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This report, Mass Injustice, presents the Egypt Death Penalty Index (“the Index”), a first-of-its-kind website and statisticaldatabase on Egypt’s application of thedeath penalty. The report provides background information on Egypt’s growing unlawful application of the death penalty, and explains how the Index was compiled.

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

The number of death sentences reached a new peak in 2018 in India.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public debate, Death Penalty, Statistics,

Reprieve wrote this report about the use of the death penalty in Egypt.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Egypt
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment / Death Row Conditions  / Fair Trial

Much has been written about why electrocution has persisted so stubbornly over the course of the twentieth century. This Article focuses briefly on more recent developments concerning why electrocution should be abolished entirely. Part I of this Article describes the facts and circumstances surrounding Bryan as well as Bryan’s unusual world-wide notice due to the gruesome photos of the executed Allen Lee Davis posted on the Internet. Part II focuses on the sociological and legal history of electrocution, most particularly the inappropriate precedential impact of In re Kemmler. In Kemmler, the Court found the Eighth Amendment inapplicable to the states and deferred to the New York legislature’s determination that electrocution was not cruel and unusual. Regardless, Kemmler has been cited repeatedly as Eighth Amendment support for electrocution despite Kemmler’s lack of modern scientific and legal validity.

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

This research will consider the principal claims and counterclaims made by death penalty supporters and opponents, as well as document the manner in which these claims were advanced or refuted. The nineteen-year debate provides a natural laboratory that can assist our understanding of why the United States is the only Western industrialized democracy to retain capital punishment.

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

Almost everyone agrees that indigent defense in America is underfunded, but workable solutions have been hard to come by. For the most part, courts have been unwilling to inject themselves into legislative budget decisions. And, when courts have become involved and issued favorable decisions, the benefits have been only temporary because once the pressure of litigation disappears so does a legislature’s desire to appropriate more funding. This Article proposes that if an indigent defense system is under-funded, the state supreme court should impose a default rule raising the standard of proof to “beyond all doubt” to convict indigent defendants. The legislature would then have the opportunity to opt out of this higher standard of proof by providing enough funding to bring defense lawyers’ caseloads within well-recognized standards or by providing funding parity with prosecutors’ offices. Such an approach will create an incentive for legislatures to adequately fund indigent defense without miring courts in detailed supervision of legislative budget decisions. At the same time, because courts can check once per year to determine whether there is funding parity with prosecutors’ offices or compliance with caseload guidelines, there will be constant pressure on legislatures to maintain adequate funding in order to avoid the higher standard of proof.

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

My assignment is to try to give an overview of the status of the death penalty in America at the beginning of the twenty-first century. I will try to put that in the context of how the death penalty was viewed thirty years ago, or more, and maybe that will tell us something about how the death penalty will be viewed thirty or forty years from now.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

In this paper we use reported exonerations as a window on false convictions generally. We can’t come close to estimating the number of false convictions that occur in the United States, but the accumulating mass of exonerations gives us a glimpse of what we’re missing. We located 340 individual exonerations from 1989 through 2003, not counting at least 135 innocent defendants in at least two mass exonerations, and not counting more than 70 defendants convicted in a series of childcare sex abuse prosecutions, most of whom were probably innocent. Almost all the individual exonerations that we know about are clustered in the two most serious common felonies: rape and murder. They are surrounded by widening circles of categories of cases that include false convictions that are rarely detected, if ever: rape convictions that have not been reexamined with DNA evidence; robberies, for which DNA identification is useless; murder cases that are ignored because the defendants were not sentenced to death; assault and drug convictions that are forgotten entirely; misdemeanor convictions that aren’t even part of the picture. Judging from our data, any plausible guess at the total number of miscarriages of justice in America in the last fifteen years must run to the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, in felony cases alone. We can, however, see some clear patterns in those false convictions that have come to light.

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

In the first part of this paper we address the problems inherent in studying wrongful convictions: our pervasive ignorance and the extreme difficulty of obtaining the data that we need to answer even basic questions. The main reason that we know so little about false convictions is that, by definition, they are hidden from view. As a result, it is nearly impossible to gather reliable data on the characteristics or even the frequency of false convictions. In addition, we have very limited data on criminal investigations and prosecutions in general, so even if we could somehow obtain data on cases of wrongful conviction, we would have inadequate data on true convictions to compare them to. In the second part we dispel some of that ignorance by considering data on false convictions in a small but important subset of criminal cases about which we have unusually detailed information: death sentences. From 1973 on we know basic facts about all defendants who were sentenced to death in the United States, and we know which of them were exonerated. From these data we estimate that the frequency of wrongful death sentences in the United States is at least 2.3%. In addition, we compare post-1973 capital exonerations in the United States to a random sample of cases of defendants who were sentenced in the same time period and ultimately executed. Based on these comparisons we present a handful of findings on features of the investigations of capital cases, and on background facts about capital defendants, that are modest predictors of false convictions.

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

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Rees v. Peyton, Rees was a death penalty case in which the petitioner sought to withdraw his petition for writ of certiorari so that he could be executed. The Court stayed the proceedings after Rees was found incompetent to waive his appeal, but the Court did not dismiss the case until after Rees died of natural causes. Rees pended in the Court during the terms of three Chief Justices. Even though the Court underwent major changes in personnel and philosophy during those years, the Court’s treatment of Rees was essentially the same–to hold the case in abeyance. This article chronicles the extraordinary history of Rees in the U.S. Supreme Court for those thirty years.

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

Capital punishment has once again become the focus of intense national debate in the United States. There is increasingly widespread public concern over the propriety of state-sanctioned executions and the legal processes by which they are accomplished. Even in political arenas, where little more than a decade ago commentators could quip that “the electric chair has replaced the American flag as your all-purpose campaign symbol,” many elected officials are voicing second thoughts about capital punishment. The American Bar Association (ABA), among other prestigious groups, has called for a moratorium on executions until, at least, the procedural flaws in the legal process through which death sentencing takes place — what the ABA analysts characterized as a “haphazard maze of unfair practices” — have been identified and remedied. Recent assessments of the scope and seriousness of the problems that plague this process suggest that the task of reforming the system of capital punishment will prove to be a daunting one. For example, James Liebman and his colleagues have presented a sobering picture of what they termed a “broken system” in which the outcomes of capital trials — if judged by their fates in the appellate courts — are legally wrong more often than they are right. And at least one judge declared the federal death penalty unconstitutional because it failed to provide sufficient procedural protections to capital defendants.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

The ‘Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics’ attempts to create a comprehensive year-by-year documentation of movements in the death row population in India. The publication tracks important political and legal developments in the administration of the death penalty and the criminal justice system in the year 2020.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list India

The Article proceeds in three parts. Part I explains the pivotal role that “actual” innocence has played in the Innocence Movement. It shows that even though the Innocence Movement has begun to broaden its DNA-based focus to include non-DNA-based claims, its goal has remained constant: achieving justice for “actually” innocent people. Part I then shows how the Innocence Movement has prioritized the cases of “actually” innocent people who were convicted through trial over “actually” innocent people who pleaded guilty. The prioritization of wrongful convictions derived from trials over wrongful convictions from pleas underscores how the Innocence Movement has overlooked the claims of people who have pleaded guilty and are not “actually” innocent, but who may still have strong wrongful conviction claims based on fundamental constitutional violations. Part II examines innocence unmodified in the context of trials and postconviction appeals. It asserts that one reason to protect innocence unmodified is because under the Court‟s existing jurisprudence, “actual” innocence alone is not enough to reverse a wrongful conviction. This is because the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether the Constitution forbids the execution of an “actually” innocent person who was convicted through a “full and fair” trial. Because the Court has not recognized a freestanding “actual” innocence claim, the “actual” innocence of a wrongly convicted person only matters as a door through which to allow a court to reach underlying constitutional claims. Part II uses the example of a recent Supreme Court decision, In Re Troy Davis, to highlight how an isolated prioritization of “actual” innocence does not achieve justice for wrongly convicted people. Part III examines innocence unmodified in the context of pleas. It reveals the degree to which the Court has itself polarized innocence in the context of pleas—prioritizing “actual” innocence over fundamental constitutional protections for all people.

