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Document(s)
Racial Differences in Death Penalty Support and Opposition: A Preliminary Study of White and Black College Students
By Morris Jenkins / Eric G. Lambert / David N. Baker / Journal of Black Studies, on 1 January 2005
2005
Article
United States
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
By Amazon Digital Services / Lara Love Hardin / Anthony Ray Hinton, on 1 January 2018
2018
Book
United States
More details See the document
Autobiography of Anthony Ray Hinton, the 152nd death row exoneree in the USA. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama.With no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution.With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Electrocution, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Detailed Factsheet on Death Penalty and Poverty
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2017
2017
Multimedia content
frMore details Download [ pdf - 612 Ko ]
Detailed information on the death penalty and poverty.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,
- Available languages Fiche détaillée sur la peine de mort et la pauvreté
Document(s)
Death penalty ‘traumatises jail warders’
By Daily Nation, on 1 January 2011
2011
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
The men who lead death row inmates to the gallows are traumatised on surrendering a prisoner to the hangman. This was told at a meeting of judges, commissioners of prisons and legal practitioners from East Africa on the death penalty in Nairobi.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Retribution, Death Row Conditions, Sentencing Alternatives,
Document(s)
Death and Deterrence Redux: Science, Law and Causal Reasoning on Capital Punishment
By Jeffrey Fagan / Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, on 1 January 2006
2006
Article
United States
More details See the document
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 ,
Document(s)
Death Penalty Trends in Asia Have Possible Implications for China
By Dui Hua Human Rights Journal , on 1 January 2011
2011
Article
More details See the document
This article analyses the latest controversy over the use of the death penalty that erupted not in mainland China but across the strait in Taiwan. In January, the defense ministry there was forced to issue a public apology for a wrongful execution in 1997, followed in early March by the execution of five prisoners without notifying their families.
- Document type Article
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Furman Fundamentals
By Corinna Barrett Lain / Washington Law Review, on 1 January 2007
2007
Article
United States
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Korean : Death Penalty: Another Murder
By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
Republic of Korea
More details See the document
For 15 years there have been no executions in South Korea. The film focuses mainly on South Korea through the stories of those directly affected by the death penalty and others outside the country who argue the case for abolition from the perspective of victims’ families, Renny Cushing, Murder Victims Families for Human Rights. It includes testimony from those sentenced to death, a prison warden, the former President of South Korea, Kim Dae Jung, a former prisoner of conscience who was himself sentenced to death and who introduced a moratorium during his presidency. No executions have taken place in South Korea since former President Kim Dae Jung announced his decision. In September South Korea celebrated 5,000 days with no executions.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list Republic of Korea
- Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Staying Alive: Executive Clemency, Equal Protection, and the Politics of Gender in Women’s Capital Cases
By Elizabeth Rapaport / Buffalo Criminal Law Review, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
In this Article, I will review the matrix in which executive decisions in women’s capital clemency cases are made, a matrix supplied by modern equal protection law, the nature and scope of the clemency power, gender politics, and contemporary death row. I will then conduct two thought experiments. Each invented case tests the relevance of gender in legally and politically acceptable contemporary clemency decisions. The goal is to understand the politics and law of granting or denying that very rare boon-commutation of sentence – to a female death row prisoner. The exercise offers support for two conclusions. In the age of formal equality, women cannot be granted clemency simply because they are women. The rhetoric of chivalry is untenable for the contemporary executive. A governor who is courageous and rhetorically skillful, however, can sometimes successfully defend the commutation of the death sentence of a woman as a proper use of the power to grant mercy, done for her sake, the class she exemplifies, the conscience of the governor, and the public.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Women, Clemency,
Document(s)
Black is the Day, Black is the Night
By Amy Elkins, on 1 January 2014
2014
Working with...
More details See the document
Black is the Day, Black is the Night is conceptual exploration into the many facets of human identity using notions of time, accumulation, memory and distance through personal correspondence with men serving life and death row sentences in some of the most maximum security prisons in the U.S., all of which had served between 13-26 years at point of contact.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Death Row Conditions,
Document(s)
THE JURY IN THE TWENTY – FIRST CENTURY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE
By William J. Bowers / Ursula Bentele / Brooklyn Law Review, on 8 September 2020
2020
Article
United States
More details See the document
The first section below describes how, for many jurors, the decision about guilt appears to be so overwhelming that it prevents truly separate decision making about punishment. The second section focuses on the degree to which jurors feel constrained by what they view as a requirement to impose death if certain aggravating factors are present in the case. And finally, the third section explores the way in which mitigating evidence, even when it appears to have been extensive and credible, is ignored, devalued, or discredited.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Cameroun: NGO Report on the Implementation of the ICCPR
By Gender Empowerment and Development / Association de Lutte contre les Violences faites aux Femmes / Centre for Civil and Political Rights / Solidarité Pour la Promotion des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples / Association pour la défense de l’homosexualité / Syndicat National des Journalistes du Cameroun, on 1 January 2010
2010
NGO report
frMore details See the document
Cameroon, with a population of approximately 18 million, has a multiparty system of government, with the current ruling party Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) in power since it was created in 1985. The president retains the power to control legislation or to rule by decree. Although the civilian authorities do generally maintain effective control of the security forces, security forces sometimes act independently of government authority. Authorities arbitrarily arrest and detain citizens for different reasons. Among those arbitrarily arrested and detained are human rights defenders and other activists and persons not carrying government-issued identity cards. There are incidents of prolonged and sometimes incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on privacy rights. The government restricts freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association, and harasses journalists and human rights defenders. Other problems include widespread official corruption, societal violence, discrimination against women, the trafficking of children and girls, and discrimination against homosexuals. The government restricts worker rights and activities of independent labor organizations. The diverse cultural beliefs and ethnic groups promote to a large extend discrimination against and violations of women and young people, widows and the divorced. This report specifically highlights violations in 2008 and 2009, with a few violations in other years.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Networks,
- Available languages Cameroun: Rapport de la société civile sur la mise en oeuvre du PIDCP
Document(s)
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2005 (AND THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2006)
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2006
2006
NGO report
enMore details See the document
The worldwide situation to date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2005 and the first half of 2006. There are currently 142 countries that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 90 are totally abolitionist; 10 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 1 (Russia) is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe and currently observing a moratorium on executions; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 37 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. no executions have taken place in those countries for at least ten years).
