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The question addressed in this article is whether there is need for a protocol on the abolition of the death penalty in Africa. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter)2 makes no mention of the death penalty or the need to abolish it.3 Further, only six African states have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Since the protocol would, most likely, take into consideration the unique problems of the continent, it stands a better chance of effectively supplementing the provisions of the African Charter than the Second Optional Protocol.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Public debate,

Shot in Benin, Kenya and Malawi ‘Freedom Inside These Walls’ provides disturbing footage of prison conditions inside these countries, which are common to many other prisons in Africa. It highlights the challenges in accessing justice faced by poor people in conflict with the law.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,

Poster world day against the death penalty 2004

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Poster Spanish 2004Affiche journée mondiale 2004

On August 1, 2005, President Karimov announced, through a presidential decree, that the abolition of the death penalty was planned for January 1, 2008. The report concludes that the Uzbek authorities are responsible of serious and systematic human rights violations in the framework of the administration of criminal justice. The rights of those arrested are systematically violated. They often lack any access to a lawyer during their pre-trial detention, their families are not informed and torture is used in order to extort confessions, which often serve as a basis for their condemnation.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Torture, Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Смертная казнь в Узбекистане: пытки и секретностьLa peine de mort en Ouzbékistan: torture et opacité

To assess fairness and accuracy in Florida’s death penalty system, the Florida Death Penalty Assessment Team researched the twelve issues that the American Bar Association identified as central to the analysis of the fairness and accuracy of a state’s capital punishment system: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state post-conviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report devotes a chapter to each of these issues, which follow a preliminary chapter on Florida death penalty law (for a total of 13 chapters). Each of the issue chapters begins with a discussion of the relevant law and then reaches conclusions about the extent to which the State of Florida complies with the ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report

The League of Arab States is composed of the independent Arab states which have signed this Charter.

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

To assess fairness and accuracy in Georgia’s death penalty system, the Georgia Death Penalty Assessment Team researched twelve issues: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state postconviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. The Georgia Death Penalty Assessment Report summarizes the research on each issue and analyzes the level of compliance with the relevant ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report

This project examines the role of defence councils in Chinese criminal proceedings that can end up with the imposition of the death penalty. It aims to review the problems defence lawyers face in such proceedings, the defence strategies they apply and to examine whether the assignment of a defence lawyer makes a difference in the outcome of a criminal trial. Moreover, the project explores what can and should be done to empower defence councils to effectively represent suspects and accused in death penalty eligible cases.The objective of the study is to shed light on the problems experienced by criminal defence councils when defending capital crime cases and to generate information on how death penalty cases are processed through the Chinese system of justice as well as the determinants of the outcomes death penalty eligible criminal cases.

• Document type Article
• Countries list China
• Themes list Legal Representation,

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,

One gets the strong sense that Professor White believed that the key to changing or abolishing the death penalty in the United States was to educate policymakers and the public about its practical operation. This, of course, was Justice Thurgood Marshall’s hypothesis in Furman v. Georgia: that the widespread support that the death penalty enjoys in the country is a product of mass ignorance about how it is applied. Professor White did not simply posit the theory, he dedicated much of his life to the mission of educating the public about the inequities of the American death penalty. This final book does that in an extraordinarily effective way by combing together studies of illustrative cases, analysis of the lawyers’ roles and dilemmas, and cogent explanations of the state of the law.

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

Using faith to combat the death penalty: This document has sermons, prayers and services, essays, views on the death penalty, resources for discussion and action, resources for next steps.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was established by the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Court’s Protocol). The Court’s mission is to complement and reinforce the functions of the Commission in promoting and protecting human and peoples’ rights, freedoms and duties in African Union Member States.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Portuguese : Tribunal Africano dos Direitos Humanos e dos PovosAfricaine Cour des Droits de l'Homme et Des Peuples

This Handbook deals with the right to life, as guaranteed by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR or “the Convention”), and with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) under that article.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Le Droit à la Vie: Un Guide sur la Mise en œuvre de l'article 2 de la Convention Européenne des Droits de l'Hommes

This handbook is designed to provide readers with an understanding of how legal proceedings at national level must be conducted in order to conform with the obligations under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is divided into chapters, each of which treats a different aspect of the guarantees contained in the article.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Le droit à un Procès équitable