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

When a woman is raped and then murdered, it is among the most horrifying of crimes. It is also, often, among the most sensational, notorious, and galvanizing of cases. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered in Queens, New York. Her murder sparked soul-searching across the country because her neighbors heard her cries for help and did not respond: it made us question whether we had become an uncaring people. During the 1970s and 80s a number of serial killers raped and murdered their victims: including Ted Bundy in Florida and William George Bonin, the “Freeway Killer,” in Southern California. In the 1990s, the sexual assault-murder of seven- year-old Megan Kanka in New Jersey contributed to a firestorm of states passing sex offender notification statutes. Rolando Cruz was released from Illinois death row in 1995, after serving eleven years for a crime he did not commit: the rape and murder of ten-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. The crime itself sent shock waves through the Chicago metropolitan area and pressure to quickly solve it contributed to Cruz’s arrest and conviction. In each instance the rape- murder terrified us and made us want to impose the severest of punishments. This explores the crime and punishment of those convicted of committed rape .murder

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

This video was filmed at the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva in February 2010. Speaker is Elizabeth Zitrin at the opening session.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Les vidéos du 4ème congrès mondial

Danthong Breen, from the NGO Union for Liberty, based in Thailande, explains why the death penalty is torture.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list Thailand
• Themes list Torture,
• Available languages Danthong Breen - Union pour les libertés

Singapore recently amended its laws to replace the mandatory death penalty regime for murder and drug trafficking with a discretionary sentencing regime under certain conditions. One of the conditions with respect to drug trafficking was that the convicted trafficker had to be granted a certificate by the Public Prosecutor stating that the trafficker had provided substantive assistance that led to the disruption of drug trafficking activities. That decision is not subject to judicial review except under very narrow circumstances, protected in the same way as the constitutionally protected prosecutorial discretion.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Due Process , Fair Trial, Death Penalty,

In Louisiana in the late 50s, Moreese Bickham, who was the oldest living survivor of death row, killed two members of the Ku Klux Klan to save his own life. He was sentenced to death and believes he was lucky enough to even have a trial as a black man in the south. Due to mental toughness, a timely supreme court decision, and a lot of hope, Bickham survived his death sentence. Whether he knew it or not, after that day, his life was not going to get any easier

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Minorities, Death Row Conditions, Electrocution,

اس رپورٹ کو ترتیب دیتے ہوئے کئی مقدمات کا دوبارہ جائزہ لیا گیا جس سے سزائے موت پر عمل درآمد سے پیدا ہونے والے اصل خطرات ظاہر ہوئے ہیں۔ آٹھ کیس شیٹ (ڈھکنے کا چین، بھارت، انڈونیشیا، جاپان، ملائیشیا، پاکستان، سنگاپور ، تائیوان)

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Thai : แปดแผ่นกรณี (ครอบคลุมถึงจีน, อินเดีย, อินโดนีเซีย, ญี่ปุ่น, มาเลเซีย, ปากีสถาน, สิงคโปร์, ไต้หวัน)Tagalog : Eight kaso sheet (sumasakop sa China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan)Japanese : 八ケースシート（カバー中国、インド、インドネシア、日本、マレーシア、パキスタン、シンガポール、台湾）Indonesian : Delapan kasus lembar (meliputi Cina, India, Indonesia, Jepang, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)Hindi : आठ मामले शीट (कवर चीन, भारत, इंडोनेशिया, जापान, मलेशिया, पाकिस्तान, सिंगापुर, ताइवान)Lapan lembaran kes (meliputi China, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)八个案例张（包括中国，印度，印度尼西亚，日本，马来西亚，巴基斯坦，新加坡，台湾）

The ritual slaughter of humans for sacrificial purposes has an ancient provenance. Few members of modern society would be inclined to believe that killing humans for sacrificial purposes continues. Of those, most probably envision it only being practiced by individuals who belong to “uncivilized,” or non-“First-World” cultures. Upon closer scrutiny, however, it becomes apparent that this is a misconception because the past and present practice of capital punishment includes a thinly disguised manifestation of the ritualized killing of people, otherwise known as human sacrifice. The purpose of this article is to identify, describe, and analyze the historic and contemporary connection between the practices of capital punishment and human sacrifice. After describing how human sacrifice constitutes an integral component of capital punishment, it will be argued that the institutionalization of this antiquated barbaric ritual, vis-a-vis the use of capital punishment, renders the present use of the death penalty in the United States incompatible with “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society”; and that consequently, this facet of capital punishment renders the penalty at odds with the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against the infliction of “cruel and unusual” punishments.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,

The purpose of this article is (1) to establish that increasing punitiveness characterizes criminal justice policies in Japan and (2) to explain this trend in terms of the penal populism promoted by crime victims and supporting politicians. This article first examines newspaper articles to illuminate the increasingly punitive character of recent criminal justice policies in Japan in terms of both legislation and judicial decisions. The next section discusses the main contributing factors behind this trend and its public acceptance. The next two sections discuss two related issues: the public’s subjective sense of security, and the lack of a role for empirical criminologists in criminal justice policy making in Japan. The concluding section compares the Japanese and Anglo-American situations and argues that the same penal populism seen in Anglo-American countries is rapidly rising in Japan, and that public distrust of government has ironically increased the state’s investigative, prosecutorial, and sentencing powers in Japan. This article closes with the conjecture that police, prosecutors, and judges are unlikely to relinquish their increased power in the event that they gain the public’s trust and equally unlikely in the event of a change of the ruling party.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Japan
• Themes list Networks,

This is a guide for preparing events against the death penalty. It includes a “How to” guide for holding different types of events. It also provides a short factsheet on death penalty information in the United States.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

Professor Kirchmeier examines the recent decline in support for the death penalty in the United States and the resulting emergence of a movement to impose a moratorium on executions. After discussing the history of the death penalty abolition movement in the United States, he identifies five major and seven minor events that have contributed to the growth of the Death Penalty Moratorium Movement. Then, he compares the current Moratorium Movement to other similar reform periods: the 1960s Death Penalty Abolitionist Movement; legislative abolition of the death penalty in several states during the mid-1800s and early 1900s; death penalty abolition in other countries; and the Anti-Lynching Movement of the early 1900s. Based on the history of these other movements, Professor Kirchmeier discovers various lessons for today’s Moratorium Movement, including lessons about strategy and the roles of public opinion and leadership. Finally, using these lessons from history and looking at recent events, he considers the future of the Moratorium Movement. Professor Kirchmeier concludes that for the Movement to continue to be successful: (1) there must be no major national distracting forces; (2) the Movement must continue to broaden its arguments and not be overly dependent upon one issue, one person, or one strategy; (3) the Movement must continue seek support from unexpected voices; and (4) the Movement must stay focused on the goals of achieving popular support and creating new leaders. Finally, Professor Kirchmeier predicts that the Moratorium Movement is strong enough to continue to have lasting effects.

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

This Article addresses the issue of whether a criminal defendant may waive the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments by selecting an unconstitutional punishment over a constitutional punishment. The Article begins with a discussion of the Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, followed by a discussion of areas where the Court has allowed defendants to waive Eighth Amendment protections in various contexts. Then, the Article discusses court decisions that have addressed whether one may waive Eighth Amendment protections by choosing a cruel and unusual punishment. Generally, this issue has arisen in three contexts: (1) where defendants are given the punishment option of banishment; (2) where sex offenders are given the punishment option of castration; and (3) where capital defendants are given an execution method option that violates the constitution. The Article explains that at least in the context of punishment type, a defendant’s choice should not waive Eighth Amendment protections. First, the ban on cruel and unusual punishments is a right that differs significantly from other constitutional criminal rights because it serves a broad societal purpose. Second, the waiver of this right differs from the waiver of other criminal rights because such waivers do not benefit the individual or society. Finally, to allow such waivers would strip the Eighth Amendment of meaning by permitting legislatures to create any punishment options it desired. Therefore, the Article concludes that the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments cannot be waived by an individual.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,

The Miranda conundrum runs something like this: If the Miranda decision represents true constitutional interpretation, and all unwarned statements taken during custodial interrogation are compelled” within the meaning of the self-incrimination clause, the impeachment and “”fruits”” exceptions to Miranda should fall. If it is not true constitutional interpretation, than the Court has no business reversing state criminal convictions for its violation. I offer here what I hope is a satisfying answer to this conundrum, on both descriptive and normative levels, that justifies not only Miranda but a host of similar Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Court decisions as well. In Part I, I introduce and define the terms “”constitutional prophylactic rule,”” “”constitutional safe harbor rule,”” and “”constitutional incidental right,”” and attempt to legitimate their use. I further demonstrate that constitutional criminal procedure is so flush with such prophylactic and safe harbor rules and incidental rights that trying to eliminate them now, by either reversing a large number of criminal procedure cases or “”constitutionalizing”” all of those holdings, would do more harm than good. I propose that we accept the fact that these rules and rights are a fixed part of our constitutional landscape, and focus instead on minimizing their risks and maximizing their benefits”