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIù IMPORTANTI DEL 2005 (e dei primi sei mesi del 2006)
Document(s)
The Advocacy Handbook: A Guide to Implementing Recommendations of the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project
By Council of State Governments Justice Center, on 1 January 2006
Campaigning
More details See the document
A how-to guide for advocates who want to improve the response to people with mental illnesses who are in contact with the criminal justice system. The Advocacy Handbook reflects a shared effort among NAMI (the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill), the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and the Criminal Justice / Mental Health Consensus Project.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Death sentences and executions in 2009
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2010
2010
NGO report
arfresMore details See the document
This document summarizes Amnesty International’s global research on the use of the death penalty in 2009. More than two-thirds of the countries of the world have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. While 58 countries retained the death penalty in 2009, most did not use it. Eighteen countries were known to have carried out executions, killing a total of 714 people; however, this figure does not include the thousands of executions that were likely to have taken place in China, which again refused to divulge figures on its use of the death penalty. For an update to this document please see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT50/005/2010/en
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages أحكام الإعدام وعمليات الإعدام في عام 2009CONDAMNATIONS À MORT ET EXÉCUTIONS RECENSÉES EN 2009CONDENAS A MUERTE Y EJECUCIONES 2009
Document(s)
The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment
By Franklin E. Zimring / Oxford University Press, on 1 January 2003
2003
Book
United States
More details See the document
Why does the United States continue to employ the death penalty when fifty other developed democracies have abolished it? Why does capital punishment become more problematic each year? How can the death penalty conflict be resolved?In The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment, Frank Zimring reveals that the seemingly insoluble turmoil surrounding the death penalty reflects a deep and long-standing division in American values, a division that he predicts will soon bring about the end of capital punishment in our country. On the one hand, execution would seem to violate our nation’s highest legal principles of fairness and due process. It sets us increasingly apart from our allies and indeed is regarded by European nations as a barbaric and particularly egregious form of American exceptionalism. On the other hand, the death penalty represents a deeply held American belief in violent social justice that sees the hangman as an agent of local control and safeguard of community values.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Mom of murdered son finds ‘only pain’ from death penalty
By Florida Today, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
United States
More details See the document
Politicians champion the death penalty while they campaign and are in office, and then they retire and move on, never having to deal with the reality of it.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
California’s Death Penalty is Dead
By Natasha Minsker / American Civil Liberties Union / Miriam Gerace / Ana Zamora, on 1 January 2011
2011
NGO report
More details See the document
California’s death penalty is dead. Prosecutors, legislators and taxpayers are turning to permanent imprisonment with no chance of parole as evidence grows that the system is costly, risky, and dangerous to public safety.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
Document(s)
Racial Disparity and Death Sentences in Ohio
By Marian R. Williams / Jefferson E. Holocomb / Journal of Criminal Justice, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
The use of the death penalty has resulted in a number of studies attempting to determine if its application is consistent with the guidelines established by the United States Supreme Court. In particular, many studies have assessed whether there are racial disparities in the imposition of death sentences. This study examined the imposition of death sentences in Ohio, a state largely ignored by previous research and that, until 1999, had not executed an inmate since 1963. Drawing from previous studies that have examined the issue in other states, this study assessed the likelihood that a particular homicide would result in a death sentence, controlling for race of defendant and victim and other relevant factors. Results indicated both legal and extralegal factors (including race of victim) were significant predictors of a death sentence, supporting many previous studies that concluded that race plays a role in the imposition of the death penalty.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Infographic: Death Penalty in California
By California Innocence Project, on 1 January 2013
2013
Lobbying
More details See the document
The death penalty in the state of California continues to be a major focus, due in part to the burden it places on tax payers. Our goal with this infographic was to examine the facts, and the facts alone. Even though Proposition 34 did not pass in the most recent election, this issue will continue to be argued and remain a pressing issue, especially during difficult economic times.
- Document type Lobbying
- Themes list Minorities, International law, Public debate,
Document(s)
Northwestern Death Penalty Project
By Northwestern University Centre on Wrongful Convictions, on 1 January 1998
1998
Working with...
More details See the document
The Center on Wrongful Convictions is dedicated to identifying and rectifying wrongful convictions and other serious miscarriages of justice. The Center has three components: representation, research, and community services. Center faculty, staff, cooperating outside attorneys, and Bluhm Legal Clinic students investigate possible wrongful convictions and represent imprisoned clients with claims of actual innocence. The research component focuses on identifying systemic problems in the criminal justice system and, together with the community services component, on developing initiatives designed to raise public awareness of the prevalence, causes, and social costs of wrongful convictions and promote reform of the criminal justice system. In addition, the community services component helps exonerated former prisoners cope with the difficult process of reintegration into free society.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – Japanese
on 10 July 2023
2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 14426 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – Swahili
on 10 July 2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 14504 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – traditional Chinese
on 10 July 2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 49239 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Leaflet Cities Against the Death Penalty
By Community of Saint Egidio, on 1 January 2012
2012
Campaigning
esfrMore details Download [ pdf - 326 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning
- Available languages Folleto Ciudades contra la Pena de MuerteBrochure Villes contre la peine de mort
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – Luganda
on 10 July 2023
2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 14504 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – Urdu
on 10 July 2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 14499 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – Italian
on 10 July 2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 49299 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Kit for Cities Against the Death Penalty – 2015
By Community of Saint Egidio, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
fresMore details Download [ pdf - 341 Ko ]
- Document type Academic report
- Available languages Kit pour les Villes contre la peine de mort - 2015Kit Ciudades contra la Pena de Muerte - 2015
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – Akan
on 10 July 2023
2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 14499 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Kit for Cities Against the Death Penalty
By Community of Saint Egidio, on 1 January 2012
2012
Campaigning
fresMore details Download [ msword - 324 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning
- Available languages Kit pour les Villes contre la peine de mortKit Ciudades contra la Pena de Muerte
Document(s)
Poster 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – German
on 10 July 2023
2023
Campaigning
World Coalition
More details Download [ pdf - 14504 Ko ]
- Document type Campaigning / World Coalition
Document(s)
Human rights, capital punishment and the Commonwealth: still behind the curve
By William A. Schabas / Institute of Commonwealth Studies / Commonwealth Advisory Bureau, on 1 January 2012
2012
Article
More details See the document
In this Opinion, Professor Schabas argues that the Commonwealth is behind the curve of the international trend towards the abolition of the death penalty. He analyses the status and use of capital punishment in Commonwealth countries, as compared to all UN member states more broadly.
