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On 28 November the meeting of the heads of the states in the Commonwealth of Independent States takes place in Minsk, Belarus. On the eve of the meeting Amnesty International calls on the heads of CIS states to put the issue of the abolition of the death penalty high on their agenda and to do all within their power to make the region a death penalty-free zone. Amnesty international is concerned that the conditions on death row in the region fall far short of international standards.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages СНГ: Смертная казнь уходит в прошлое, но сделано пока недостаточно

On 10 October 2021, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and abolitionist organizations around the world will celebrate the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

This year the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, have been exonerated or pardoned.

Their stories are an invisible reality.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Women
• Available languages كتيب باللغة العربية - الدورة التاسعة عشرة للیوم العالمي لمناھضة عقوبة الإعدامBrochure FR - 2021 Journée mondiale contre la peine de mort

Collection of testimonials of women’s experiences around the world regarding their death sentences- World Day 2021

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Women
• Available languages TÉMOIGNAGES DE FEMMES CONDAMNÉES À MORT

Iran Human Rights (IHR); August 25, 2021: Pioneering Iranian alternative rock band, Kiosk have released a new musical film and album titled “Sweet Destiny.” Based on a historic 1853 photograph of a public execution by cannon fire in Iran, it is the first professional Farsi language album or film of its kind to be dedicated to the subject of the death penalty.

The story is narrated by the photographer who has been summoned to photograph the scene of the execution as proof and questions the defendant’s crime. Divided into 14 acts, the imagined story of the execution is layered with cultural and political metaphors and references. Kiosk’s rich and poignant songs create context, take the viewers through the history of Iran since 1853 and highlight the critical issues around the death penalty and human rights breaches in Iran. Using historical photographs, paintings and animation, Sweet Destiny is visually mesmerising and thought provoking with sprinkles of satire that masterfully cross cultural boundaries. The film is subtitled in English.  

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)

On June 29, 1972, the United States Supreme Court decided Furman v. Georgia, striking down all existing death penalty laws in the United States and ushering in the modern era of the U.S. death penalty. In the decades that followed—as jurisdictions revised their death-sentencing procedures in response to the Supreme Court’s rulings on capital punishment—thousands of people were sentenced to death.

The Death Penalty Census is DPIC’s effort to identify and document every death sentence imposed in the U.S. since Furman. The census captures more than 9,700 death sentences imposed between the Supreme Court’s issuance of the Furman ruling and January 1, 2021. These sentences were imposed in 1,280 counties across 40 states, as well as by the federal government and the U.S. Military.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States

Use of the death penalty in Texas remained near historic low levels in 2022, with juries sentencing two people to death and the State executing five people. Three other scheduled executions were stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA). Overall, the eight execution dates set for 2022 were the fewest in Texas since 1996.
Despite their low number, the executions set and carried out in 2022 raise troubling issues about the fairness and utility of the death penalty. Four of the men put to death, including 78-year-old Carl Wayne Buntion, suffered from physical or mental impairments or histories of childhood trauma, while two maintained their innocence of the crimes for which they were convicted.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States

The fascinating, moving story of a friendship with an inmate on death row. It was a clash of race, privilege, and circumstance when Alan Robertson first signed up through a church program to visit Cecil Johnson on Death Row, to offer friendship and compassion. Alan’s wife Suzanne had no intention of being involved, but slowly, through phone calls and letters, she began to empathize and understand him. That Cecil and Suzanne eventually became such close friends—a white middle-class woman and a Black man who grew up devoid of advantage—is a testament to perseverance, forgiveness, and love, but also to the notion that differences don’t have to be barriers. This book recounts a fifteen-year friendship and how trust and compassion were forged despite the difficult circumstances, and how Cecil ended up ministering more to Suzanne’s family than they did to him. The story details how Cecil maintained inexplicable joy and hope despite the tragic events of his life and how Suzanne, Alan, and their two daughters opened their hearts to a man convicted of murder. Cecil Johnson was executed Dec. 2, 2009.

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

In 2019-20, The Death Penalty Project, in partnership with LBH Masyarakat and the University of Indonesia, commissioned Professor Carolyn Hoyle, of The Death Penalty Research Unit at the University of Oxford to conduct research investigating attitudes towards the death penalty in Indonesia. The findings have been presented in a two-part report; the first details the findings of a nuanced public survey and the second details the findings of interviews conducted with opinion formers. The public opinion research was undertaken by surveying a stratified random sample of 1,515 respondents – a sample large enough to make inferences from the data about the views of the overall population.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Indonesia
• Themes list Drug Offenses / Public Opinion 

Published on Real Stories YouTube channel, this documentary casts a penetrating look at the consequences of the death penalty through three powerful stories – the rare perspective of a former state executioner who comes within days of executing an innocent person; a Boston Marathon bombing victim who struggles to decide what justice really means; and the parents of a murder victim who choose to fight for the life of their daughter’s killer. As the battle to overturn capital punishment comes to a head in the U.S., this provocative film challenges viewers to question their deepest beliefs about justice.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public debate, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,

The thesis of this paper is that lawyers who have represented clients in capital murder cases at trial and appeal—not unlike all criminal trial and initial appeal counsel, but more urgently because of the circumstances—continue to owe important obligations to their former clients. These obligations have been just recently included in the latest version of the American Bar Association’s Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death PenaltyCases: In accordance with professional norms, all persons who are or have been members of the defense team have a continuing duty to safeguard the interests of the client and should cooperate fully with successor counsel. This duty includes, but is not limited to: A. maintaining the records of the case in a manner that will inform successor counsel of all significant developments relevant to the litigation; B. providing the client’s files, as well as information regarding all aspects of the representation, to successor counsel; C. sharing potential further areas of legal and factual research with successor counsel; and D. cooperating with such professionally appropriate legal strategies as may be chosen by successor counsel. It is my hope that this article will demonstrate that these Guidelines reflect not just best practice, but actual ethical mandates that trial counsel, like Bryan Saunders, owe their former clients as those clients negotiate the jurisprudential maze known as habeas corpus.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Legal Representation,