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Fair Trial,

For the first time in a long time, the Supreme Court’s most important death penalty decisions all have gone the defendant’s way. Is the Court’s new found willingness to protect capital defendants here to stay? Or is it a passing fancy that will dissipate in less hospitable times? At first glance, history allows for optimism. Furman v. Georgia, the 1972 landmark that invalidated the death penalty, provides a seemingly perfect example of the Court’s ability and inclination to protect capital defendants when no one else will. Furman looks countermajoritarian, scholars have claimed it was countermajoritarian, and even the Justices saw themselves as playing a heroic, countermajoritarian role in the case. But the lessons of Furman are not what they seem. Rather than proving the Supreme Court’s ability to withstand majoritarian influences, Furman teaches the opposite – that even in its more countermajoritarian moments, the Court never strays far from dominant public opinion, tending instead to reflect the social and political movements of its time. This Article examines the historical context of Furman v. Georgia and its 1976 counterpart, Gregg v. Georgia, to highlight a fundamental flaw in the Supreme Court’s role as protector of minority rights: its inherently limited inclination and ability to render countermajoritarian change. In theory, the Court might protect unpopular minorities, but in practice it is unlikely to do so unless a substantial (and growing) segment of society supports that protection. Even then, Furman reminds us that the Court’s “help” may do more harm than good. If the past truly is a prologue, Furman portends that the Court’s current interest in restricting the death penalty will not last forever. Like the fair-weather friend, the Court’s protection will likely be there in good times but gone when needed the most.

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

This article provides a brief history of the study of miscarriages of justice in America. It analyzes the field of wrongful conviction scholarship as three distinct genres: the big-picture studies, the specialized-causes literature, and the true-crime genre. It also analyzes what these literatures have contributed to knowledge about miscarriages as well as their limitations. This article attempts to rethink the study of miscarriages of justice to systematically develop a more sophisticated, insightful, and generalizable criminology of wrongful conviction.

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

This work honours William A. Schabas and his career with essays by luminary scholars and jurists from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The essays examine contemporary, historical, cultural, and theoretical aspects of the many arcs of global justice with which Professor Schabas has engaged, in fields including public international law, human rights, transitional justice, international criminal law, and capital punishment.Table of Contents (regarding information on the death penalty)II. Capital PunishmentChapter 5: International Law and the Death Penalty: A Toothless Tiger, or a Meaningful Force for Change?Sandra L. BabcockChapter 6: The UN Optional Protocol on the Abolition of the Death PenaltyMarc BossuytChapter 7: The Right to Life and the Progressive Abolition of the Death PenaltyChristof Heyns and Thomas Probert and Tess BordenChapter 8: Progress and Trend of the Reform of the Death Penalty in ChinaZhao Bingzhi

• Document type Book
• Themes list International law, Death Penalty,

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critique and commentary on the European agenda on the abolition of the death penalty, and in so doing the author has relied heavily on the contributions made by a number of commentators to the recent Council of Europe publication, “The Death Penalty: Abolition in Europe”.

• Document type Article
• Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition,

The families of death row inmates are rarely considered in public discourse regarding the death penalty. They have largely been forgotten, and their pain has not been acknowledged by the rest of society. These families experience a unique grief process as they are confronted with the loss of their loved one to death row and brace themselves for the possibility of an execution. Death row families are disenfranchised from their grief by the surrounding community, and their; mental health needs exacerbated as they struggle in isolation with the ambiguous loss that comes with the fear that the state will kill their loved one.

Grief, Loss, and Treatment for Death Row Families describes the grief that families experience from the time of their loved one’s arrest through his or her execution. In each chapter, Sandra Joy guides the reader through the grief process experienced by the families, offering clinical interventions that can be used by mental health professionals who are given the opportunity to work with these families at various stages of their grief. The author conducted over seventy qualitative interviews with family members from Delaware who either currently have a loved one on death row or have survived the execution of their loved one. Delaware was chosen because though it has a relatively small death row, it is ranked third in the nation with its rate of per capita executions. This book provides an in-depth awareness of the grieving process of death row families, as well as ways that professionals can intervene to assist them in healing. With increased awareness and effective clinical treatment, we can ensure that the families of death row inmates are forgotten no more.

• Document type Book
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families

Death qualification has been shown to have a number of biasing effects that appear to undermine a capital defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a fair jury. Attitudes toward the death penalty have shifted modestly but consistently over the last several decades in ways that may have changed the overall impact of death qualification. Specifically, the very large gap between black and white Americans’ current support for capital punishment raises the question of whether death qualification procedures disproportionately exclude African Americans from capital jury participation. In order to examine this possibility, we conducted two countywide death penalty attitude surveys in the California county that has the highest percentage of African American residents in the state. Results show that death qualification continues to have a number of serious biasing effects—including disproportionately excluding death penalty opponents—which result in the significant underrepresentation of African Americans. This creates a death‐qualified jury pool with the potential to be significantly more likely to ignore and even misuse mitigating factors and to rely more heavily on aggravating factors in their death penalty decision making. The implications of these findings for the fair administration of capital punishment are discussed.

• Document type Academic report

This article reviews the extent to which the movement to abolish capital punishment has been successful and discusses some of the influences which have produced a remarkable increase in the number of abolitionist countries in the past two decades. It asks whether this trend has now come to an end as many countries which retain the death penalty continue to defy, for a variety of reasons, international pressure to change their laws and practices. Finally, it discusses some actions that might prove effective in overcoming these obstacles.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty,

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, together with the Free Legal Assistance Group, the Commission on Human Rights, and other members of the Anti-Death Penalty Task Force, have launched a handbook opposing the capital punishment and the drug war.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offences, Death Penalty,

The issue of erroneous convictions in capital cases has recently gained considerable nationwide media attention. This article builds on prior research by examining 76 cases of inmates who were released from death rows between 1970 and 1998 because of doubts about their guilt. By using sources, or persons who have extensive insider knowledge about these cases, as well as published court opinions, it was possible to identify the causes of the wrongful convictions as well as the significant events that led to the discovery of the miscarriages of justice. The data indicate that prosecutorial misconduct, perjury of witnesses, police misconduct, and racial discrimination were influential factors that led to the wrongful convictions. In addition, continued investigation by the defense attorney, new witnesses coming forward, and/or a confession from another person were the factors most often leading to the discovery of errors. These findings suggest that there have not been any significant changes in causes of erroneous convictions since the implementation of contemporary safeguards. As a result, policy changes are suggested to decrease the chances of erroneous executions.

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

Scott Panetti was accused of killing his parents in law and convicted. Scott suffered from severe mental illness for many years, Schizophrenia. He dismissed his legal counsel and represented himself at trial wearing a cow boy suit and asking irrelavent questions. This video tells the story of Scott Panetti’s case and questions whether he was mentally stable to attend trial and represent himself.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

アジア太平洋地域における死刑の執行数は、世界の他の地域の合計数よりも多い。その上、不公正な裁判で処刑された可能性や、死刑の著しい不正義が明らかに なっている。誤判で死刑判決が言い渡されると、取り返しがつかない。アジア 太平洋地域の人口の95パーセントが、 死刑を存置

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial,
• Available languages Korean : 아시아에서의 치명적 불의 불공정 재판을 멈춰라, 사형집행을 중단하라.Thai : การประหารชีวิตที่อยุติธรรม ในภูมิภาคเอเชีย ยุติการพิจารณาคดีที่ไม่เป็นธรรม ยกเลิกการประหารชีวิตUrdu : یفاصناان کلہم ںیم ایشیا ںیرک متخ توم ےازس ،دنب تامدقم ہنافصنمریغTagalog : NAKAMAMATAY NA KAWALAN NG KATARUNGAN SA ASYA Itigil ang Di Makatarungang paglilitis, Itigil ang PagbitayMongolian : АЗИ ТИВ ДЭХ ЭНЭРЭЛГҮЙ ШУДАРГА БУС ЯВДАЛ Шударга бусaap шүүх явдлыг зогсоож, цаазын ялыг халъяHindi : एशिया में घातक अन्याय: समाप्ति अनुचित परीक्षण, सज़ाएँ बंद करोIndonesian : KETIDAKADILAN YANG MEMATIKAN DI ASIA Akhiri peradilan yang tidak adil, hentikan eksekusiLethal Injustice in Asia: End unfair trials, stop executions亚洲的致命不公: 终止不公审判，停止处决