- Document type Article
- Themes list International law,
Document(s)
Mercy By the Numbers: An Empirical Analysis of Clemency and Its Structure
By Michael Heise / Virginia Law Review, on 1 January 2003
2003
Article
United States
More details See the document
Clemency is an extrajudicial measure intended both to enhance fairness in the administration of justice, and allow for the correction of mistakes. Perhaps nowhere are these goals more important than in the death penalty context. The recent increased use of the death penalty and concurrent decline in the number of defendants removed from death row through clemency call for a better and deeper understanding of clemency authority and its application. Questions about whether clemency decisions are consistently and fairly distributed are particularly apt. This study uses 27 years of death penalty and clemency data to explore the influence of defendant characteristics, political factors, and clemency’s structure on clemency decisions. The results suggest that although a defendant’s race and ethnicity did not influence clemency, gender did play a role, as women were far more likely than their male counterparts to receive clemency. Analyses of political and structural factors point in different directions. Political factors such as the timing of gubernatorial and presidential elections and a governor’s lame-duck status did not systematically influence clemency. However, how states structure clemency authority did make a difference. Clemency grants were more likely in states that vest authority in administrative boards than in states that vest authority in the governor. Regionality and time were also important as clemency grants were less likely in southern states and declined after 1984. Overall, these mixed results contribute to a critique that clemency decisions are arbitrary and inconsistent. Thus, important questions regarding fairness that plague earlier aspects of the death penalty process persist to its final stage.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Clemency,
Document(s)
The Proposed Innocence Protection Act Won’t—Unless It Also Curbs Mistaken Eyewitness Identifications
By Margery Malkin Koosed / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002
2002
Article
United States
More details See the document
This article contends that legislatures should adopt measures to assure greater reliability in the eyewitness testimony introduced in capital cases. Erroneous eyewitness identification is one of the most frequent causes of mistaken convictions and executions. Decades ago, the United States Supreme Court crafted due process and right to counsel constitutional doctrines to curb identification procedures that gratuitously enhanced the risk of mistake. While initial interpretations favored a greater judicial role in preventing such abuses, later rulings retreated. Present constitutional rules do not suffice due to the narrowness of their definition and the weakness of the remedial sanctions allotted. The proposed Innocence Protection Act and similar state legislation trust DNA testing to avert mistaken executions. But testing requires biological material that is often not available in capital prosecutions, and so DNA cannot detect all the innocents among those capitally prosecuted. To avert mistaken convictions and executions, legislative reforms need to go beyond DNA, and avert mistakes arising from erroneous eyewitness identifications. Studies show this is one of the most common sources of unjust conviction, and that suchmistakes may well be on the rise. Federal and state legislation should be adopted that provides a stronger curb on suggestive identification practices that gratuitously increase the risk of executing the innocent. The Recommendations for Lineups and Photospreads, developed by the American Psychology/Law Society (AP/LS) in 1998, are an appropriate starting point for legislatures (or state courts exercising their supervisory powers or interpreting state constitutional provisions). Adopting such guidelines will reduce the risk of error in capital cases, with little or no expense borne by the states. Further, to assure that these more reliable procedures will be used during capital case investigations and prosecutions, legislatures and courts should, minimally, adopt an exclusionary rule of the type first announced by the United States Supreme.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2009 (and the first six months of 2010)
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
enMore details See the document
THE SITUATION TODAY The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2009 and the first six months of 2010. There are currently 154 countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 96 are totally abolitionist; 8 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 6 have a moratorium on executions in place and 44 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2009 (E DEI PRIMI SEI MESI DEL 2010)
Document(s)
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2011 (and the first six months of 2012)
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 8 September 2020
NGO report
enMore details See the document
THE SITUATION TODAY The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2011 and the first six months of 2012. There are currently 155 Countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 99 are totally abolitionist; 7 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 44 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. Countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or Countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2011 (E DEI PRIMI SEI MESI DEL 2012)
Document(s)
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2008 (and the first six months of 2009)
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2009
2009
NGO report
enMore details See the document
The Worldwide Situation to Date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2008 and the first six months of 2009. There are currently 151 countries and territories that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 96 are totally abolitionist; 8 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 42 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Italian : SINTESI DEI FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2008 (e dei primi sei mesi del 2009)
Document(s)
Report by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak – MISSION TO MONGOLIA
By United Nations / Manfred Nowak, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
Mongolia
rufrzh-hantesarMore details See the document
The Special Rapporteur is also deeply concerned about all the circumstances surrounding the death penalty in Mongolia, especially the total secrecy. Despite repeated requests to the highest authorities of the Government, as well as prosecutors and the judiciary, the Special Rapporteur was not provided with any official information. Concern was expressed that not even the families of the condemned persons are notified of the exact date or place of execution and do not receive their mortal remains for burial, which amounts to inhuman treatment of the family, contrary to article 7 of the Covenant. Moreover, prisoners on death row at the Gants Hudag and Zuunmod detention centres are held in complete isolation, handcuffed and shackled, and denied adequate food. These conditions constitute additional punishments which can only be qualified as torture as defined in article 1 of the Convention.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Mongolia
- Available languages Доклад Cпециального докладчика по вопросу о пытках и других жестоких, бесчеловечных или унижающих достоинство видах обращения и наказания Манфреда Новака - МИССИЯ В МОНГОЛИЮRapport du Rapporteur spécial sur la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants, M. Manfred Nowak - MISSION EN MONGOLIE酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚问题 特别报告员曼弗雷德·诺瓦克的报告 - 对蒙古的访问Informe del Relator Especial sobre la tortura y otros tratos o penas crueles, inhumanos o degradantes, Manfred Nowak - MISIÓN A MONGOLIAمن وغيره التعذيب بمسألة المعني الخاص المقرر نواك، منفرد السيد تقرير المهينة أو اللاإنسانية أو القاسية العقوبة أو المعاملة ضروب - منغوليا إلى البعثة
Document(s)
Information Handbook on the Council of the European Union
By Council of the European Union / European Union, on 1 January 2006
2006
Working with...