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,

Searching inquiry into the contours of capital punishment in America. Containing over 1300 footnotes, the chapters by ten young scholars explore the sometimes-ignored fine details of the death penalty. Topics include the impropriety of applying the death penalty to felony murder, the implications of death row exonerations and their impact on access to post-conviction DNA testing, media impacts on capital cases, death qualification of capital juries and its impact on the right of prospective capital jurors to enjoy First Amendment protection of the free exercise of their religions, the fiscal conservative and social conservative argument favoring abolition of the death penalty, the need for a heightened standard of proof – greater than beyond a reasonable doubt – at the penalty phase of capital trials, federal habeas corpus protections for state-sentenced capital offenders and the constitutionality of limits on “actual innocence” equitable tolling, tips and techniques for capital defense counsel representing defendants who were acutely substance-impaired at the time of the crime or have a history of chronic substance abuse or chemical dependency, the impropriety of allowing counsel to argue fiscal matters to the jury, such as that either execution or life imprisonment is the “cheapest” option for society, and the role the death penalty should and does play within the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Due Process ,

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

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

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

There are at least 500 women currently on death row around the world. While exact figures are impossible to obtain, it is estimated that over 100 women have been executed in the last 10 years – and potentially hundreds more. Little empirical data exists about the crimes for which women have been sentenced to death, the circumstances of their lives before their convictions, and the conditions under which they are detained on death row. This Factsheet focuses on the latter topic, with some introductory remarks on the profiles of women under sentence of death. It draws on research published by the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty in 2018, which has shed light on this much-neglected population.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Women,
• Available languages Conditions de détention des femmes condamnées à mort : Une fiche détaillée

First as a reporter and then as a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Michelle was a frequent visitor to Huntsville’s Walls Unit, where she recorded and relayed the final moments of death row inmates’ lives before they were put to death by the state.Michelle was in the death chamber as some of the United States’ most notorious criminals, including serial killers, child murderers and rapists, spoke their last words on earth, while a cocktail of lethal drugs surged through their veins.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Right to life, Death Penalty,

What would you do if someone you love was raped, tortured, or murdered? How would you seek justice? The very thought evokes horror— we shudder to even consider it. But it is a reality faced by Vicki and Syl Scheiber after their daughter’s rape and murder; faced by Karen Brassard in the traumatic aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing; faced by former Virginia state executioner Jerry Givens after performing 62 executions.As wrongful convictions, botched executions, and a broken justice system inch further into the spotlight, we must consider: What is justice? What part should the death penalty play?In the Executioner’s Shadow allows a glimpse into Jerry’s rarely seen world of death row and execution. It explores Karen’s moral conflict as she attends the accused bomber’s trial, a young man the same age as her son. It defies our perception of justice as Vicki and Syl fight for the life of their daughter’s murderer.In the Executioner’s Shadow illuminates the oft hidden realities entangled in death row, the death penalty, and the U.S. Justice system at large.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public opinion, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

What would you do if your child was murdered?
What would you do if your child was convicted of murder?

Alice Goodman has known great loss. Since the brutal murder of her daughter Madeline decades earlier, she has tirelessly fought to see the killer pay for his crime. Now, after twenty years, the day has arrived that she will witness his long-delayed execution. Will justice finally be done? Will she finally find the peace that has long eluded to her?

Lori Williams knows she was not the perfect mother, but she never believed her son Mark could be guilty of the crime that placed him on death row. Confronting every challenge along the way, she refused to give up her pursuit of the truth—a truth she believed would set her son free. Will it be enough?

Both women are fighting for a justice they believe has been denied their children. Now, their lives are on a collision course with each other. Is either woman prepared for the truth?

• Document type Book
• Countries list Canada
• Themes list Right to life, Clemency, Death Penalty,

On December 18, DPIC released its annual report on the latest developments in capital punishment, “The Death Penalty in 2014: Year End Report.” In 2014, 35 people were executed, the fewest in 20 years. Death sentences dropped to their lowest level in the modern era of the death penalty, with 72 people sentenced to death, the smallest number in 40 years. Just seven states carried out executions, and three states (Texas, Missouri, and Florida) accounted for 80% of the executions. The number of states carrying out executions was the lowest in 25 years. Seven people were exonerated from death row this year, including three men in Ohio, who were cleared of all charges 39 years after their convictions, the longest time among all death row exonerees. There have now been 150 people exonerated from death row since 1973. “The relevancy of the death penalty in our criminal justice system is seriously in question when 43 out of our 50 states do not apply the ultimate sanction,” said Richard Dieter, DPIC’s Executive Director and the author of the report. “The U.S. will likely continue with some executions in the years ahead, but the rationale for such sporadic use is far from clear.”

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks, Statistics,

Fairness for those defendants facing the ultimate punishment of death requires that they be afforded zealous advocacy by competent counsel, and that counsel be provided with the resources necessary to effectively represent their clients. Stating that “[o]ur capital system is haunted by the demon of error, error in determining guilt, and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die,” Governor Ryan cited many deficiencies in the justice system in Illinois, including poor lawyering and inadequate resources for defense counsel, in arriving at his decision to commute all death sentences. Over the years the imposition of the death penalty has too often been a function of unqualified counsel or counsel who lacked the resources, including time, funding, and provision of investigative, expert and supportive services, to competently represent their clients, rather than a reasoned decision based on the circumstances of the crime and the background and character of the defendant.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Legal Representation,

In this book Beth Berkowitz tells the story of modern scholarship on the ancient rabbinic death penalty and continues the story by offering a fresh perspective using the approaches of ritual studies, cultural criticism, and talmudic source criticism. Against the scholarly consensus, Berkowitz argues that the rabbinic laws of the death penalty were used by the early Rabbis in their efforts to establish themselves in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. The purpose of the laws, she contends, was to create a complex ritual of execution that was controlled by the Rabbis, thus bolstering their claims to authority in the context of Roman imperial domination.