Ази, Номхон далайн бүсэд дэлхийн бусад орнуудыг нийлүүлж тооцсоноос ч илүү олон хүнийг цаазалж байна. Үүнээс гадна тэр хүмүүсийг шударга бус шүүхээр шүүсэн байх магадлалтай бөгөөд энэхүү шийтгэл нь асар ичгүүргүй, шударга бус болох нь улам ойлгомжтой болсоор байна.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial,
• Available languages Korean : 아시아에서의 치명적 불의 불공정 재판을 멈춰라, 사형집행을 중단하라.Thai : การประหารชีวิตที่อยุติธรรม ในภูมิภาคเอเชีย ยุติการพิจารณาคดีที่ไม่เป็นธรรม ยกเลิกการประหารชีวิตUrdu : یفاصناان کلہم ںیم ایشیا ںیرک متخ توم ےازس ،دنب تامدقم ہنافصنمریغTagalog : NAKAMAMATAY NA KAWALAN NG KATARUNGAN SA ASYA Itigil ang Di Makatarungang paglilitis, Itigil ang PagbitayJapanese : 不当に奪われる生命 ～アジアにおける不公正な裁判を止め、 死刑執行の停止を～Hindi : एशिया में घातक अन्याय: समाप्ति अनुचित परीक्षण, सज़ाएँ बंद करोIndonesian : KETIDAKADILAN YANG MEMATIKAN DI ASIA Akhiri peradilan yang tidak adil, hentikan eksekusiLethal Injustice in Asia: End unfair trials, stop executions亚洲的致命不公: 终止不公审判，停止处决

इस रिपोर्ट संकलन में मामलों की संख्या की समीक्षा की गई है जो स्पष्ट रूप से मौत की सजा को लागू करने के बहुत असली खतरों का प्रदर्शन. आठ मामले शीट (कवर चीन, भारत, इंडोनेशिया, जापान, मलेशिया, पाकिस्तान, सिंगापुर, ताइवान)

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Urdu : آٹھ کیس شیٹ (ڈھکنے کا چین، بھارت، انڈونیشیا، جاپان، ملائیشیا، پاکستان، سنگاپور ، تائیوان)Thai : แปดแผ่นกรณี (ครอบคลุมถึงจีน, อินเดีย, อินโดนีเซีย, ญี่ปุ่น, มาเลเซีย, ปากีสถาน, สิงคโปร์, ไต้หวัน)Tagalog : Eight kaso sheet (sumasakop sa China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan)Japanese : 八ケースシート（カバー中国、インド、インドネシア、日本、マレーシア、パキスタン、シンガポール、台湾）Indonesian : Delapan kasus lembar (meliputi Cina, India, Indonesia, Jepang, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)Lapan lembaran kes (meliputi China, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)八个案例张（包括中国，印度，印度尼西亚，日本，马来西亚，巴基斯坦，新加坡，台湾）

Mas maraming tao ang pinarusahan ng kamatayan sa Rehiyong Asya-Pasipikokung ikukumpara sa pinagsamang iba pang bahagi ng mundo. Idagdag pa rito ang probabilidad na sila ay binitay pagkatapos ng di-makatarungang paglilitis, at lalong lilinaw ang garapal na inhustisya ng parusang ito.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial,
• Available languages Korean : 아시아에서의 치명적 불의 불공정 재판을 멈춰라, 사형집행을 중단하라.Thai : การประหารชีวิตที่อยุติธรรม ในภูมิภาคเอเชีย ยุติการพิจารณาคดีที่ไม่เป็นธรรม ยกเลิกการประหารชีวิตUrdu : یفاصناان کلہم ںیم ایشیا ںیرک متخ توم ےازس ،دنب تامدقم ہنافصنمریغMongolian : АЗИ ТИВ ДЭХ ЭНЭРЭЛГҮЙ ШУДАРГА БУС ЯВДАЛ Шударга бусaap шүүх явдлыг зогсоож, цаазын ялыг халъяJapanese : 不当に奪われる生命 ～アジアにおける不公正な裁判を止め、 死刑執行の停止を～Hindi : एशिया में घातक अन्याय: समाप्ति अनुचित परीक्षण, सज़ाएँ बंद करोIndonesian : KETIDAKADILAN YANG MEMATIKAN DI ASIA Akhiri peradilan yang tidak adil, hentikan eksekusiLethal Injustice in Asia: End unfair trials, stop executions亚洲的致命不公: 终止不公审判，停止处决

This study is a quantitative analysis designed to compare two groups of factually innocent capital defendants: Those who were exonerated and those who were executed. There are a total of 97 cases in the sample, including 81 exonerations and 16 executions. The primary objective of the authors is to identify factors that may predict case outcomes among capital defendants with strong claims of factual innocence. Through the use of a logistic regression model, the following variables were significant predictors of case outcome (exoneration vs. execution): allegations of perjury, multiple types of evidence, prior felony record, type of attorney at trial, and race of the defendant. These results point toward significant problems with the administration of capital punishment deriving primarily from the quality of the case record created at trial.

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

Prior research on the role of race in wrongful capital convictions has focused primarily on the race of the defendant. In contrast, this article begins with two case studies that illustrate the impact of the race of the defendant and also the race of the victim in contributing to erroneous convictions. The second section of this article identifies the race of the defendant and the victim in 82 cases where prisoners were released from death row because of doubts about their guilt and in a matched group of inmates who were executed. Through the use of three logistic regression models, the combination of the race of the defendant and the race of the victim is identified as a significant predictor of case outcome (exoneration vs. execution). The results also indicate that an indirect relationship may exist between the combination of the race of the defendant and the victim, the strength of the evidence, and case outcome.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Innocence, Discrimination,

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 most recent executions in South Korea took place in December 1997, when 23 people were executed at short notice on the same day. Similarly, nineteen executions occurred in 1995 and 15 in 1994, in each instance occurring all on the same day. These group executions seem to reflect cultural factors that monthly statistics alone do not capture. No executions have occurred since 1998, but this de facto suspension has not been reinforced by law. Since 1999, lawmakers have thrice endorsed a bill favoring life imprisonment without parole in place of the death penalty, but each time the proposal has stalled and failed to move forward. The need remains to develop a culturally appropriate pro-abolition argument that could persuade the Korean public that the death penalty is unworkable and wrong. On 21 January 2007, in the Inhyeokdang case, the Korean Court acquitted 8 persons who had been executed 32 years earlier. The hope is that, in light of strong arguments based on the risk to innocent persons and the irreversibility of capital punishment, Korea will effectively transition from de facto to formal abolition.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Republic of Korea
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

This docu-series investigate the fallibility of the death penalty in the United States.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Death Penalty,

Capital Punishment and the Bible goes beyond proof-text arguments to examine biblical statements about capital punishment in their historical contexts and for present meaning. Does the use of capital punishment in the USA meet Old Testament standards for fairness? How did Jesus and the early church extend God’s love in restorative justice? Gardner C. Hanks convincingly shows that the use of the death penalty is not consistent with Jesus’ call for love and forgiveness.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Religion ,

This article reports the results of a two-part investigation of psychological assessments proposed as expert evidence in legal context.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Mental Illness, Death Penalty,

Compiled by Project 39A from the National University Law in Delhi, India and based on numerous figures and statistics, this report attempts to understand how death sentencing is practised among the district and sessions courts in India.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Death Penalty,

Sa pagbuo ng ulat na ito, nirepaso ang ilang kaso na malinaw na nagpapakita ng tunay na panganib sa pagsasagawa ng parusang kamatayan. Eight kaso sheet (sumasakop sa China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan)