The essence of the death penalty is the eradication of life for the condemned. Death penalty was a common practice in ancient heavenly religions, especially in times dominated by the idea of religious revenge. Additionally, it was implemented in a brutal and cruel way accompanied by terrible methods of torture. The death penalty has not been controversial in the old legislation; it has been recognized by scholars without attempting to justify it, as governors and legislators apply it without resistance from thinkers and philosophers. In the modern era, controversy has arisen about the feasibility and legality of the death penalty as a form of social reaction to the offender. The eighteenth century is marked by philosophical ideas which attacked the prevailing penal systems, as studies and research have appeared on the social and anthropological causes of crime. Thus, two intellectual trends have appeared on the horizon: those in favor of retaining the death penalty, and those demanding its abolishment. Each trend has its reasons and pretexts supporting their thoughts concerning the death penalty. Hence, the study analyses and examines “The Death Penalty in the Arab World” through a series of distinctive research methods, addressing the death penalty in ten Arab countries. The following is presented according to a signal research plan that includes: crimes punishable by death, and procedural guarantees on the death penalty and its adequacy, as well as putting forward many proposals and recommendations on the abolishment of the death penalty. This study includes the death penalty in ten Arab countries: Bahrain – Egypt – Jordan – Iraq – Lebanon- Morocco- Palestine – Saudi Arabia – Syria- Yemen. —- Go to first document in English.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages عقوبة الإعدام فى الوطن العربى: دراسة حول عقوبة الإعدام فى بعض الدول العربية

This paper details the profoundly troubling evidence that racial disparities continue to plague the modern federal death penalty. Of the next six federal inmates scheduled for execution, all are African-American defendants. Defendants of color make up the majority of federal death row and the majority of modern federal executions.

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

This film gives an insight into prison life for 174 men convicted and sentenced to death or to life imprisonment in Kyrgyzstan.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Kyrgyzstan
• Themes list Retribution, Country/Regional profiles,

This report details the cases of thirteen men and one woman who were convicted of first degree murder in California and later freed after a court concluded that they had been wrongfully convicted.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

The enduring images of exonerees are of vindicated individuals reunited with family and friends in a moment of happiness and relief, tearful men embraced by supporters who have long fought for their release.We think of these moments as conclusions, but really they’re the start of a new story, one that social science is beginning to tell about how exonerees are greeted by their communities, their homes, and their families, and how they cope with the injustice of their confinement and rebuild their lives on the outside.

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

This handbook is divided into five tabbed sections. The first section provides some general guidelines to assist trial counsel in properly preserving issues for appellate review. Sections 2-4 address the following topics: (2) pre-trial issues; (3) jury selection and juror misconduct issues; (4) the substantive admissibility of evidence; and, (5) the solicitor’s closing argument.

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

Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society is addressed to the civil society actors who, every day in every part of the world, contribute to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights. Developed following a survey among users of the first edition of the Handbook—Working with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: A Handbook for NGOs (2006)—this comprehensively updated and revised second edition puts United Nations human rights bodies and mechanisms at its centre. Speaking to all civil society actors, including but not only non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Handbook explains how civil society can engage with various United Nations human rights bodies and mechanisms. It is the hope of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that this Handbook will enable more people to enjoy and make claim to their human rights through these bodies and mechanisms.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Как работать по Программе ООН в области прав человека Справочник для гражданского обществаTravailler avec le Programme des Nations Unies pour les Droits de l’Homme: Un Manuel pour la Société Civile参与联合国人权事务 民间社会手册Trabajando con el Programa de las Naciones Unidas en el ámbito de los Derechos Humanos Un manual para la sociedad civil

Speaking to all civil society actors, including but not only non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Handbook explains how civil society can engage with various United Nations human rights bodies and mechanisms.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages كار با برنامه حقوق بشر سازمان ملل متحد کتابی برای راهنمایی جامعه مدنيКак работать по Программе ООН в области прав человека Справочник для гражданского обществаTravailler avec le programme des Nations Unies pour les droits de l’homme: un manuel pour la société civile参与联合国人权事务 民间社会手册Trabajando con el Programa de las Naciones Unidas en el ámbito de los Derechos Humanos Un manual para la sociedad civil

اين كتاب راهنما خطاب به همه فعالان جامعه مدني، ازجمله سازمان هاي غيردولتي، اما نه فقط آنها، توضيح مي دهد چگونه جامعه مدني مي تواند با نهادها وسازوكارهاي گوناگون حقوق بشرسازمان ملل همكاري كند

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme A Handbook for Civil SocietyКак работать по Программе ООН в области прав человека Справочник для гражданского обществаTravailler avec le programme des Nations Unies pour les droits de l’homme: un manuel pour la société civile参与联合国人权事务 民间社会手册Trabajando con el Programa de las Naciones Unidas en el ámbito de los Derechos Humanos Un manual para la sociedad civil

This film is based on the death penalty in Kazakhstan. The death penalty was formerly a common charge for the most obscene crimes, and was at its greatest prominence in 1995, when 101 males on charges of death sentences were executed by the firing squad.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Kazakhstan
• Themes list Most Serious Crimes, Country/Regional profiles,

Almost everything we know about false convictions is based on exonerations in rape and murder cases, which together account for only 2% of felony convictions. Within that important but limited sphere we have learned a lot in the past 30 years; outside it, our ignorance is nearly complete. This review describes what we now know about convicting the innocent: estimates of the rate of false convictions among death sentences; common causes of false conviction for rape or murder; demographic and procedural predictors of such errors. It also explores some of the types of false convictions that almost never come to light—innocent defendants who plead guilty rather than go to trial, who receive comparatively light sentences, who are convicted of crimes that did not occur (as opposed to crimes committed by other people), who are sentenced in juvenile court—in fact, almost all innocent defendants who are convicted of any crimes other than rape or murder. Judging from what we can piece together, the vast majority of false convictions fall in these categories. They are commonplace events, inconspicuous mistakes in ordinary criminal investigations that never get anything close to the level of attention that sometimes leads to exoneration.