• Document type Book
• Themes list Religion ,

Numerous studies have examinedthe psychological sequelae thatresult from the murder of a loved one. Except for the death penalty,however, sparse attention has been paidto the impact of the murderer’ssentence on homicide survivors’ well-being. Given the steadfastness ofthe public’s opinion that the death penalty brings satisfaction and closureto survivors, it is surprising thatthere has been no systematic inquirydirectly with survivors about whether obtaining the ultimate punishmentaffects their healing. This Study used in-person interviews with arandomly selected sample of survivorsfrom four time periods to examinethe totality of the ultimate penal sanction (UPS) process and itslongitudinal impact on their lives. Moreover, it assessed the differentialeffect of two types of UPS by comparing survivors’ experiences in Texas,a death penalty state, and Minnesota, a life without the possibility ofparole (LWOP) state. Comparing states highlights differences primarilyduring the postconviction stage, specifically with respect to the appealsprocess and in regard to survivor well-being. In Minnesota, survivors ofadjudicated cases show higher levels of physical, psychological, andbehavioral health. This Study’s findings have implications for trialstrategy and policy development.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families,

How are lawyers affected by defending death penalty cases, where failure means execution? And how do they respond when their clients are killed?This briefing paper, written by Susannah Sheffer and drawing on her book Fighting for their lives, showcases the voices of the lawyers themselves to demonstrate the profound and long-lasting impacts that the death penalty can have on those indirectly affected by it.

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

The Court (pictured) ruled in favour of two prisoners who petitioned for a commutation of their death sentences to life imprisonment, claiming “the unconscionably long delay in deciding the mercy petition has caused the onset of chronic psychotic illness”. It acknowledged the “unbearable mental agony after confirmation of death sentence” and added that in some cases “death-row prisoners lost their mental balance on account of prolonged anxiety and suffering experienced on death row”.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list India
• Themes list Mental Illness, International law, Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon,

Paralegals are becoming an increasingly important part of the criminal justice system in developing countries. By ensuring more people are aware of their rights within the prison system and can therefore represent themselves and follow up on their cases, paralegals contribute towards a reduction in numbers in pre-trial detention.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

The Death Penalty Focus Justice Advocates Project empowers people with firsthand experience of the death penalty system to become advocates for fairness and justice by telling their personal stories to the public. Justice Advocates include the wrongfully convicted and law enforcement professionals, who bring their varied experiences of the flaws and dangers of the death penalty system to the public discourse

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Innocence,

Many family members who have lost loved ones to murder feel that the death penalty will not heal their wounds nor will it end their pain. This webpage provides resources for those looking to connect with murder victims’ families organisations.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Networks,

Each trust has a legally binding trust deed that defines the beneficiaries, objectives and geographical area for its charitable activities. The more narrowly defined trusts may only support a certain age group, cause or locality. Those trusts with a wide remit will often be legally defined with objectives that are for “General Charitable Purposes” with “Worldwide Beneficiaries”. Many trusts will also change their policies to focus on topical or specific geographical priorities. It’s important to know where the heart of decision making lies and it can be very different across a number of trusts, and change according to the different stages of their ‘lifecycle’.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

This book examines the death penalty within the changing socio-political context of China. The authors’ treatment of China’s death penalty is legal, historical, and comparative. In particular, they examine; the substantive and procedures laws surrounding capital punishment in different historical periods the purposes and functions of capital punishment in China in various dynasties changes in the method of imposition and relative prevalence of capital punishment over time the socio-demographic profile of the executed and their crimes over the last two decades and comparative practices in other countries. Their analyses of the death penalty in contemporary China focus on both its theory – how it should be done in law – and actual practice – based on available secondary reports/sources.

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

The NGO Relations Cluster is the link to over 1,500 Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) associated with the Department of Public Information and supports their efforts to interact effectively with the United Nations in their areas of expertise.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Sección de las Organizaciones no Gubernamentales联合国新闻部非政府组织Section des Organisations Non GouvernementalesНеправите Неправительственные организации (льственные организации)

Senate Resolution No.6 in 2011 called for a study of the contemporary capital punishment system in the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania is among the 31 states and the federal government that authorize capital punishment. During the last four decades in Pennsylvania, hundreds of murderers have been convicted and condemned to death; however, there have been only three executions.This study follows others on the same or related topics, including those conducted by the American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System. The SR6 report is the culmination of work done by the Justice Center for Research at The Pennsylvania State University, the Interbranch Commission on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness, and an advisory committee comprised of judges, public defenders, district attorneys, victim advocates, inmate advocates, clergy, law enforcement officials, and other expert stakeholders.

• Document type Government body report
• Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,

Experience has proved that for certain governments it is not easy to balance international drug laws with human rights, public health, alternatives to incarceration, and experimentation with regulation.This Report intends to provide a primer on why governments must not turn a blind eye to pressing human rights and public health impacts of current drug policies.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Drug Offences,

Nghiên cứu này nhằm đánh giá khả năng Việt Nam phê chuẩn Nghị định thư không bắt buộc thứ hai đối với Công ước quốc tế về các quyền dân sự và chính trị (ICCPR) nhằm xóa bỏ án tử hình. Nó phân tích: (a) khung pháp lý quốc tế hiện hành và quá trình phát triển pháp lý để xóa bỏ án tử hình ở các quốc gia được chọn, (b) sự tương thích giữa các quy định hiện hành về án tử hình trong hệ thống pháp luật Việt Nam và Nghị định thư tùy chọn thứ hai của ICCPR và (c) đánh giá tính khả thi để bãi bỏ án tử hình ở Việt Nam.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Viet Nam
• Themes list International law, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages On the possibility of Viet Nam ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty

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

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

This annual report drafted by ACHRS aims to proportionate an analytical studio of the situation of the death penalty and capital punishment in the Arab World in 2011, and includes detailed information about the 21 countries which constitute the Arab World. It also contains tables and a conclusive reflection on the current state of capital punishment.