frMore details See the document
The purpose of this handbook — which has been prepared on the responsibility of the General Secretariat of the Council and has no legal force — is to explain certain basic concepts of how the Council works, but above all to provide practical information both on existing sources of information and on the implementation of measures adopted with regard to openness and transparency. These measures illustrate the Council’s desire to get closer to citizens in order to build their confidence in European integration.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Networks,
- Available languages Guide de l’information du Conseil de l’Union européenne
Document(s)
Annual Report: Death Penalty in Iran 2011
By Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2011
2011
NGO report
enfafrfafrMore details See the document
The execution wave that began after the June 2009 post-election protests in Iran continues with high frequency. According to the present report, the execution figure in 2011 is currently the highest since the beginning of 1990’s.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Minorities, Religion , Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages Annual Report: Death Penalty in Iran 2012گزارش سالانھ مجازات اعدام در ایران سال ۲۱۰۲Rapport Annuel sur la peine de mort en Iran 2012گزارش سالانه اعدام در ایرا سال ۱۱۲۲Rapport annuel sur la peine de mort en Iran 2011
Document(s)
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on a gender-sensitive approach to arbitrary killings
By United Nations, on 8 September 2020
2020
International law - United Nations
More details See the document
In the report, the Special Rapporteur considers key elements of a gender-sensitive perspective to the mandate, in the interests of strengthening an inclusive application of critical norms and standards related to the right to life. These elements include consideration of the impact of gender identity and expression, intersecting with other identities, on the risks factors to killings or death, the degree of predictability of harm and States’ implementation of its due diligence obligations. Applying gender lenses to the notion of arbitrariness, the Special Rapporteur highlights that gender-based killings — when committed by non-State actors — may constitute arbitrary killings. It also shows that violations of the right to life stem not only from an intentional act of deprivation of life by the State or a non-State actor, but also from the deprivation of basic conditions that guarantee life, such as access to essential health care
- Document type International law - United Nations
- Themes list International law, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Torture, Arbitrariness, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Death Penalty Sentencing in Trial Courts: Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (2000-2015)
By Project 39A, on 1 January 2019
2019
Academic report
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Death Penalty Issues Checklist – Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Reports
By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
More details See the document
List of points of international human rights law to review when submitting a report on a country’s use of the death penalty to the United Nations’ Universial Periodic Review.
- Document type Academic report
- Themes list International law,
Document(s)
Amnesty International Death Penalty Awareness Weeks guide
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2012
2012
Campaigning
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
America’s Death Penalty: Between Past and Present
By David Garland / Jonathan Simon / Douglas Hay / Michael Meranze / Randall McGowen / New York University (NYU) / Rebecca Mc Lennan, on 8 September 2020
2020
Book
United States
More details See the document
This volume represents an effort to restore the sense of capital punishment as a question caught up in history. Edited by leading scholars of crime and justice, these original essays pursue different strategies for unsettling the usual terms of the debate. In particular, the authors use comparative and historical investigations of both Europe and America in order to cast fresh light on familiar questions about the meaning of capital punishment.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Pakistan: Death Penalty Action on Pakistan
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2006
2006
NGO report
More details See the document
Amnesty International has received reports from contacts in Pakistan that there has recently been an increase in executions in Pakistan: 60 people have been executed this year in the province of Punjab alone. In addition, 10 executions are known to have taken place in the North-West Frontier Province. There are continuing concerns around the application of the death penalty in Pakistan including the execution of juveniles.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Detailed Fact Sheet – Death Penalty and Drug Crimes
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
2020
Multimedia content
fafrMore details Download [ pdf - 449 Ko ]
Detailed information on the death penalty and drug crimes.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list Drug Offences, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
- Available languages مجازات اعدام و جرا ی م مربوط به مواد مخدر نگاهی به آمار و ارقام سیزدهمین روز جهانی علیه مجازات اعدامFiche sur la peine de mort et le trafic de drogue
Document(s)
Detailed factsheet on death penalty and terrorism
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2016
2016
Multimedia content
frMore details Download [ pdf - 274 Ko ]
Detailed information on the death penalty and terrorism.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Terrorism,
- Available languages Fiche détaillée sur la peine de mort et le terrorisme
Document(s)
Death Penalty: Trials and Tribulations
By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2012
2012
Multimedia content
Uganda
More details See the document
In Uganda, 28 crimes can attract the death penalty – including robbery, smuggling, acts of treason and terrorism, and non-lethal military sentences, and death sentences continue to be handed out after judicial proceedings which fail to meet international standards for a fair trial. This film produced by PRI’s Ugandan partner the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative provides a moving insight into the situation of prisoners on death row and others serving life sentences in the country.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Uganda
- Themes list Most Serious Crimes, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Death sentences and executions in 2011
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2012
NGO report
enenfafrzh-hantesMore details See the document
Developments on the use of the death penalty in 2011 confirmed the global trend towards abolition. The number of countries that were known to have carried out death sentences decreased compared to the previous year, and overall, progress was recorded in all regions of the world. In this report, Amnesty International analyses some of the key developments in the worldwide application of the death penalty, citing figures it has gathered on the number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out during the year.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Thai : สถานการณ์โทษประหาร และการประหารชีวิต ในปี 2554Korean : 연례사형현황 보고서 2011 사형선고와 사형집행اعدام و صدور حکم اعدام در سال2011Condamnations à mort et executions 2011國際特赦組織 全球死刑報告 2011Condenas a muerte y ejecuciones 2011
Document(s)
DPIC Year End Report: Death Sentences, Executions Drop to Historic Lows in 2016
By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2016
2016
Article
United States
More details See the document
A press release on the DPIC Year End Report 2016: Use of the death penalty fell to historic lows across the United States in 2016. States imposed the fewest death sentences in the modern era of capital punishment, since states began re-enacting death penalty statutes in 1973. New death sentences are predicted to be down 39% from 2015’s 40-year low. Executions declined more than 25% to their lowest level in 25 years, and public opinion polls also measured support for capital punishment at a four-decade low.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Compliance with ICJ Provisional Measures and the Meaning of Review and Reconsideration Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations: Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. U.S.)
