INDEX

This report marks the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the ‘abolitionist de facto’ (ADF) category in the UN’s quinquennial reports on the death penalty. Today, 42 states fall under the category of ADF – countries where no executions have taken place for at least a decade, but where the death penalty remains in law. Though an absence of executions must be commended, many ADF states still impose death sentences and, ultimately, sustain the legal infrastructure of capital punishment, with all the risks and harms this entails.

• Document type NGO report

The report shows that wrongful death-penalty convictions in the United States are often the result of systemic racism, human error and official misconduct — including false testimony, unreliable forensics, and biased jury selection — disproportionately affecting Black and other marginalized defendants.

• Document type NGO report

“Forgotten Service, Lasting Wounds” shows how many U.S. military veterans who end up on death row carry serious, untreated service-related trauma—such as PTSD or brain injuries—that is rarely presented to juries during sentencing.
The report highlights a clear “battlefield-to-prison” pipeline and argues that veterans’ backgrounds and mental health histories must be meaningfully considered in capital cases.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial

The document offers guidance for legal defenders on how to approach cases involving women and gender minorities, with an emphasis on gender-sensitive practice.
It covers methods for integrating intersectional analysis (race, class, gender identity, etc.) into legal strategy, ethical considerations in representation, trauma-aware interviewing, narrative construction, and team building.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Gender / Women

The report reviews death penalty developments in 20 retentionist Asian countries between 2020 and mid-2025.

• Document type NGO report

• Document type World Coalition
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Coalition Mondiale Rapport du Commissaire aux Comptes 2024

• Document type World Coalition
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Rapport d’Activité de la Coalition Mondiale 2024

The document traces how global abolitionist networks for the death penalty have grown and become more influential over recent decades. It discusses key strategies by states and NGOs pushing for a worldwide moratorium on executions and for complete abolition, highlighting how formerly retentionist regimes are increasingly isolated.

• Document type Academic Article

• Document type Book

The document is a guide aimed at those in the abolitionist movement who want to mobilize religious and customary leaders for the cause of abolishing the death penalty.

• Document type Lobbying
• Available languages Collaborer avec les leaders religieux et coutumiers : Un outil pour une action commune en faveur de l'abolition