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

本レポートは，初めに死刑囚の子どもについての基本的情報，すなわち，親が刑事司法制度において裁かれるに全過程を通じて現れる諸問題を提示する。次に，一般的な受刑者の子どもが直面する問題点との類似性を踏まえつつ，死刑囚の子どものケースは異なるものであることに焦点を当てる。世界における受刑者の子どもが置かれた状況の詳細については， 勧告や望ましい実践例も含め，QUNO発刊のCollat-eralConvicts （2012） を参照していただきたい。第三に，死刑囚の子どもだけが体験する根本的に特有な問題点を検討する。本レポートは，限られた数の勧告のみを掲示している。これは，網羅的であることを意図するのではなく，前向きな展開が明確な分野の勧告のみを取り上げたためである。

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages Lightening the Load of the Parental Death Penalty on Childrenتخفيف العبء عن الأطفال المحكوم آباؤهم أو أمهاتهم بالإعدامکاهش بار مجازات اعدام پدر یا مادر برای فرزندانAlléger le fardeau de la condamnation à mort d’un parent sur les enfantsCómo aliviar la carga que supone para los menores la condena a muerte de un(a) progenitor(a)

FIACAT press release about the awareness raising workshop for permanent representatives to the African Union.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
• Available languages L'importance de la sensibilisation des ambassadeurs auprès de l'Union africaine sur le projet de Protocol africain sur l'abolition de la peine de mort

This paper begins by providing some basic information about children of parents sentenced to death, issues that persist through the whole of a parent’sinteraction with the criminal justice system. Next, it looks at issues that aresimilar to those faced by other children of prisoners, but focuses on the ways inwhich children of parents sentenced to death are different. For a more detailedaccount of the situation of children of prisoners worldwide, including recommendations and examples of good practice, read QUNO’s 2012 paperCollateral Convicts. Thirdly, the fundamentally different issues are considered, thoseonly children of parents sentenced to death experience. There are a limitednumber of recommendations included throughout: these are not intended to becomprehensive, instead only covering those areas where there is already clarity about a positive way forward.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families,
• Available languages Japanese : 死刑囚の子ども達の 未来に向けてتخفيف العبء عن الأطفال المحكوم آباؤهم أو أمهاتهم بالإعدامکاهش بار مجازات اعدام پدر یا مادر برای فرزندانAlléger le fardeau de la condamnation à mort d’un parent sur les enfantsCómo aliviar la carga que supone para los menores la condena a muerte de un(a) progenitor(a)

This report shows that atheists, humanists and other nonreligious people are discriminated against by governments across the world, sometimes facing death.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Minorities, Religion ,

Two trends accompanying the abolition of the death penalty give reason for concern: there is a striking increase in offences that carry the sanction of life imprisonment as the sanction which typically replaces the death penalty following abolition or a moratorium of the death penalty; and a striking increase in prisoners serving this indefinite sentence. Secondly, a differential, harsher treatment is applied to them as compared to other categories of prisoners. At the same time, the development of international standards in any affirmative–if not legally binding– form are lacking. As a consequence states are more frequently enforcing a form of punishment problematic in terms of international human rights standards and norms.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Kenya
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Isolation and Desolation – Conditions of Detention of People Sentenced to Death in Malaysia is the first ever fact-finding mission report on the conditions of detention of death row prisoners in Malaysia.

It examines the use of death penalty in Malaysia as well as the actual situation of people on death row.

This report is not meant to point fingers but rather to put the facts on the table in a transparent manner and work from there. It is mainly an advocacy tool for all abolitionist stakeholders, from civil society actors to the parliamentarians who will keep fighting for the abolition of the death penalty.

—————————————
Isolation and Desolation – Conditions of Detention of People Sentenced to Death di Malaysia adalah satu-satunya laporan berasaskan misi mengkaji fakta (fact-finding mission) mengenai keadaan-keadaan penahanan bagi banduan-banduan hukuman mati di Malaysia.

Laporan ini mengkaji pelaksanaan hukuman mati di Malaysia dan juga keadaan sebenar orang-orang yang dijatuhkan hukuman mati.

Laporan ini bukan bertujuan untuk menunding jari terhadap mana-mana pihak, tetapi bertujuan untuk memberi pencerahan kepada fakta-fakta yang ditemui dan berusaha ke atasnya. Laporan ini bertujuan utama sebagai alat advokasi kepada semua pihak yang mempunyai kepentingan dalam pemansuhan, bermula dari ahli persatuan kemasyarakatan sehingga ahli parlimen yang akan berusaha berterusan untuk memansuhkan hukuman mati.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Malaysia
• Themes list Death Row Conditions 

It is of the utmost importance, in the short and medium-term, to develop an intense work of academically nature both of study and disclosure of the problems of the abolition of the death penalty in the international scenario, to complement and help the work of the diplomatic action and non-governmental organizations. To this effect it is proposed to keep REPECAP as an ever – growing scientific world network comprising academic law scholars, human rights centers, institutions of public law and Ngos, with expertise and skill in the problems of death penalty and interests in the field of international criminal justice, as well as young researchers who have been dealing with these topics or wish to get involved with the subject, regardless of nationality or locations.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

Where the death penalty is applied, international law, jurisprudence and practice require that certain minimum standards are applied. The standards include international and regional treaties that are legally binding on states that have ratified them, customary international law that is binding on all states without exception, and non-binding standards and resolutions that nonetheless command the support of the majority of states. International understanding of these minimum standards has continued to evolve in the years since they were drafted, but the documents themselves do not always keep pace. This paper brings together international, regional and national standards, the most recent understandings of relevant experts and appropriate insights from other connected disciplines. It explores possible ways in which international minimum standards could be further strengthened at this time, whether through ECOSOC, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, regional bodies or national amendments to laws and policies. In each section, the issue and current practice is described, followed by examples of good practice or suggestions for improvement, finishing with a short list of recommendations for strengthening existing standards. These issues and recommendations are not final, but are intended to provide a point from which discussion can begin.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list International law, Legal Representation,