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

Participants in the Third World Congress Against the Death Penaltyin Paris have repeated again and again that the universal abo-lition of the death penalty is underway. The work carried outin Paris 2007 has clearly shown it: an irreversible downwardtrend in the number of death sentences and executions is vis-ible worldwide. Above all an increasing number of nations haveabandoned this useless and cruel practice.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
• Available languages Actes : 3e Congrès mondial contre la peine de mort

Hector Black’s daughter was murdered after she surprised an intruder in her Atlanta home. In this powerful recording, Black discusses how he found peace in forgiving the man who murdered his child.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

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

In every state that retains the death penalty, jurors have the option of sentencing convicted capital murderers to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence is cheaper to tax-payers and keeps violent offenders off the streets for good. The information is California specific.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives,

The present project is concerned with the significant role that public opinion plays in the debate surrounding the death penalty and criminal policy in the People’s Republic of China, including possible public reaction to any planned abolishment of the death penalty. How is public opinion on the death penalty exhibited in China? What influence does public opinion on the death penalty have on legislative and judicial practice in China? The principal goal of the project is to analyze the links that exist between public opinion, criminal policy, legislation and legal practice, and to initiate attitudinal changes amongst political and legal actors as well as the public at large. A further objective is to guide Chinese criminal law reform, particularly with regard to a possible reduction in the number of capital offences, against the background of the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

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

While the PRC death penalty debate has been an ongoing and highly contentious issue in the international human rights arena, death sentence policy and practice in China has remained relatively static since the early 1980s. Events in late 2006 and early 2007 have now dramatically changed the landscape of capital punishment in China. This paper analyses the recent debate on the death penalty in terms of the shifting power relationships in China today. The Supreme People’s Court wants to strictly limit the death penalty to only the ‘most heinous’ criminals while the politburo on the other hand, wants to maintain the two-decade old ‘strike hard’ policy which encourages severe punishment to be meted out to a wider range of serious criminals.

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

Amnesty International has been documenting the Saudi Arabian authorities’ extensive use of the death penalty for over a quarter of a century. This report is the latest evaluation, made in light of the legal, judicial and human rights changes that have been introduced in recent years in the country. The report details cases of death row prisoners on whose behalf Amnesty International has campaigned. It also includes testimonies of former detainees, some of whom have been under sentence of death.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Beheading,
• Available languages صفعة في وجه العدالة:عقوبة الإعدام في المملكة العربية السعودية

More than 720 men and 11 women are under sentence of death in Nigeria’s prisons. They have one thing in common, beyond not knowing when they will be put to death. They are poor. From their first contact with the police, through the trial process, to seeking pardon, those with the fewest resources are at a serious disadvantage. This text describes the treatment of the death penalty in Nigeria.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process , Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Nigéria: Pour qui vient le bourreau?

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)

California taxpayers pay at least $117 million each year at the post-conviction level seeking execution of the people currently on death row, or $175,000 per inmate per year. The largest single expense is the extra cost of simply housing people on death row, $90,000 per year per inmate more than housing in the general prison population. Executing all of the people currently on death row or waiting for them to die naturally – which will happen first – will cost California an estimated $4 billion more than if all the people on death row were sentenced to die of disease, injury or old age.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks, Financial cost,

California’s death penalty is arbitary, unnecessary and a waste of critical resources. Whilst the vast majority of California’s counties have largely abandoned execution in favor of simply sentencing people to die in prison, 10 counties continue to aggressively sentence people to execution, accounting for nearly 85 percent of death sentences since 2000. California’s death penalty has become so arbitary that the county border, not the facts of the case, determines who is sentenced to execution and who is simply sentenced to die in prison. Pursuing executions provides no identifiable benefit to these counties but costs millions.