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Urdu : آٹھ کیس شیٹ (ڈھکنے کا چین، بھارت، انڈونیشیا، جاپان، ملائیشیا، پاکستان، سنگاپور ، تائیوان)Thai : แปดแผ่นกรณี (ครอบคลุมถึงจีน, อินเดีย, อินโดนีเซีย, ญี่ปุ่น, มาเลเซีย, ปากีสถาน, สิงคโปร์, ไต้หวัน)Japanese : 八ケースシート（カバー中国、インド、インドネシア、日本、マレーシア、パキスタン、シンガポール、台湾）Indonesian : Delapan kasus lembar (meliputi Cina, India, Indonesia, Jepang, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)Hindi : आठ मामले शीट (कवर चीन, भारत, इंडोनेशिया, जापान, मलेशिया, पाकिस्तान, सिंगापुर, ताइवान)Lapan lembaran kes (meliputi China, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)八个案例张（包括中国，印度，印度尼西亚，日本，马来西亚，巴基斯坦，新加坡，台湾）

Em decorrência de certos crimes de grande repercussão que abalam a sociedade e da impotência do Estado frente à criminalidade, ressuscitam vozes e projetos solicitando a aplicação da pena de morte entre nós. O tema é de abordagem complexa, polêmica e controversa.Os partidários da supressão do homem sustentam que a presença da pena de morte na legislação teria por escopo de definitivamente banir ou diminuir o crescente índice de criminalidade em nosso país, além de desestimular homicídios, latrocínios, crimes sexuais violentos, seqüestros etc.Mas será que a pena de morte, como têm sido defendido por alguns setores da sociedade, seria a solução para os problemas de violência e da criminalidade, que estão sendo vivenciadas pela população brasileira?

• Document type Article
• Countries list Brazil
• Themes list Networks,

This is an essay about capital punishment and American culture. Its point of departure is the recent publication of several books and articles suggesting that the USA’s retention of the death penalty is an expansion of an underlying cultural tradition that creats an elective affinity between American society and the execution of criminal offenders. The implicit – and sometimes explicit claim – of this new literature is that today’s capital punishment system is an insurance of ‘American exceptionalism’, an expression of a deep and abiding condition that has shaped the American nation from its formative years to the present.

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

The report covers the period from January to December 2010, though some key events in early 2011 have also been included. It highlights the important progressbeing made, serious concerns that we have, and what we are doing to promote our values around the world. It will rightly be studied closely by Parliament, NGOs and the wider public. There is a chapter dedicated to the death penalty, as well as 2010 figures on the death penalty in target countries.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Afghanistan
• Themes list Networks,

The conviction of Amina Lawal in Nigeria for committing adultery and sentence of death by stoning created an international outcry of support to overturn her sentence. The support she received is a reflection of the outrage many around the world feel toward this particular method of execution, and in a larger context the growing social norm that the death penalty should be abolished. As more of the world looks upon the death penalty as unfair, or cruel and unusual, or as torture, arguably, a jus cogens norm prohibiting the death penalty has developed in international law, and will ultimately be the vehicle by which the death penalty will be abolished worldwide. Part I of this comment will detail the plight of Amina Lawal, and how her situation is indicative of the globalization of human rights norms. In Part II, this comment will examine the meaning of a jus cogens norm and how it can be established in the context of capital punishment. Using human rights treaties, the law and practice of other nations, and international tribunal decisions, Part III will assert, citing other contexts, such as the “right to life,” and the already entrenched jus cogens norm prohibiting torture, that a jus cogens norm abolishing the death penalty has arguably already been established. Finally, Part IV will assess what the effect of the establishment of a jus cogens norm prohibiting capital punishment.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Nigeria
• Themes list Stoning,

The death penalty is a subject that, in the words of Justice Adrian Saunders of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, “invariably elicits passionate comment.” Such comment is particularly so within the states that make up the Commonwealth Caribbean, where rising rates of violent crime have led to strong public clamor for a swift and final response. The involvement of foreign courts and quasi-judicial international tribunals in limiting the actual use of the death penalty in the Caribbean has made the issue even more politically charged, leading to a strongly held perception that the judgments of these foreign bodies are unacceptable challenges to the very exercise of Caribbean national sovereignty.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Mandatory Death Penalty,

Saat penyusunan laporan ini, sejumlah kasus sudah ditinjau lagi yang secara jelas menunjukkan bahaya nyata penerapan hukuman mati. Delapan kasus lembar (meliputi Cina, India, Indonesia, Jepang, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Urdu : آٹھ کیس شیٹ (ڈھکنے کا چین، بھارت، انڈونیشیا، جاپان، ملائیشیا، پاکستان، سنگاپور ، تائیوان)Thai : แปดแผ่นกรณี (ครอบคลุมถึงจีน, อินเดีย, อินโดนีเซีย, ญี่ปุ่น, มาเลเซีย, ปากีสถาน, สิงคโปร์, ไต้หวัน)Tagalog : Eight kaso sheet (sumasakop sa China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan)Japanese : 八ケースシート（カバー中国、インド、インドネシア、日本、マレーシア、パキスタン、シンガポール、台湾）Hindi : आठ मामले शीट (कवर चीन, भारत, इंडोनेशिया, जापान, मलेशिया, पाकिस्तान, सिंगापुर, ताइवान)Lapan lembaran kes (meliputi China, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)八个案例张（包括中国，印度，印度尼西亚，日本，马来西亚，巴基斯坦，新加坡，台湾）

There is a lack of research on attitudes toward capital punishment in China, and there is even less research on cross-national comparisons of capital punishment views. Using data recently collected from college students in the United States and China, this study finds that U.S. and Chinese students have differences in their views on the death penalty and its functions of deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. This study also reveals that the respondents’ perspectives of deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution, and incapacitation all affect their attitudes toward the death penalty in the United States, whereas only the first three views affect attitudes toward capital punishment in China. Furthermore, retribution is the strongest predictor in the United States, whereas deterrence is the strongest predictor in China.

• Document type Article
• Countries list China
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

To assess support for the death penalty in Mexico and South Korea, surveys were administered to students at institutions of higher education. The majority of respondents in Mexico (52.3%) and South Korea (60.8%) supported the death penalty. Given that the Mexican and South Korean governments have histories of using criminal justice agencies to suppress democratic reform, the high level of support for the death penalty indicates that a history of authoritarian governance may not inculcate widespread opposition to the punishment. Concomitantly, regression analyses of the data indicate that beliefs about the treatment afforded to criminal suspects do not significantly affect support for capital punishment. Contrary to research conducted in the United States, which has consistently shown support for capital punishment is lower among females than among males, regression analyses of the data show that gender has no impact on support for the death penalty; findings that call for a reexamination of the thesis that the gender gap in support for the death penalty in the United States is the result of a patriarchal social structure.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Mexico
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

संयुक्त दुनिया के बाकी की तुलना में एशिया – प्रशांत क्षेत्र में और अधिक लोगों को क्रियान्वित कर रहे हैं. इस संभावना है कि वे एक अनुचित परीक्षण के बाद मार डाला गया जोड़ें, और इस सज़ा के सकल अन्याय सब भी स्पष्ट हो जाता है.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial,
• Available languages Korean : 아시아에서의 치명적 불의 불공정 재판을 멈춰라, 사형집행을 중단하라.Thai : การประหารชีวิตที่อยุติธรรม ในภูมิภาคเอเชีย ยุติการพิจารณาคดีที่ไม่เป็นธรรม ยกเลิกการประหารชีวิตUrdu : یفاصناان کلہم ںیم ایشیا ںیرک متخ توم ےازس ،دنب تامدقم ہنافصنمریغTagalog : NAKAMAMATAY NA KAWALAN NG KATARUNGAN SA ASYA Itigil ang Di Makatarungang paglilitis, Itigil ang PagbitayMongolian : АЗИ ТИВ ДЭХ ЭНЭРЭЛГҮЙ ШУДАРГА БУС ЯВДАЛ Шударга бусaap шүүх явдлыг зогсоож, цаазын ялыг халъяJapanese : 不当に奪われる生命 ～アジアにおける不公正な裁判を止め、 死刑執行の停止を～Indonesian : KETIDAKADILAN YANG MEMATIKAN DI ASIA Akhiri peradilan yang tidak adil, hentikan eksekusiLethal Injustice in Asia: End unfair trials, stop executions亚洲的致命不公: 终止不公审判，停止处决