Business engagement in the death penalty is critical because of the impact it can have. Putsimply: the power is in your hands. If your business is looking for a human rights issue whereit can achieve measurable change, advocacy on the death penalty must be considered.Global support for the death penalty is declining. Meanwhile, competition for investment isfierce. Governments and the public at large care more about job creation and a healthy economythan a system of executions. Therefore, the voices of businesses and business leaders havea huge role to play in shaping public dialogue about whether to keep – or end – the use ofcapital punishment.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks, Death Penalty,
• Available languages Entreprises Responsables et Engagements sur la Peine de Mort: Guide Pratique

While the death penalty remains, persons with mental disabilities are at risk of being sentenced to death and executed in breach of international standards. This briefing paper provides concrete examples of what can be done to address this risk, including by the adoption by national medical professional bodies of codes of conduct ensuring that professionals do not act unethically or unprofessionally in capital cases.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
• Available languages Fiche pour les professions médicales

The trends are clear. In 2015, juries returned the fewest number of new death sentences—49—since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.Of the 3,143 county or county equivalents in the United States, only 16—or one half of one percent—imposed five or more death sentences between 2010 and 2015.This report takes a close look at how capital punishment operates on the ground in half of these active death-sentencing counties. In this first report, we dig deep into Caddo, Clark, Duval, Harris, Maricopa, Mobile, Kern, and Riverside counties. Our review reveals that these counties frequently share at least three systemic deficiencies: a history of overzealous prosecutions, inadequate defense lawyering, and a pattern of racial bias and exclusion. These structural failings regularly produce two types of unjust outcomes which disproportionately impact people of color: the wrongful conviction of innocent people, and the excessive punishment of persons who are young or suffer from severe mental illnesses, brain damage, trauma, and intellectual disabilities.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,

Tant que la peine de mort continue d’exister, les personnes souffrant de déficiences mentales courent le risque d’être condamnées à mort et exécutées, en violation des normes internationales. Ce document de synthèse montre quelles mesures peuvent être prises pour supprimer ce risque, notamment en luttant contre la stigmatisation des personnes souffrant d’un handicap mental ou intellectuel, en particulier lorsque les médias entretiennent des idées reçues erronées concernant les risques que ces personnes représentent.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
• Available languages Factsheet for Journalists

Detailed information on the death penalty and mental health.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
• Available languages Fiche sur la peine de mort et la santé mentale

With 35 executions this year, 2014 marks the fewest people put to death since 1994, according to this report by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). The 72 new death sentences in 2014 is the lowest number in the modern era of the death penalty, dating back to 1974. Executions and sentences have steadily decreased, as Americans have grown more skeptical of capital punishment. The states’ problems with lethal injections also contributed to the drop in executions this year.Death sentences—a more current barometer than executions—have declined by 77% since 1996, when there were 315. There were 79 death sentences last year. This is the fourth year in a row that there have been fewer than 100 death sentences.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Mental Illness, Innocence, Intellectual Disability, Lethal Injection, Statistics,

While the death penalty remains, persons with mental disabilities are at risk of being sentenced to death and executed in breach of international standards. This briefing paper aims to help prison staff act ethically and professionally when dealing with people on death row.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
• Available languages Fiche pour le personnel pénitentiaire

The trends are clear. In 2015, juries returned the fewest number of new death sentences—49—since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.Of the 3,143 county or county equivalents in the United States, only 16—or one half of one percent—imposed five or more death sentences between 2010 and 2015.This report takes a close look at how capital punishment operates on the ground in half of these active death-sentencing counties. In Part II, we highlight Dallas (TX), Jefferson(AL), San Bernardino (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Orange (CA), Miami-Dade (FL),Hillsborough (FL), and Pinellas (FL) counties.Our review of these counties, like the places profiled in Part I, reveals thatthese counties frequently share at least three systemic deficiencies: a history ofoverzealous prosecutions, inadequate defense lawyering, and a pattern of racialbias and exclusion. These structural failings regularly produce two types of unjustoutcomes which disproportionately impact people of color: the wrongful convictionof innocent people, and the excessive punishment of persons who are young or sufferfrom severe mental illnesses, brain damage, trauma, and intellectual disabilities.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,

Forensic mental health assessments in death penalty cases are on the rise due in part to the continuing growth of forensic psychology and psychiatry as professions, combined with several recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Forensic mental health professionals are now conducting assessments at every stage of death penalty proceedings, ranging from pre-trial evaluations to determine eligibility for the death penalty to evaluations conducted post-sentencing and closer to the date of execution.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,

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,

Florida promotes itself as a destination for tourists and a hub for trade. It is less well-known as a diehard proponent of a cruel policy discarded by much of the world. In 2016, the US Supreme Court ruled Florida’s capital sentencing scheme unconstitutional. Florida’s response has added another layer of arbitrariness to its death penalty. This report focusses on the state’s use of the death penalty against people who were young adults at the time of the crime and/or who have mental or intellectual disabilities. The Sunshine State should end its use of the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public opinion, Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,

The 2013 World Day leaflet provides information on the issues surrounding mental health and the death penalty. It also gives arguments against the death penalty.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
• Available languages Brochure Journée mondiale 2014

Poster of the 12th World Day against the Death Penalty dedicated to mental health:Mental disorder is never a crimeCare. Don’t kill

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
• Available languages плакат - Всемирный день海報 - 2014 年世界反死刑日Cartel - Día Mundial 2014بوستر اليوم العالمى 2014پوستر روز جهانی سال 2014Affiche Journée mondiale 2014

Twenty-five U.S. states still permit the execution of offenders with mental retardation and should pass laws to ban the practice without delay. The United States appears to be the only democracy whose laws expressly permit the execution of persons with this severe mental disability.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Intellectual Disability,

This paper attempts to summarise the issues arising from the practice of executing prisoners who have mental retardation. It draws mainly on the US experience but makes reference to other jurisdictions.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Intellectual Disability,

