Penalty.

• Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
• Available languages Fiche détaillée - Journée mondiale 2023

• Document type World Coalition