Lebih banyak orang yang dieksekusi mati di kawasan Asia-Pasifik dibandingkan dengan gabungan jumlah hukuman mati di kawasan lain di dunia. Ditambah lagi adanya kemungkinan bahwa mereka dieksekusi hukuman mati setelah melalui sebuah peradilan yang tidak adil, maka ketidakadilan yang sangat besar dari hukuman ini menjadi semakin jelas.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial,
• Available languages Korean : 아시아에서의 치명적 불의 불공정 재판을 멈춰라, 사형집행을 중단하라.Thai : การประหารชีวิตที่อยุติธรรม ในภูมิภาคเอเชีย ยุติการพิจารณาคดีที่ไม่เป็นธรรม ยกเลิกการประหารชีวิตUrdu : یفاصناان کلہم ںیم ایشیا ںیرک متخ توم ےازس ،دنب تامدقم ہنافصنمریغTagalog : NAKAMAMATAY NA KAWALAN NG KATARUNGAN SA ASYA Itigil ang Di Makatarungang paglilitis, Itigil ang PagbitayMongolian : АЗИ ТИВ ДЭХ ЭНЭРЭЛГҮЙ ШУДАРГА БУС ЯВДАЛ Шударга бусaap шүүх явдлыг зогсоож, цаазын ялыг халъяJapanese : 不当に奪われる生命 ～アジアにおける不公正な裁判を止め、 死刑執行の停止を～Hindi : एशिया में घातक अन्याय: समाप्ति अनुचित परीक्षण, सज़ाएँ बंद करोLethal Injustice in Asia: End unfair trials, stop executions亚洲的致命不公: 终止不公审判，停止处决

As noted by Flanagan (1996), public opinion polls about crime and justice can act as a social barometer providing important data to policy makers regarding what the public is willing, or is not willing, to accept when it comes to proposed legislation and/or intervention programming. This paper reports findings from the 2001 Penn State Poll, a random telephone survey of Pennsylvanians, 18 years of age or older, in which citizens were asked about their attitudes toward and perceptions of such issues as fear of crime, capital punishment, the most important goal of prison, and where they would most like to see their tax dollars spent (building more prisons vs. early intervention programs with troubled youth). Significant differences were found within certain demographic groups across these sets of questions, and in a predictive model, gender, race/ethnicity, and education had a greater impact on citizens’ support for capital punishment than did their fear of crime. Overall, findings suggest that the public is not as punitive as it is sometimes believed to be by legislators and policy makers.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public opinion,

Although the death penalty has a long history, it is not without debate and differing views. There appears to be a gap between Whites and Blacks in terms of their support of capital punishment. Students at a Midwestern university were surveyed to determine whether there were differences between the two groups of students in reasons to support or oppose the death penalty. In bivariate tests, there were significant differences between White and Black students on 15 of 16 measures for reasons for supporting or opposing capital punishment. These differences continued for 10 of the 16 measures even after multivariate analysis controlled for the effects of gender, age, and academic level. The results are discussed.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

One of the largely unique aspects of the American jury system is that it confers upon the parties the unilateral power – in the form of peremptory challenges – to remove prospective jurors for any non-racial or non-gender-based reason. This article presents an overview of the literature on peremptory challenges, and an empirical analysis of their use in Philadelphia capital cases in the 1980s and 1990s.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Fair Trial,

本報告書をまとめるに際し、死刑を適用することが現実に危険であるということを明らかに示す事例を検討した シート（カバー中国、インド、インドネシア、日本、マレーシア、パキスタン、シンガポール、台湾）

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Urdu : آٹھ کیس شیٹ (ڈھکنے کا چین، بھارت، انڈونیشیا، جاپان، ملائیشیا، پاکستان، سنگاپور ، تائیوان)Thai : แปดแผ่นกรณี (ครอบคลุมถึงจีน, อินเดีย, อินโดนีเซีย, ญี่ปุ่น, มาเลเซีย, ปากีสถาน, สิงคโปร์, ไต้หวัน)Tagalog : Eight kaso sheet (sumasakop sa China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan)Indonesian : Delapan kasus lembar (meliputi Cina, India, Indonesia, Jepang, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)Hindi : आठ मामले शीट (कवर चीन, भारत, इंडोनेशिया, जापान, मलेशिया, पाकिस्तान, सिंगापुर, ताइवान)Lapan lembaran kes (meliputi China, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)八个案例张（包括中国，印度，印度尼西亚，日本，马来西亚，巴基斯坦，新加坡，台湾）

The Flynn Effect is a well documented phenomenon demonstrating score increases on IQ measures over time that average about 0.3 points per year. Normative adjustments to scores derived from IQ measures normed more than a year or so prior to the time of testing an individual have become controversial in several settings but especially so in matters of death penalty litigation. Here we make the argument that if the Flynn Effect is real, then a Flynn Correction should be applied to obtained IQs in order to obtain the most accurate estimate of IQ possible. To fail to provide the most accurate estimate possible in matters that are truly life and death decisions seems wholly indefensible.

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

ในรายงานฉบับนี้ มีการทบทวนคดีต่างๆ ที่เกิดขึ้นซึ่งสะท้อนให้เห็นอย่างชัดเจนถึงอันตรายร้ายแรงของการใช้โทษประหารชีวิต การตัดสินว่าใครจะถูกประหารและใครที่จะรอด มักไม่ แปดแผ่นกรณี (ครอบคลุมถึงจีน, อินเดีย, อินโดนีเซีย, ญี่ปุ่น, มาเลเซีย, ปากีสถาน, สิงคโปร์, ไต้หวัน)

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Urdu : آٹھ کیس شیٹ (ڈھکنے کا چین، بھارت، انڈونیشیا، جاپان، ملائیشیا، پاکستان، سنگاپور ، تائیوان)Tagalog : Eight kaso sheet (sumasakop sa China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan)Japanese : 八ケースシート（カバー中国、インド、インドネシア、日本、マレーシア、パキスタン、シンガポール、台湾）Indonesian : Delapan kasus lembar (meliputi Cina, India, Indonesia, Jepang, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)Hindi : आठ मामले शीट (कवर चीन, भारत, इंडोनेशिया, जापान, मलेशिया, पाकिस्तान, सिंगापुर, ताइवान)Lapan lembaran kes (meliputi China, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)八个案例张（包括中国，印度，印度尼西亚，日本，马来西亚，巴基斯坦，新加坡，台湾）

This empirical study examines for the first time how the criminal system in the United States handled the cases of people who were subsequently found innocent through postconviction DNA testing. The data collected tell the story of this unique group of exonerees, starting with their criminal trials, moving through levels of direct appeals and habeas corpus review, and ending with their eventual exonerations. Beginning with the trials of these exonerees, this study examines the leading types of evidence supporting their wrongful convictions, which were erroneous eyewitness identifications, forensic evidence, informant testimony, and false confessions. Yet our system of criminal appeals and postconviction review poorly addressed factual deficiencies in these trials. Few exonerees brought claims regarding those facts or claims alleging their innocence. For those who did, hardly any claims were granted by courts. Far from recognizing innocence, courts often denied relief by finding errors to be harmless.

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

On December 10, 1998, the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, former President William J. Clinton signed Executive Order No. 13107 stating, “It shall be the policy and practice of the Government of the United States, being committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, fully to respect and implement its obligations.

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

A recent cohort of studies report deterrent effects of capital punishment that substantially exceed almost all previous estimates of lives saved by execution. Some of the new studies go further to claim that pardons, commutations, and exonerations cause murders to increase, as does trial delay. This putative life-life tradeoff is the basis for claims by legal academics and advocates of a moral imperative to aggressively prosecute capital crimes, brushing off evidentiary doubts as unreasonable cautions that place potential beneficiaries at risk of severe harm. Challenges to this “new deterrence” literature find that the evidence is too unstable and unreliable to support policy choices on capital punishment. This article identifies numerous technical and conceptual errors in the “new deterrence” studies that further erode their reliability: inappropriate methods of statistical analysis, failures to consider several factors such as drug epidemics that drive murder rates, missing data on key variables in key states, the tyranny of a few outlier states and years, weak to non-existent tests of concurrent effects of incarceration, inadequate instruments to disentangle statistical confounding of murder rates with death sentences and other punishments, failure to consider the general performance of the criminal justice system as a competing deterrent, artifactual results from truncated time frames, and the absence of any direct test of the components of contemporary theoretical constructions of deterrence. Re-analysis of one of the data sets shows that even simple adjustments to the data produce contradictory results, while alternate statistical methods produce contrary estimates. But the central mistake in this enterprise is one of causal reasoning: the attempt to draw causal inferences from a flawed and limited set of observational data, the absence of direct tests of the moving parts of the deterrence story, and the failure to address important competing influences on murder. There is no reliable, scientifically sound evidence that pits execution against a robust set of competing explanations to identify whether it exerts a deterrent effect that is uniquely and sufficiently powerful to overwhelm the recurring epidemic cycles of murder. This and other rebukes remind us to invoke tough, neutral social science standards and commonsense causal reasoning before expanding the use of execution with its attendant risks and costs.