This report aims to briefly highlight the past and present challenges and choices in Iran’s human rights record on juvenile offenders. It considers legal and theological perspectives on key issues as well as presenting case studies on selected individuals whose mistreatment raises serious questions about the injustices faced by young people in the Iranian judicial system. The report offers practical recommendations to the international community as it takes a closer look at the Islamic Republic and its human rights record through the 2010 Universal Periodic Review.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles,

The European Court of Human Rights is an international court set up in 1959. It rules on individual or State applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1998 it has sat as a full-time court and individuals can apply to it directly.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages German : Der in Kürze GerichthofLa Cour en Bref

The report describes the federal forensic oversight program; outlines the problems that have plagued the program since its inception (with specific examples): Explains the consequences of the federal government’s inadequate administration of the program; shows how forensic negligence and misconduct lead to wrongful convictions; and gives specific recommendations for what the federal government, states and individuals can do to strengthen forensic oversight.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

Capital Punishment in Context contains several cases of individuals who were sentenced to death in the United States. Each case presents a narrative account of the individual’s crime, trial and punishment, along with guidelines for analysis, discussion and further research on issues raised by the case. The narratives are supplemented by resources such as original police reports from the homicide investigation and transcripts of testimony from witnesses. After reading the case, you can further explore issues by following a series of links to new information. Each case, along with the related materials, delineates a path through the criminal justice system. At every stage of the process, questions are raised about how the system works. These questions can lead to an analysis of key topics, such as the quality of legal representation for criminal defendants, the risk of wrongful convictions, the role of capital jurors, judicial independence, and the role that race may play in the criminal justice system.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

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,

The Special Rapporteur also observes positive developments at the legislative level, including the planned reform of several laws relevant to the criminal procedure, which he hopes will bring Chinese legislation into greater conformity with international norms, particularly the fair trial standards contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which China signed in 1998 and is preparing to ratify. He also welcomes the resumption by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of its authority to review all death penalty cases,59 particularly given the fact that the quality of the judiciary increases as one ascends the hierarchy. The Special Rapporteur suggests that China might use the opportunity of this important event to increase transparency regarding the number of death sentences in the country, as well as to consider legislation that would allow direct petitioning to the SPC in cases where individuals do not feel that they were provided with adequate relief by lower courts in cases involving the useof torture, access to counsel, etc.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list China
• Available languages Rapport de Manfred Nowak, Rapporteur spécial sur la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants - MISSION EN CHINE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 - 对中国的访问Informe del Relator Especial sobre la tortura y otros tratos o penas crueles, inhumanos o degradantes, Manfred Nowak - MISIÓN CHINAالمعاملة ضروب من وغيره التعذيب بمسألة المعني الخاص المقرر تقرير نوفاك مانفريد السيد المهينة، أو اللاإنسانية أو القاسية العقوبة أو ‎- الصين إلى ﺑﻬا قام التي البعثةДоклад Специального докладчика по вопросу о пытках и других жестоких, бесчеловечных или унижающих достоинство видах обращения и наказания Манфреда Новака

This document examines the issue of extradition and the death penalty in the United States. It looks at the emergence of death penalty clauses in extradition treaties and laws and gives examples of specific cases in the US where extradition has either prevented the application of the death penalty or been circumvented to allow individuals to be sentenced to death.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Extradition,
• Available languages الولاية المتحدة الأمركية : لا عودة الى الاعدام - العقوبة الاعدام في امريكة كحاجز لالتسليمESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA : Que no se envíe a nadie a la ejecución: La pena de muerte en Estados Unidos como barrera frente a la extradición

Death sentences in Texas have dropped more than 70% since 2003, reaching a historic low in 2010. According to data compiled from news sources and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, juries condemned eight new individuals to death in Texas in 2010. This is the lowest number of new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ revised death penalty statute in 1976. For preious annual reports on Texas please visit: http://tcadp.org/get-informed/reports/

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,

In April of 2000, the ACLU of Virginia published its first report on the status of the death penalty in Virginia. Since that time, a remarkable number of changes have taken place on this issue both in Virginia and throughout the country, which necessitated a second edition of the report. The first report examined four aspects of the administration of capital punishment in Virginia: prosecutorial discretion in the charging of capital crimes, quality of legal representation for the accused at trial, appellate review of trials resulting in the death penalty and the role of race. This report will look at those four areas and also add several other issues: the problem of prosecutorial misconduct in capital cases, the problem of executing mentally retarded offenders, the question of executing juvenile offenders and the danger of executing wrongfully convicted persons, as shown by the growing number of individuals who have been exonerated while on death row.

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

This briefing paper is offered as a critique of the received wisdom of abolition strategies against the background of an evidence based analysis of the literature. A point of interest to begin with is to try to tease out the motivation of individuals and groups that consider themselves death penalty abolitionists.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,

Individuals are regularly sentenced to death in murder cases, but no statistics are published about the number of condemnations. Under the Tanzanian Penal Code, the death sentence remains a mandatory penalty for murder while it can also be applied for treason. As of April 2003, 370 persons (359 males and 11 females) were awaiting execution in the prisons of mainland Tanzania in conditions that might amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. There are a number of dysfunctions in the Tanzanian legal system, which seems to represent a threat to the rule of law, and an obstacle to reform: the unwillingness of the Executive to have its decisions challenged in judicial proceedings, and; the existence of a Penal System essentially based on retaliation towards the offenders rather than rehabilitation ; e.g. corporal punishments can still be applied for numerous offences, in spite of the fact that they clearly violate international and regional human rights instruments. Furthermore, pervasive corruption in the police and the judiciary represents a serious threat to the due process of law, including in death penalty cases.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Transparency, Mandatory Death Penalty,
• Available languages Swahili : Tanzania: Adhabu ya Kifo Imerasimishwa?Tanzanie: La peine de mort institutionnalisée

Violations of due process in the case of prisoners condemned to death. There are known cases of torture carried out by agents of the State and there is no legal provision that allows the Executive branch to grant a pardon and, subsequently, to commute a death sentence. The Guatemalan State has executed various individuals despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had petitioned for precautionary measures; this constitutes a flagrant and recurrent violation of Guatemala’s international human rights commitments.The Guatemalan State, in addition to not having adequate public policies for prisons, also has no laws regulating prisons and conditions of detention, in spite of the fact that various UN instruments are devoted to that question.