By Linda E. Carter / Michigan Journal of International Law, on 1 January 2003
2003
Article
Mexico
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Let’s Make a Deal: Waiving the Eighth Amendment by Selecting a Cruel and Unusual Punishment
By Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier / Connecticut Law Review, on 1 January 2000
2000
Article
United States
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Poster World Day 2007
By World coalition against the death penalty , on 10 October 2007
2007
Campaigning
Trend Towards Abolition
arfrMore details Download [ pdf - 228 Ko ]
Take action
against the death penalty:
Join the hundreds
of initiatives worldwide
Sign the petition
calling for a universal
moratorium on executions
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
- Available languages Poster Arabic 2007Affiche journée mondiale 2007
Document(s)
SLAMMING THE COURTHOUSE DOORS – Denial of Access to Justice and Remedy in America
By American Civil Liberties Union / Washington, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
United States
More details See the document
According to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) entitled, “Slamming the Courthouse Doors: Denial of Access to Justice and Remedy in America,” many states severely restrict access to justice for capital defendants and limit the availability of remedies to correct errors. The problem of inadequate counsel continues to pervade death penalty systems across the country: “Few states provide adequate funds to compensate lawyers for their work or to investigate cases properly. In addition to inadequate funding, the majority of death-penalty states lack adequate competency standards. Many states require only minimal training and experience for attorneys handling death penalty cases, and in some cases capital defense attorneys fail to meet the minimum guidelines for capital defense set by the American Bar Association (ABA),” according to the ACLU. The report also states that the absence of a right to counsel in post-conviction appeals leaves capital defendants with few options to address serious errors during their trial.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
The Pros and Cons of Life Without Parole
By Bent Grover / Catherine Appleton / British Journal of Criminology, on 1 January 2007
2007
Article
United States
More details See the document
The question of how societies should respond to their most serious crimes if not with the death penalty is ‘perhaps the oldest of all the issues raised by the two-century struggle in western civilization to end the death penalty’ ( Bedau, 1990: 481 ). In this article we draw attention to the rapid and extraordinary increase in the use of ‘life imprisonment without parole’ in the United States. We aim to critically assess the main arguments put forward by supporters of whole life imprisonment as a punishment provided by law to replace the death penalty and argue against life-long detention as the ultimate sanction.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Sentencing Alternatives,
Document(s)
English speaking Caribbean: State Killing in the English speaking Caribbean: a legacy of colonial times
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2002
2002
NGO report
More details See the document
This report seeks to answer the arguments put forward by the proponents of capital punishment in the English Speaking Caribbean and examines the shortcomings in the administration of the death penalty in the region.The paper primarily focuses on Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the two countries with the largest death row populations in the region. However, details of other counties are given and the themes and problems illustrated in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are prevalent in the other nations of the ESC.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
Document(s)
Infographic: Death Sentences in the USA in 2012
By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2012
2012
NGO report
More details See the document
DPIC collects information on the number of death sentences in the United States. We only count the number of “new sentences,” i.e., we do not recount individuals who were sentenced to death in a previous year, had their sentenced overturned, and were resentenced in the current year.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Mapping the Fate of the Dead (Killings and Burials in North Korea)
By Transitional Justice Working Group, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
More details See the document
The Transitional Justice Working Group’s 2019 report “Mapping the Fate of the Dead: Killings and Burials in North Korea” is based on four years of research(2015-2019) to document and map three types of locations connected to human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea):
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2007 (and the first six months of 2008)
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2008
2008
NGO report
enMore details See the document
The U.N. Moratorium on Executions : On December 18, 2007, with 104 votes in favour, 54 votes against and 29 abstentions, the United Nations 62nd General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a Resolution that calls upon all States that still maintain the death penalty to “Establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Italian : SINTESI DEI FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2007 (e dei primi sei mesi del 2008)
Document(s)
Malaysia: On Death Row
By Al Jazeera, on 1 January 2019
2019
Multimedia content
Malaysia
More details See the document
In Malaysian jails, more than 1,200 prisoners are on death row. For them, news that the government was planning to abolish the death penalty provided a much-needed glimmer of hope. But many Malaysians want to keep the law as it is, saying capital punishment deters criminals and helps keep citizens safe. Families of murder victims say the only way to get justice for their loved ones is by hanging the perpetrators. 101 East meets the people on either side of this emotional life-and-death debate and investigates if Malaysia is ready to abolish the death penalty.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Malaysia
- Themes list Moratorium , Murder Victims' Families, Death Row Phenomenon,
Document(s)
Experimenting with Death: An Examination of Colorado’s Use of the Three-Judge Panel in Capital Sentencing
By Lutz, Robin / University of Colorado Law Review, on 1 January 2002
2002
Article
United States
More details See the document
Mr. Page committed an atrocious crime. He did not know his victim, Peyton Tuthill, a young woman who had recently graduated from college and moved to Denver. But he was in her house, looking for money and items to sell, when she returned from a job interview. Instead of leaving her home, Mr. Page stayed to beat Peyton Tuthill, tie her up, stab her, slit her throat, rape her repeatedly, and eventually, kill her. Clearly, Ms. Tuthill did not deserve to die such a tortured death. Clearly, her death resulted from an egregious crime. However, the answer to the question of whether Mr. Page should be executed for committing this murder is not as clear. Some would answer affirmatively, others negatively. An important question is: who should decide?