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

Has the imposition of death improved our stance in this battle for security of our fellow man? Does it have a “sting” in the sense of deterring man from killing men, women and children? Has society been victorious in preventing the killing? The simple answer is that the death penalty in America has done little to deter or prevent those inclined to kill from killing. Another concern is whether our system has terminated the lives of innocent individuals. 3 Under these circumstances, what should we as a society do insofar as our criminal justice system is concerned? In this article I seek to address those questions and ultimately recommend an overhaul in our death penalty approach. Is it time to …

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

To a great extent, those who believe that our criminal justice system rarely convicts the factually innocent and those who believe such miscarriages are rife have generally talked past each other for want of any empirically-justified factual innocence wrongful conviction rate. This article remedies at least a part of this problem by establishing the first such empirically justified wrongful conviction rate ever for a significant universe of real world serious crimes: capital rape-murders in the 1980’s. Using DNA exonerations for capital rape-murders from 1982 through 1989 as a numerator, and a 406-member sample of the 2235 capital sentences imposed during this period, this article shows that 21.45%, or around 479 of those, were cases of capital rape murder. Data supplied by the Innocence Project of Cardozo Law School and newly developed for this article show that only 67% of those cases would be expected to yield usable DNA for analysis. Combining these figures and dividing the numerator by the resulting denominator, a minimum factually wrongful conviction rate for capital rape-murder in the 1980’s emerges: 3.3%. The article goes on to consider the likely ceiling accompanying this 3.3% floor, arriving at a slightly softer number for the maximum factual error rate of around 5%. The article then goes on to analyze the implications of a factual error rate of 3.3%-5% for both those who currently claim errors are extremely rare, and those who claim they are extremely common. Extension of the 3.3%-5% to other capital and non-capital categories of crime is discussed, and standards of moral duty to support system reform in the light of such error rates is considered at length.

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

This article gives insight into the different opinions held by the US and Europe in terms of the death penalty. The interplay between terrorism, the death penalty and extradition is also examined.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Extradition, Terrorism,

Students of capital punishment need to study Asia, the site of at least 85 percent and as many as 95 percent of the world’s executions. This article explores the varieties of Asian capital punishment in two complementary ways. Cross-sectionally, the impression of uniformity that comes from classifying 95 percent of the population of Asia as living in executing states breaks down when closer attention is paid to the character of capital punishment policy within retentionist nations. Temporally, the general trajectory of capital punishment in the Asian region seems downward (though generalizations about patterns in this part of the world are undermined by significant data problems). Asia is also a useful territory for testing the generality of theories of capital punishment based on European experience. Looking forward, Japan and South Korea, two developed nations in Asia that still retain the death penalty, may indicate what other Asian nations are likely to do as they develop. Ultimately, Asia either will become a major staging area for world-wide abolition or the campaign against capital punishment will fail to achieve global status.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Japan

Although there is no constitutional requirement that a jury participate in the death penalty process, most states do provide, through their capital punishment statutes, that a jury will participate in the decision. The preference for jury sentencing in these circumstances reflects a reluctance to leave power over life solely in the hands of one judge. Still, some scholars have long criticized juries for administering punishment.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Fair Trial,

The study results indicate that when test subjects, many of whom are likely retributivists, are presented with information about the problem of innocence, the drop in support for capital punishment spans all points on the Likert scale. Our study suggests that more rigorous testing may demonstrate that an individual’s knowledge of the “innocence problem” can generate more profond changes in attitudes toward the death penalty than indicted by previous studies of the marshall Hypotheses.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public opinion, Innocence,

In the past thirty years, American attitudes towards those convicted of crimes have followed a devastating progression toward the dehumanization of criminal defendants. The evolution of law and policy has mirrored these changing attitudes. The philosophies behind incarceration have shifted from “facilitat[ing inmates’] productive re-entry back into the free world” to “using imprisonment merely to punish criminal offenders by … “containing’ them behind bars … for as long as possible.” 4 Rather than preventing crime or rehabilitating offenders, incarceration has become a means to satisfy society’s desire for vengeance and retribution. Responding to this push to punish, prosecutors in their haste to obtain a conviction are more likely to stress the heinousness of crimes rather than questioning the circumstances surrounding …

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

The order struck during the regulatory years following Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v. Georgia has been inverted. Executions once were rarities of newsworthy moment; now, they are nearly twice-a-week occurrences that often pass with nary a notice. Skeptical scrutiny of death penalty cases once was the professed and practiced mission of the federal judiciary; now, words like weariness, ennui, and resentment seem better choices to capture the spirit of the federal courts when confronted with complaints from death row. As we will see, the various lines of objection join to form a sophisticated and comprehensive critique.

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

Twenty-three years of murder and death sentence data show how murder demographics help explain death row populations. Nevada and Oklahoma are the most death-prone states; Texas’s death sentence rate is below the national mean. Accounting for the race of murderers establishes that black representation on death row is lower than black representation in the population of murder offenders. This disproportion results from reluctance to seek or impose death in black defendant-black victim cases, which more than offsets eagerness to seek and impose death in black defendant-white victim cases. Death sentence rates in black defendant-white victim cases far exceed those in either black defendant-black victim cases or white defendant-white victim cases. The disproportion survives because there are many more black defendant-black victim murders, which are underrepresented on death row, than there are black defendant-white victim murders, which are overrepresented on death row.

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

For the third time in a span of five years, a country has brought suit against the United States in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) in capital cases. 1 And, for the third time, the ICJ has issued an order of provisional measures. The most recent order indicates that: “the United States shall take all measures necessary to ensure that [three named Mexican defendants] are not executed pending final judgment in these proceedings.” (Avena case)

• Document type Article
• Countries list Mexico
• Themes list Foreign Nationals,

American officials have indicated that extra efforts will be used to ensure that captured terrorist suspects face the death penalty. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has stated that the U.S. military will “try to prevent enemy leaders from falling into the hands of peacekeeping troops from allied nations that might oppose capital punishment.” Americans should be troubled to learn that the United States is out of step with an emerging worldwide consensus that the death penalty, even for the most heinous terrorist, “has no legitimate place in the penal systems of modern civilised societies.” As of July 2004, 117 nations were abolitionist in law or in practice, while only 80 retained the death penalty. The entire Council of Europe–45 nations ranging from Iceland to Russia–now constitutes a death penalty free zone.

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

The attitude of international law and practice to supreme penalties has evolved enormously over the past half-century. At Nuremberg, in 1946, capital punishment was imposed upon Nazi war criminals. But at the Rome Conference in 1998, when the international community provided for the establishment of the International Criminal Court, not only was capital punishment excluded, the text also limited the scope of life imprisonment. These changes were driven principally by evolving norms of international human rights law. The first changes became apparent in the early work of the International Law Commission on the Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind, during the 1950s. When criminal prosecution returned to the international agenda, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was widespread agreement to exclude capital punishment. But at the Rome Conference, a relatively small and geographically isolated group of States made an aggressive attempt to defend capital punishment. Ultimately unsuccessful, their efforts only drew attention to a growing rejection of both capital punishment and life imprisonment in international and national legal systems

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

This article focuses on the role played by Mao Zedong in the making of the Chinese communist legal system in general and in the Chinese practice of the death penalty under Mao in particular. It attempts to study this link through an analysis of an event which represented a landmark, namely the campaign of the regression against counterrevolutionaries launched in 1950—2, and through an examination of three specific cases, which enable us to observe the concrete characteristics of these practices, whose effects continue to be felt in today’s China.