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

• Document type United Nations report
• Available languages تقرير 2018- وقف العمل بعقوبة الإعدامInforme 2018 - Moratoria del uso de la pena de muerteRapport 2018 - Moratoire sur l'application de la peine de mortДоклад 2018 - Мораторий на применение смертной казни2018报告 - 暂停使用死刑联合国

Reflecting schisms of race, class, and political power at the core of the Philippines’ tumultuous democracy, clashing families, institutions, and individuals face off to convict or free Paco, accused of the rape and murder of two chinese-philipino women.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Innocence,

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,

These guidelines aim to support systemic and effective human rights education for police and other law enforcement personnel. They were prepared on the basis of broad consultations involving police trainers, university lecturers, national human rights institutions and individuals involved in the design and delivery of educational curricula for law enforcement officials.

• Document type Working with...

In Quest For Justice, the author takes readers into the Bo Cochran and Eric Rudolph cases, along with those of Randall Padgett and Judge Jack Montgomery, in a conversational, story-driven narrative that offers personal insights and intimate views into these complex individuals and cases.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Due Process ,

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,

This advocacy toolkit is for the use of activists working on the abolition of the death penalty in Africa. It is intended to equip them with some key advocacy tools to effectively influence the institutions and individuals who can make abolition a reality in the region.

• Document type Lobbying

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

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

The Death Penalty Project and Forensic Psychiatry Chambers have released two new publications, together providing an authoritative guide on the application of mental health law in capital cases. The resources respond to the knowledge that, in many countries that retain the death penalty, mental health issues are not being sufficiently addressed by the courts, leading to miscarriages of justice and putting vulnerable individuals at risk.This Casebook uses real-life examples to address ethical and professional questions and explore the application of legal principles.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Death Penalty,

The Death Penalty Project and Forensic Psychiatry Chambers have released two new publications, together providing an authoritative guide on the application of mental health law in capital cases. The resources respond to the knowledge that, in many countries that retain the death penalty, mental health issues are not being sufficiently addressed by the courts, leading to miscarriages of justice and putting vulnerable individuals at risk.This Handbook guides the reader through the role of the forensic psychiatrist in criminal proceedings and key principles of mental health law.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Death Penalty,

This toolkit is for the use of activists who are working on the abolition of the death penalty in West Africa. It is intended to equip activists with some key advocacy tools to effectively influence the institutions and individuals who can make abolition a reality.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Manuel de plaidoyer - Abolition de la peine de mort en Afrique de l'Ouest

This year, jurors in Texas imposed the fewest new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state’s revised capital punishment statute in 1976. According to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (TCADP) report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2015: The Year in Review, juries newly condemned three individuals to death. They rejected the death penalty in four other trials. The first death sentence of the year was not imposed until October 7, 2015.

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

A number of papers have recently appeared claiming to show that in the United States executions deter serious crime. There are many statistical problems with the data analyses reported. This article addresses the problem of “influence,” which occurs when a very small and atypical fraction of the data dominate the statistical results. The number of executions by state and year is the key explanatory variable, and most states in most years execute no one. A very few states in particular years execute more than five individuals. Such values represent about 1 percent of the available observations. Reanalyses of the existing data are presented showing that claims of deterrence are a statistical artifact of this anomalous 1 percent.

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

The Innocents documents the stories of individuals who served time in prison for violent crimes they did not commit. At issue is the question of photography’s function as a credible eyewitness and arbiter of justice.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Innocence,

This submission informs on Malawi’s international human rights obligations with regard to its use of the death penalty. This report will also examine and discuss the judicial process applied in cases involving punishment by the death penalty. Reports and commentary indicate that there is a serious problem of prison conditions and access to justice for the vast majority of individuals accused of crimes for which the death penalty is a possible punishment. This report has been compiled from a combination of sources, including the Malawi Penal Code, experts, news reports, non-governmental organizations, and other commentary. Further, this report makes recommendations that steps be taken to alleviate such conditions. These steps include both reducing the maximum possible sentence from death to one that is fair, proportionate and respects international human rights standards, complete abolition of capital punishment, universal access to adequate legal representation and provision of clean, safe, and appropriate prison conditions as well as regular monitoring.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process , Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,

This report is being submitted by Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, The Advocates for Human Rights, Iran Human Rights (IHR), Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran-Geneva (KMMK-G), and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, relevant stakeholders, in conjunction with the Universal Periodic Review of Iran by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Iran will be subject to review during the 20th session (October – November 2014). This report examines the imposition of the death penalty in Iran in light of international human rights standards. This report will also examine and discuss the judicial process applied in cases involving punishment by the death penalty. Reports and commentary indicate that there is a serious problem of access to justice for the vast majority of individuals accused of crimes for which the death penalty is a possible punishment. It has been compiled from a combination of sources, including the penal code, news reports, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other commentary.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles, Minorities, Religion , Due Process , International law, Capital offences, Right to life, Drug Offences, Foreign Nationals, Stoning, Statistics,

Article 1 – Abolition of the death penaltyThe death penalty shall be abolished. No one shall be condemned to such penalty or executed.

