INDEX

This report provides death row statistics and an update on executions in the US as of July 2019.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

This Practice guide offers guidance to defense counsel in Uganda for the accused person facing a criminal trial of a capital offence involving a death penalty. The best practices are intended to ensure effective legal representation in order to mitigate the potential of imposition of the death penalty. The best practices detailed in the Practice guide intend to enhance the performance of criminal defense counsel in all stages of the criminal trial proceeding to mitigate the adverse effect of an erroneous conviction and sentencing of the accused person to death.The Practice guide was developed in recognition of the unique nature and effect of the death penalty compared to other criminal penalties, and therefore defense counsel in a capital case should take extraordinary efforts on behalf of the accused to review and ensure compliance with these best practices throughout the proceedings.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Legal Representation,

This article draws on two original empirical research projects that explored judges’ opinions on the retention and administration of capital punishment in India and Bangladesh. The data expose justice systems marred by corruption, incompetence, abuses of due process, and arbitrary and inconsistent treatment of defendants from arrest through to conviction and sentencing. It shows that those with the power to sentence to death have little faith in the integrity of the criminal process. Yet, a startling paradox emerges from these studies; despite personal knowledge of its flaws, judges have trust in the death penalty to deter crime and to realise other sentencing aims and feel retention benefits society. This is explained by reference to utilitarian values. Not only did our judges express strongly utilitarian justifications for sentencing people to death, in terms of their erroneous belief in its deterrent effect, but some also articulated utilitarian justifications for misconduct in pre-trial processes, suggesting that it was necessary to break the rules to secure convictions when the system was dysfunctional and ineffective.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Bangladesh
• Themes list Arbitrariness, Death Penalty,

The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) – a statewide advocacy organization based in Austin, Texas – publishes this annual report to inform the public and elected officials about issues associated with the death penalty over the past year. The report includes illustrative charts and graphs, and cites the death penalty developments in Texas (USA).

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Death Penalty,

In May 2019, at least 85 alleged juvenile offenders were sitting on death row in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Last year, seven child offenders were executed, and since the year 2000, Iran has put to death at least 140 individuals for offenses they allegedly committed as children. Today, on World Day Against the Death Penalty, Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABC) releases an original report titled, Children, Yet Convicted as Adults, which challenges Iran’s justifications for the use of capital punishment against child offenders, examines the question of maturity through the lens of empirical scientific research, and calls on the Islamic Republic to take immediate action to ensure that no individual is put to death for crimes committed as a child

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles, Death Penalty,

This study aims to assess the possibility of Viet Nam ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. It analyzes: (a) the current international legal framework and the process of legal development to abolish the death penalty in selected countries, (b) the compatibility between the existing regulations on the death penalty in the Vietnamese legal system and the Second Optional Protocol of the ICCPR, and (c) the assessment of feasibility for abolition of the death penalty in Viet Nam.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list International law, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Viêt Namese : Khả năng của Việt Nam gia nhập Nghị định thư tùy chọn thứ hai về bãi bỏ hình phạt tử hình theo Công ước quốc tế về các quyền dân sự và chính trị (ICCPR)

This joint stakeholder report aims to provide up-to-date and useful information to understand the reality of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in view of the next review of Iran by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in November 2019. The substantive information was gathered from news, reports and testimonies from various local sources. Iran is one of the leading death-sentencing and executing states in the world. Despite some recent steps towards limiting the scope of the death penalty for drug-related crimes, Iran’s use of capital punishment remains non-transparent, arbitrary, and worrisomely broad in scope.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list International law, Country/Regional profiles,

Fifty-five (55) OSCE participating States have either completely abolished the death penalty or maintain moratoria on executions as an important first step towards abolition. However, in a global context where discussions focus on the threat of terrorism and a need to be tough on crime, it is perhaps not surprising that the question of reintroducing the death penalty surfaces at times, including in the OSCE region. It is, therefore, a good moment to reflect on the reasons why there is still support for the death penalty, considering the growing understanding that capital punishment is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Some of the most persistent arguments used to justify the use of the death penalty and its possible reintroduction will be discussed in the report.

• Document type International law - Regional body
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

The evidence reviewed demonstrates frequent and heavy-handed recourse to the death penalty by Saudi Arabia in recent months. At least 149 people were executed in 2018, with at minimum 46 remaining on death row at the end of the year. A significant proportion of those executed were political dissidents, and a number were children at the time of their alleged offending. Each of these features connotes a grave violation of international human rights norms.

• Document type International law - Regional body

Although much research has been carried out into the administration of justice in death penalty cases in Indonesia, there is little research into the conditions of detention of the men and women sentenced to death in that country. This study is one of the first to focus on the conditions of detention of death row prisoners in Indonesia. This report aims to give a voice to the men and women on death row in Indonesia and to their families, while documenting their situation.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Indonesian : Tidak Manusiawi: Kondisi Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Bagi Terpidana Mati di Indonesia