• Document type Article
• Countries list China
• Themes list Networks,

We examine sources of variation in possession and use of the death penalty using data drawn from 193 nations in order to test theories of punishment. We find the death penalty to be rooted in a country’s legal and political systems, and to be influenced by its religious traditions. A country’s level of economic development, its educational attainment, and its religious composition shape its political institutions and practices, indirectly affecting its use of the death penalty. The article concludes by discussing likely future trends.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

The racial dimensions of the death penalty are well-documented. Many observers assume this state of affairs derives from bias—often implicit and occasionally explicit—against black defendants in particular. Research points to an even more alarming factor. The race of the victim, not the defendant, steers cases in the direction of death. Regardless of the perpetrator’s race, those who kill whites are more likely to face capital charges, receive a death sentence, and die by execution than those who murder blacks. This short Essay adds a contemporary gloss to the race-of-victim effect literature, placing it in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement and showing how it relates to the broader, systemic devaluation of African-American lives.

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

The ‘Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics’ attempts to create a comprehensive year-by-year documentation of movements in the death row population in India. The publication tracks important political and legal developments in the administration of the death penalty and the criminal justice system in the year 2019.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,

Activists have embraced the life-without-parole alternative because the availability of parole is often a key factor for jurors deciding whether of not to impose a sentence of life or death.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives,

Forty-three years after the Supreme Court reversed course and reinstated the death penalty, reliable data on the individuals sent to death row is maddeningly difficult to obtain. The Intercept set out to compile a comprehensive dataset on everyone sentenced to die in active death penalty jurisdictions since 1976. The findings show that capital punishment remains as “arbitrary and capricious” as ever.

• Document type International law - Regional body
• Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

Why are death penalty provisions, convictions and executions so prevalent in China? This article aims to answer this question by way of defining China as a ‘state power’ based society characterized by a socialist social system. The prevalence of the death penalty in China can be explained in terms of the following factors: first, the death penalty is a political issue of state power; second, the death penalty is a crucial part of criminal policy in a ‘state power’-based society; third, the issue of whether to retain the death penalty is a political rather than a legal matter. The Chinese government has improved its death penalty system in recent years; however, the situation has not fundamentally changed. The future of death penalty policy and practice in China will depend primarily on legal rather than democratic developments. The death penalty serves as a focal point that can help illuminate issues of punishment and society in East Asia. Accordingly, this article will elaborate my theories regarding the death penalty in contemporary China, with the primary intent of elucidating the relationship between punishment and society in China.

• Document type Article
• Countries list China
• Themes list Networks,

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,

This article outlines some of the main arguments against the death penalty in Japan.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Japan

The majority of those on death row in the Philippines have been convicted of rape crimes, including rape of a minor, rape of a family member and other aggravated forms of rape. Looking at incestuous rape in particular, this paper will examine some of the psychological and legal difficulties of imposing the death penalty for such a crime. It will focus on the effects the administration of the death penalty has on the victim and the victim’s family, as well as looking at some of the legal, evidential and procedural problems that arise in this jurisdiction’s imposition of the death penalty for rape.Despite the continued existence of the death penalty for incestuous rape, the number of reported cases has not diminished. Recognising this, local women’s groups in the Philippines have called for the root causes of incest and other forms of violence against women to be addressed rather than imposing the death penalty for rape. This response will also be considered within the broader context of Filipino gender relations.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Networks,

While research abounds on attitudes toward capital punishment in the United States, such work has been lacking in non-western nations — particularly in India, the world’s largest democracy. Data recently collected have revealed variance in levels of support for the death penalty among Indian college students: 44 percent express some degree of opposition, 13 percent are uncertain, and 43 percent express some degree of support. Reasons for support or opposition also exhibited variance. According to a multivariate analysis, statistically significant reasons for support included retribution, instrumentalist goals, and incapacitation; while significant reasons for opposition included morality and the belief that deterrence could be achieved by imposing sentences of life without parole.

• Document type Article
• Countries list India
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

This article examines, from a legal perspective, why executions in Taiwan declined from 78 in 1990 to zero in 2006. The inquiry focuses on three considerations: the number of laws that authorized employment of the death penalty; the code of criminal procedure; and the manner in which executions were carried out, including the manner in which amnesty was granted. The article argues that the ratification of international covenants and constitutional interpretations did not play a significant role in the decline, and that several factors that did play a role included the annulment or amendment of laws, changes in criminal procedure, establishment of and further amendments to guidelines for execution and two laws for reducing sentences. This article maintains that the absence of executions in 2006 is a unique situation that will not last because some inmates remain on death row, meaning that executions in Taiwan will continue unless the death penalty is abolished. However, the article concludes that the guarantee of the utmost human right, the right to life, can be sustained in Taiwan through the demands of democratic majority rule.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Taiwan
• Themes list Networks,

Guided by existing macrolevel theories on punishment and society, the present study explores the independent and conjunctive effects of measures of sociopolitical conditions on the legal retention of capital punishment in 185 nations in the 21st century. Significant correlations are found between a nation’s retention of legal executions for ordinary crimes and its level of economic development, primary religious orientation, citizens’ voice in governance, political stability, and recent history of extrajudicial executions. Subsequent multivariate analyses through qualitative comparative methods reveal substantial context-specific effects and wide variability in legal retention even within countries with similar sociopolitical structures. These results are then discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for future cross-national research on punishment and society.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

At the same time, the countries that most vigorously employ the death penalty are generally ones that the United States has the least in common with politically, economically, or socially, and ones that the United States is wont to define itself against, as they are among the least democratic and the worst human rights abusers in the world. In recent years, the top five employers of capital punishment were China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States.3 Moreover, in the past twelve years, only seven countries in the world are known to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of their crimes: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United States.

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

This book tells the story of Alfred Dewayne Brown, a man who spent over twelve years in prison (ten of them on Texas’ infamous Death Row) for a high-profile crime he did not commit, and his lawyer, Brian Stolarz, who dedicated his career and life to secure his freedom. The book chronicles Brown’s extraordinary journey to freedom against very long odds, overcoming unscrupulous prosecutors, corrupt police, inadequate defense counsel, and a broken criminal justice system. The book examines how a lawyer-client relationship turned into one of brotherhood.Grace And Justice On Death Row also addresses many issues facing the criminal justice system and the death penalty – race, class, adequate defense counsel, and intellectual disability, and proposes reforms.Told from Stolarz’s perspective, this raw, fast-paced look into what it took to save one man’s life will leave you questioning the criminal justice system in this country. It is a story of injustice and redemption that must be told.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Innocence, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,

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 on Singaporeans’ opinion on the death penalty, which was led by Assoc Prof Chan Wing Cheong from the NUS Faculty of Law, found that most Singaporeans are in favour of the death penalty but less so for certain cases. Fewer support the death penalty for drug trafficking and firearms in cases where no one dies or is injured and there is also less support for the mandatory death penalty. The survey polled 1,500 Singapore citizens aged 18 to 74 between April and May 2016.For a free summary of the study: http://news.nus.edu.sg/highlights/11231-death-penalty-support-not-clear-cut

• Document type Article
• Countries list Singapore
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

This publication includes perspectives from a broad range of victims. While some of them are family members of crime victims, others are victims of human rights violations in application of the death penalty, of its brutality and traumatic effects. Victims’ perspectives, taken holistically, make a compelling case against the death penalty. When it comes to the death penalty, almost everyone loses. The perspectives of the victims on the death penalty as reflected in this book are likely to provoke tough discussions. This may be a welcome challenge. The publication was launched at a high-level event on 21st September at the UN in New York.The full recording of the event and the programme is available at: texte

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Innocence, Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

Provides a comprehensive statistical assessment of how the death penalty has been applied over the entire modern period, 1976 to present

• Document type Book
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Penalty, Statistics,

In general, Muslim nations recognize the validity of the death penalty, and many frequently impose it. According to Amnesty International, between 1985 and mid-1988, Saudi Arabia executed 140 prisoners for the crimes of murder, robbery with violence, drug smuggling or distribution, and adultery. During the same period, Pakistan executed 115, primarily for the crime of murder. Hundreds every year faced the firing squad in Iraq for murder, desertion, treason, sabotage, and economic corruption. At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran executed more than 743 inmates for murder, drug crimes, political offenses, prostitution, adultery and other “moral offenses,” including “being corrupt on earth” and “being at enmity with God.” In face of the widespread acceptance of the death penalty within the Muslim world, this essay explores the contours of an Islamic argument against capital punishment. The argument is not, and cannot be, an appeal for the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances. It does call into question, however, the legitimacy – indeed, the legality in accordance with the principles of classical Islamic law, or the Shari’ah – of capital punishment as it is practiced in the era of Islamization.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Religion , Capital offences, Most Serious Crimes,