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages German : Protokoll Nr. 13 zur Konvention zum Schutze der Menschenrechte und Grundfreiheiten bezüglich der Abschaffung der Todesstrafe unter allen UmständenItalian : Protocollo n° 13 alla Convenzione per la salvaguardia dei Diritti dell'Uomo e delle Libertà fondamentali relativo all'abolizione delle pena di morte in ogni circostanzaПротокол № 13 к Конвенции о защите прав человека и основных свобод относительно отмены смертной казни при любых обстоятельствахProtocole n° 13 à la Convention de sauvegarde des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés fondamentales, relatif à l'abolition de la peine de mort en toutes circonstances

2020 was abnormal in almost every way, and that was clearly the case when it came to capital punishment in the United States. The interplay of four forces shaped the U.S. death penalty landscape in 2020: the nation’s long-term trend away from capital punishment; the worst global pandemic in more than a century; nationwide protests for racial justice; and the historically aberrant conduct of the federal administration. At the end of the year, more states had abolished the death penalty or gone ten years without an execution, more counties had elected reform prosecutors who pledged never to seek the death penalty or to use it more sparingly; fewer new death sentences were imposed than in any prior year since the Supreme Court struck down U.S. death penalty laws in 1972; and despite a six-month spree of federal executions without parallel in the 20th or 21st centuries, fewer executions were carried out than in any year in nearly three decades.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States

The present report, prepared pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolutions 1754 (LIV) of 16 May 1973 and 1995/57 of 28 July 1995, and Council decision 2005/247 of 22 July 2005, is the eighth quinquennial report of the Secretary-General on capital punishment. It covers the period 2004-2008 and reviews developments in the use of capital punishment. The report confirms a very marked trend towards abolition and restriction of the use of capital punishment in most countries. The rate at which States that retained the death penalty at the start of the quinquennium have abolished its use either in law or in practice is comparable with that of previous reporting periods, and may even be accelerating slightly. Moreover, countries that retain the death penalty are, with rare exceptions, significantly reducing its use in terms of numbers of persons executed and the crimes for which it may be imposed. Nevertheless, where capital punishment remains in force, there are serious problems with regard to the respect of international norms and standards, notably in the limitation of the death penalty to the most serious crimes, the exclusion of juvenile offenders from its scope, and guarantees of a fair trial.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages عقوبة الإعدام وتنفيذ الضمانات التي تكفل حماية حقوق الذين يواجهون عقوبة الإعدام : م ذكّرة من الأمين العامСмертная казнь и применение мер, гарантирующих защиту прав тех, кому грозит смертная казнь : Доклад Генерального секретаряLa pena capital y la aplicación de las salvaguardias para garantizar la protección de los derechos de los condenados a la pena de muerte : Informe del Secretario GeneralPeine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général死刑和保护死刑犯权利的保障措施的执行情况: 秘书长的报告

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,

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,

Article 61. Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.2. In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the crime and not contrary to the provisions of the present Covenant and to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This penalty can only be carried out pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court.3. When deprivation of life constitutes the crime of genocide, it is understood that nothing in this article shall authorize any State Party to the present Covenant to derogate in any way from any obligation assumed under the provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.4. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases.5. Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women.6. Nothing in this article shall be invoked to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment by any State Party to the present Covenant.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages العهد الدولي الخاص بالحقوق المدنية والسياسيةМеждународный пакт о гражданских и политических правахPacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques公民权利和政治权利国际盟约Pacto Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos

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,

Article 1 – Abolition of the death penaltyThe death penalty shall be abolished. No-one shall be condemned to such penalty or executed.

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages German : Protokoll Nr. 6 zur Konvention zum Schutze der Menschenrechte und Grundfreiheiten über die Abschaffung der TodesstrafeItalian : Protocollo n° 6 alla Convenzione per la salvaguardia dei Diritti dell'Uomo e delle Libertà fondamentali sull'abolizione delle pena di morteПротокол № 6 к Конвенции о защите прав человека и основных свобод относительно отмены смертной казниProtocole no. 6 à la Convention de sauvegarde des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés fondamentales concernant l'abolition de la peine de mort

As a result of legal challenges, and in line with the trend worldwide, the mandatory death penalty has now been abolished in nine Caribbean countries and a discretion to impose a lesser sentence has been given to the judges of the Eastern Caribbean, Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas. However, in relation to Trinidad & Tobago, in the case of Charles Matthew (Matthew v The State [2005] 1 AC 433), a majority of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decided – notwithstanding that the mandatory death penalty was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of entrenched fundamental freedoms and human rights established in the Constitution of Trinidad & Tobago – that it remained protected from constitutional challenge by the operation of the “savings clause” in the Constitution. As a result, Trinidad & Tobago remains one of only three Commonwealth Caribbean countries (Barbados and Guyana being the other two) that still retains the mandatory death penalty.

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

This document covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2004. Five countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes, bringing to 84 the number of totally abolitionist countries at year end. Scores of death sentences were commuted in Malawi and Zambia, and moratoria or suspensions of executions were being observed in several other countries. Other subjects covered in this document include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against the innocent; resumptions of executions; and campaigning activities to promote abolition.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages La peine de mort dans le monde: évolution en 2004La pena de muerte en el mundo: noticias del año 2004

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

The present report contains information covering developments during 2006. The report indicates that the trend towards abolition of the death penalty continues. This is illustrated, inter alia, by the increase in the number of countries that have abolished the death penalty and by the increase in ratifications of international instruments that provide for the abolition of this form of punishment.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages دام عقوبة مسألة: العام الأمينВопрос о смертной казни: Доклад Генерального секретаряQuestion de la peine de mort : Rapport du Secrétaire général死刑问题: 秘书长的报告La cuestión de la pena capital: Informe del Secretario General

The present report surveys respect for the rights of those sentenced to death as set out in the international human rights treaties and the guidelines established by the Economic and Social Council in 1984. Drawing on contributions of Member States, the report surveys various motivations for establishing a moratorium on or abolishing the death penalty, as well as those for retaining the death penalty. It also includes up-to-date statistical information on the worldwide use of the death penalty, including moratoriums established in States that have not abolished this form of punishment, together with relevant developments since the sixty-second session of the General Assembly. The report concludes by confirming the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty, the important role played by moratoriums in those States that seek to abolish it and possibilities for further work on the issue.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Moratorium ,
• Available languages وقف استخدام عقوبة الإعدام :تقرير الأمين العامМоратории на применение смертной казни: Доклад Генерального секретаря暂停使用死刑: 秘书长的报告Moratoria del uso de la pena de muerte : Informe del Secretario GeneralMoratoires sur l'application de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général