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Death Penalty and Race
By Amnesty International - USA, on 8 September 2020
2020
Arguments against the death penalty
esMore details See the document
From initial charging decisions to plea bargaining to jury sentencing, African-Americans are treated more harshly when they are defendants, and their lives are accorded less value when they are victims.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Discrimination,
- Available languages La Pena de Muerte tiene Tendencias Racistas
Document(s)
Protection of the Rights of Children of Parents Sentenced to Death or Exectued: An Expert Legal Analysis
By Quaker United Nations Office / Stephanie Farrior, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
More details See the document
The QUNO’s report offers an updated review of differents elements of international law on the human rights of the child.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list International law, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Death sentences and executions in 2010
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2011
2011
NGO report
fresMore details See the document
In the last decade, more than 30 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Fifty-eight countries worldwide now retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and less than half of these carried out executions in 2010. This report analyzes some of the key developments in the worldwide application of the death penalty in 2010, citing figures gathered by Amnesty International on the number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out during the year.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Condamnations à mort et exécutions et exécutions en 2010Condenas a meurte y ejecuciones en 2010
Document(s)
CHINA’S DEATH PENALTY REFORMS
By Bonny Ling / Si-si Liu / Cliff Ip / Human Rights In China, on 1 January 2007
2007
NGO report
More details See the document
The Chinese authorities have introduced reforms to the death penalty system aimed at “killing fewer, and killing carefully.” Key systemic challenges remain, however, in ensuring that the criminally accused are not arbitrarily deprived of their inherent right to life.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Justice Denied : A Global Study of Wrongful Death Row Convictions January 2018
By Sandra Babcock / Cornell Law School / Madalyn Wasilczuk and Sharon Pia Hickey / Delphine Lourtau / Katie Campbell / Julie Bloch, on 1 January 2018
2018
Academic report
frMore details See the document
On March 7, 2018, the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide launched its new report entitled Justice Denied: A Global Study of Wrongful Death Row Convictions at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The report is a first-of-its-kind comparative study of the risk factors that increase the likelihood of wrongful convictions. The report illuminates the similarities in wrongful conviction risk factors in six countries across the geographical and political spectrum: Cameroon, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
- Document type Academic report
- Themes list Innocence, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
- Available languages Déni de justice : Une étude mondiale sur les erreurs judiciaires dans les couloirs de la mort
Document(s)
Death penalty’s unlikely opponents
By Death Penalty Information Center / Eliott C. McLaughlin, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
United States
More details See the document
This article reviews several cases where the families of victim’s speak out against the death penalty.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Murder Victims' Families,
Document(s)
Death penalty disproportionately used against persons with significant mental impairments in five Florida Counties
By Fair Punishment Project, on 1 January 2017
2017
NGO report
More details See the document
This study, focusing on five of Florida’s 67 counties considers 48 death sentences that were declared unconstitutional after a Florida Supreme Court decision. The research reveals that “63 percent of these individuals exhibit signs of serious mental illness or intellectual impairment, endured devastatingly severe childhood trauma, or were not old enough to legally purchase alcohol at the time the offense occurred.”
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Intellectual Disability, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Evidence Does Not Support Death Penalty As Deterrent
By Sacramento Bee, on 1 January 2012
2012
Article
United States
More details See the document
Ever since California added the death penalty to its penal code in the 1870s, supporters have argued that the threat of executions would make potential murderers think twice before committing heinous crimes.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Pictures at an execution: The condemned in art
By BBC / Jason Farago, on 1 January 2014
2014
Article
United States
More details See the document
This article discusses a new art exhibition in Los Angeles which aims to humanise condemned prisoners. It continues to situate the exhibition in the greater context of the depiction of the death penalty in art history. The conversation this article raises is the link the death penalty in art history has with creating a public discussion. From the sword to the electric chair, the death penalty has inspired challenging art, writes Jason Farago.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Public debate,
Document(s)
A Death Before Dying: Solitary Confinement on Death Row
By American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2013
2013
NGO report
More details See the document
Using the results of an ACLU survey of death row conditions nationwide, this briefing paper offers the first comprehensive review of the legal and human implications of subjecting death row prisoners to solitary confinement for years.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Row Conditions,
Document(s)
Why two mothers back death penalty repeal
By Vicki Schieber and Carolyn Leming / The Gazette, on 8 September 2020
2020
Working with...
More details See the document
This article talks about the tension between protecting the innocent on the one hand and dragging the process out for victims’ families on the other, and how those two can’t be reconciled.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
South Korea’s changing capital punishment policy: The road from de facto to formal abolition
By Byung-Sun Cho / Punishment and Society, on 8 September 2020
Article
Republic of Korea
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Justice Project Pakistan Death Penalty Database
By Justice Project Pakistan, on 1 January 2019
2019
Multimedia content
Pakistan
enMore details See the document
n the course of its advocacy and litigation work, JPP has developed a substantial collection of data sets on death row. With technical support from HURIDOCS, it has now developed open source data sets based on existing research on death row and on age determination under the Juvenile Justice Systems Ordinance. This project marks the beginning of the process of making the information publicly available, allowing the public and academic institutions to generate their own findings and base their campaigns on verified data.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Pakistan
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Urdu : جسٹس پراجیکٹ پاکستان کا ڈیٹا بیس
Document(s)
Death Row Fall 2014
By Criminal Justice Project / NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., on 1 January 2014
2014
International law - Regional body
More details See the document
The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Death Row, USA showed a continuing decline in the size of the death row population. The new total of 3,035 represented a 13% drop from 10 years earlier, when the death row population was 3,471. The racial demographics of death row have been steady, with white inmates making up 43% of death row, black inmates composing 42%, and Latino inmates 13%. California continued to have the largest death row, with 745 inmates, followed by Florida (404), Texas (276), Alabama (198), and Pennsylvania (188). Arkansas, which last carried out an execution nearly nine years ago, had a 13% decrease in its death row population since last year. The report also contains information about executions. Since 1976, 10% (143) of those executed were defendants who gave up their appeals.
- Document type International law - Regional body
- Themes list Due Process , Trend Towards Abolition,
Document(s)
Terror on Death Row: The Abuse and Overuse of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Legislation
By Reprieve / Justice Project Pakistan, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
Pakistan
More details See the document
This report is a result of death row prisoner data from 38 prisons across Pakistan’s four provinces(Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (‘KPK ’),Punjab and Sindh. For most of Pakistan, the data runs to December 2012, thereby covering all those who are presently subject to execution dates. However, the report reflects further data on the province of Sindh running to October 2014
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Pakistan
- Themes list Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Whom the State Kills
By Harvard Law Review / Scott Phillips / Justin Marceau, on 1 January 2020
2020
Article
United States
More details See the document
An unexpected feature of the modern death penalty is the fact that most persons sentenced to death are not executed […]. Death sentences are remarkably poor predictors of who will ultimately be executed. An even more salient feature of the death penalty is the fat that race matters […]. Rarity and race, then, stand as hallmarks of the American death penalty. But until now the interaction of these two phenomena has not been studied. This Article examines whether race is relevant for understanding the fate of the unfortunate few […]. By combining Baldus’s sentencing data whith original execution data, we demonstrate that the overall execution is susbsentially greater for defendants convicted of killing a white victim than for those convicted of killing a Black victim.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Discrimination,
Document(s)
The inevitability of error: experiences from former death row exonerees
By Witness to Innocence, on 1 January 2017
2017
Multimedia content
United States
More details Download [ pdf - 302 Ko ]
Death row exonerees bios
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Right to life, Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America
By Clive Stafford Smith / Harvill Secker, on 1 January 2012
2012
Book
United States
More details See the document
A new book by Clive Stafford Smith, a British lawyer who has defended death row inmates in the U.S., offers an in-depth view of capital punishment in America. In Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America, Stafford Smith examines the case of Kris Maharaj, a British citizen who was sentenced to death in Florida for a double murder, to expose problems in the justice system.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Innocence,
Document(s)
The European Parliament 2004-2009 and European Civil Society: A Guide for Partnership
By European Union, on 1 January 2010
2010
Working with...
enfrMore details See the document
The handbook is intended to introduce you to the rights and value based NGO sectors in the EU and helps you to navigate your way around Civil Society. Part I gives a general overview of the context of dialogue between the EU institutions and NGOs – as it has been established over the last 20 years – and how NGOs would like civil dialogue to develop in the context of the new Constitution. In Part II you will find an overview of the policy areas that each of the 6 sectors will work on during the EP period 2004-2009. This is intended to help you identify the areas of expertise European NGOs can offer for your specific work in the EP. The values and objectives of the EU Civil Society Contact Group from Part III and the annex contain a comprehensive contact list for European NGOs within the 6 sectors.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Networks,
- Available languages German : Einleitung durch die Kontaktgruppe der Europäischen Zivilgesellschaft : Ein Leitfaden für die ZusammenarbeitIntroduction du Groupe de Contact de la Société Civile: Un guide de partenariat
Document(s)
Filling The Void
By CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform / Bill Leonard / Maggie Smart, on 1 January 2014
2014
Book
United States
More details See the document
‘Filling The Void’ is a brutal record of Bill Leonard’s troubled childhood and youth.The memoir provides a shocking insight into the neglect and abuse that he suffered as a child at the hands of his parents and stepfather and gives a frank account of the murders that led to his incarceration. It reveals the horrendous conditions in which Bill is held in Ely State Prison, Nevada and gives a graphic description of the barbarous treatment that he has received at the hands of his prison guards. It also details and examines the flawed process that earned him the death penalty and describes his struggle for self-rehabilitation through a process called neuroplasticity. This is the life story of a man who has suffered a great deal, who has passions that aren’t always under control. A man who loves order and truth but hasn’t always been able to engage in them. Someone who is hugely motivated to learn and develop his abilities. Someone who ought to be alive for a long time. This is Bill Leonard – and this is his story.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak
By United Nations / Manfred Nowak, on 1 January 2009
2009
International law - United Nations
arfrzh-hantesruMore details See the document
In chapter III, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the compatibility of the death penalty with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. He concludes that the historic interpretation of the right to personal integrity and human dignity in relation to the death penalty is increasingly challenged by the dynamic interpretation of this right in relation to corporal punishment and the inconsistencies deriving from the distinction between corporal and capital punishment, as well as by the universal trend towards the abolition of capital punishment.
- Document type International law - United Nations
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
- Available languages تقرير المقرر الخاص المعني بمسألة التعذيب وغيره من ضروب المعاملةأو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينة، مانفرِد نوواكRapport du Rapporteur spécial sur la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants, Manfred Nowak酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚问题特别报告员曼弗雷德·诺瓦克的报告Informe del Relator Especial sobre la tortura y otros tratos o penas crueles, inhumanos o degradantes, Manfred NowakДоклад Специального докладчика по вопросу о пытках и других жестоких, бесчеловечных или унижающих достоинство видах обращения и наказания Манфреда Новака
Document(s)
Preventing the Reinstatement of Capital Punishment in the Maldives
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Nasheen Kalkat - Reprieve, on 10 August 2021
2021
Campaigning
Maldives
Public Opinion
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Findings from a preliminary study concerning the local abolitionist movement, risksto related civilsociety organizations and the identification of capacity building opportunities.
- Document type Campaigning
- Countries list Maldives
- Themes list Public Opinion
- Available languages Empêcher le retour de la peine capitale aux Maldives
Document(s)
When Law and Ethics Collide — Why Physicians Participate in Executions
By Atul Gawande / New England Journal of Medecine 354(12), 1-13., on 1 January 2006
2006
Article
United States
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Evidence from execution logs showed that six of the last eight prisoners executed in California had not stopped breathing before technicians gave the paralytic agent, raising a serious possibility that prisoners experienced suffocation from the paralytic, a feeling much like being buried alive, and felt intense pain from the potassium bolus. This experience would be unacceptable under the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. So the judge ordered the state to have an anesthesiologist present in the death chamber to determine when the prisoner was unconscious enough for the second and third injections to be given — or to perform the execution with sodium thiopental alone.The California Medical Association, the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) immediately and loudly opposed such physician participation as a clear violation of medical ethics codes. “Physicians are healers, not executioners,” the ASA’s president told reporters. Nonetheless, in just two days, prison officials announced that they had found two willing anesthesiologists. The court agreed to maintain their anonymity and to allow them to shield their identities from witnesses. Both withdrew the day before the execution, however, after the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit added a further stipulation requiring them personally to administer additional medication if the prisoner remained conscious or was in pain. This they would not accept. The execution was then postponed until at least May, but the court has continued to require that medical professionals assist with the administration of any lethal injection given to Morales. This turn of events is the culmination of a steady evolution in methods of execution in the United States.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Lethal Injection,
Document(s)
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2003
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2004
2004
NGO report
enMore details See the document
The worldwide situation to date: The worldwide situation concerning the death penalty has once again registered a trend towards abolition in the past year. The countries or territories that to different extents have decided to give up the practice of capital punishment total 133, including the first months of 2004. Of these 81 have abolished the death penalty completely; 14 have abolished it for ordinary crimes; 1, Russia, as a member of the Council of Europe is committed to abolish it and in the meanwhile apply a moratorium on executions; 5 are observing moratoriums and 32 countries are de facto abolitionist, not having carried out executions for at least 10 years.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIU´ IMPORTANTI DEL 2003 (e dei primi mesi del 2004)
Document(s)
The Failed Failsafe: The Politics of Executive Clemency
By Cathleen Burnett / Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, on 1 January 2003
2003
Article
United States
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This article discusses the role of executive clemency in light of the current political environment. Attending to the political aspects of the capital litigation process gives insight into the trends in the use of executive clemency
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Clemency,
Document(s)
THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2001
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2002
2002
NGO report
enMore details See the document
The year 2001 has confirmed the accelerated trend towards the abolition of the death penalty on course for the past ten years. In 2001 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became totally abolitionist, Chile abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, Ireland removed all references to the death penalty from its constitution, Burkina Faso joined the group of de facto abolitionists not having carried out any executions for more than ten years, and Lebanon has imposed a moratorium on executions.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2001
Document(s)
UPR death penalty stakeholder report template
By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2015
2015
Working with...
More details See the document
Template for civil society submissions to the Universal Periodic Review of human rights organised by the United Nations.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list International law,
Document(s)
Fault Lines: Politics of Death Penalty
By Fault Lines / YouTube, on 1 January 2010
2010
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
FaultLines explores the death penalty in the United States. Interviews with murder victim families, politicans and the exonerated are included.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Capital Punishment & Social Rights Research Initiative – Texas
By Barbara Laubenthal, on 12 February 2023
2023
Multimedia content
Death Row Conditions
United States
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The Capital Punishment and Social Rights Research Initiative assesses and analyzes the access of men and women on U.S. death rows to social rights such as health care, social contacts, visitation, communication, recreation and spiritual support. CPSR’s info series on living conditions on death row, state by state. Part 1: Texas
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions
Document(s)
Bangladesh: Mandatory death penalty declared void after 14-year legal battle
By Child Rights International Network, on 1 January 2016
2016
NGO report
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Sentenced to death for a crime allegedly committed when he was just 14, a Bangladeshi boy’s case became the centre of a lengthy legal battle which ultimately led to mandatory executions being declared unconstitutional.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Juveniles, Trend Towards Abolition, Mandatory Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement, and 12 years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul
By Anthony Graves / Beacon Press, on 1 January 2018
2018
Book
United States
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Autobiography of Anthony Graves, an innocent exonerated from death row in the USA. In the summer of 1992, a family was beaten and stabbed to death in Somerville, Texas. The perpetrator set the house on fire to cover his tracks, deepening the heinousness of the crime and rocking the tiny community to its core. Authorities were eager to make an arrest. Five days later, Anthony Graves was in custody.Graves was indicted, convicted of capital murder, sentenced to death, and, over the course of twelve years on death row, given two execution dates. He was not freed for eighteen years, two months, four days.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Annual Report: Death Penalty in Iran 2012
By Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2013
2013
Article
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
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The report denounces the judicial use of the death penalty in Iran in 2012
- Document type Article
- Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
- Themes list Statistics,
- Available languages گزارش سالانھ مجازات اعدام در ایران سال ۲۱۰۲Rapport Annuel sur la peine de mort en Iran 2012Annual Report: Death Penalty in Iran 2011گزارش سالانه اعدام در ایرا سال ۱۱۲۲Rapport annuel sur la peine de mort en Iran 2011
Document(s)
IHR: Papers and Discussions on Death Penalty
By Institute of Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2018
2018
Book
Philippines
More details See the document
Collection of articles and speeches on the death penalty presented in two UP IHR organized academic fora by academics, government officials and civil society.
- Document type Book
- Countries list Philippines
- Themes list Public opinion, Public debate, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Towards an Islamic Critique of Capital Punishment
By Robert Postawko / Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law, on 1 January 2002
2002
Article
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
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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,
Document(s)
Death penalty in India Presentation
By Shreya Rastogi, on 1 January 2017
2017
Multimedia content
More details Download [ pdf - 1008 Ko ]
Presentation of Shreya Rastogi, from the University of New Dehli, for the plenary session on poverty and the death penalty which took place during the 2017 General Assembly of the World Coalition
- Document type Multimedia content
Document(s)
When the Wall has Fallen: Decades of Failure in the Supervision of Capital Juries
By Jose Felipe Anderson / Ohio Northern University Law Review, on 1 January 2000
2000
Article
United States
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Death Sentencing in Black and White: An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Jurors’ Race and Jury Racial Composition
By William J. Bowers / Marla Sandys / Benjamin D. Steiner / University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
Do black jurors view a crime or its appropriate punishment differently than their white counterparts? Are their perspectives influenced by the race of the defendant or victim? Are blacks on white-dominated capital juries intimidated or coerced into voting for the death penalty?
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,