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

As this report lays bare, entrenched obstacles within the criminal justice system impede efforts to recognize those with severe mental illness and to treat them fairly. As detailed in this report, these obstacles include the fact that: 1, mentally ill offenders, because of their impairments, often undermine their own defenses in a variety of ways that contribute directly to their convictions, death sentences and executions; 2, although state law exclusively defines mental illness as a mitigating factor for sentencing purposes, juries often perceive mental illness as an aggravating (rather than mitigating) factor. 3, the law governing mental illness in the context of the death penalty does not often align itself with clinical realities; thus mental health experts must often answer legal questions that do not conform to their medical analyses.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Mental Illness,

This document focuses on the significant developments and events – both negative and positive – in the struggle against the death penalty in 2006. It includes steps towards abolition; horrific state killings; executions after unfair trials, including that of Saddam Hussein; the growing global campaign for abolition, and the political courage needed to rid the world of judicial state killing.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks, Statistics,
• Available languages Halte aux hommicides commis par l'étatPena de muerte: Poner fin al homicidio estatal

Pakistan ranks among the countries in the world which issue the most death sentences: currently, over 7,400 prisoners are lingering on death row. In recent years, Pakistan has witnessed a significant increase in charges carrying capital punishment, in convictions to death, as well as in executions. The HRCP and FIDH find that the application of death penalty in Pakistan falls far below international standards. In particular, they find that, given the very serious defects of the law itself, of the administration of justice, of the police service, the chronic corruption and the cultural prejudices affecting women and religious minorities, capital punishment in Pakistan is discriminatory and unjust, and allows for a high probability of miscarriages of justice, which is wholly unacceptable in any civilised society, but even more so when the punishment is irreversible. At every step, from arrest to trial to execution, the safeguards against miscarriage of justice are weak or non-existent, and the possibility that innocents have been or will be executed remains frighteningly high.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process , Discrimination,

Any potential increase in executions or lobbying for the death penalty as a result of the use of lethal injection is of serious concern. The increased pressure on medical professionals to participate in executions also raises serious ethical and human rights issues. This paper reviews developments with respect to lethal injection executions over the past decade.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Lethal Injection, Statistics,
• Available languages Ejecución por inyección letal: Un cuarto de siglo de muertes por envenenamiento a manos del Estado

Amnesty International remains deeply concerned that several senior Chinese officials continue to use ‘strike hard’ policies to constrain the legitimate activities of a range of peaceful activists, including journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders. This report updates concerns in these areas, illustrated by the experiences of several individuals who have been detained or imprisoned in violation of their fundamental human rights. The failure of the Chinese authorities to address the legal and institutional weaknesses that allow such violations to flourish continues to hamper efforts to strengthen rule of law in China.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list International law, Public opinion,
• Available languages Chine: À l'approche des Jeux olympiques, les réformes concernant la peine capitale et les medias sont occultées par la répression contre les militantsRepública Popular de China:La cuenta atrás para los Juegos Olímpicos: La represión de activistas ensombrece las reformas sobre la pena de muerte y los medios de comunicación

Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in August 2004 more than 270 people have been sentenced to death in Iraq. Iraq now figures among the countries with the highest numbers of executions reported in 2006. Amnesty International is concerned that many of those sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq did not receive a fair trial. Amnesty International calls on the Iraqi government to immediately establish a moratorium on executions with a view to total abolition of the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages ل عدل فيها ول إنصاف: عقوبة العدام في العراقLa peine de mort en Irak: un châtiment injuste et iniquePena de muerte en Irak: arbitraria e injusta

In this document Amnesty International calls on the UN General Assembly, 62nd session, (2007) to adopt a resolution affirming the right to life and stating that abolition of the death penalty is essential for the protection of human rights and to report on the implementation of the moratorium to the next session of the UNGA. It also calls on retentionist countries to establish a moratorium on executions and to respect international standards that guarantee the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages UN CHÂTIMENT CONTRAIRE AUX DROITS HUMAINS : Pourquoi il faut abolir la peine de mortLOS DERECHOS HUMANOS FRENTE A LA PENA DE MUERTE : ¿Por qué abolir la pena capital? Septiembre de 2007

The worldwide situation to date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2006 and the first six months of 2007. There are currently 146 countries and territories that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these, 93 are totally abolitionist, 9 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes, 1 (Russia) is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe and currently observes a moratorium on executions, 4 have a moratorium on executions in place and 39 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. – no executions have taken place in the last ten years).

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : SINTESI DEI FATTI PIU' IMPORTANTI DEL 2006 (e dei primi sette mesi del 2007)

The report calls for an end to the use of the death penalty for drug offences around the world, and concludes that the on-going execution of drug offenders is a violation of international human rights law. The report emphasises how the harms faced by people who use drugs do not only include health harms such as HIV and hepatitis C infections, but also the effects of repressive law enforcement activities.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Drug Offences,

To assess fairness and accuracy in Indiana’s death penalty system, the Indiana Death Penalty Assessment Team researched the twelve issues that the American Bar Association identified as central to the analysis of the fairness and accuracy of a state’s capital punishment system: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state post-conviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. The Indiana Death Penalty Assessment Report devotes a chapter to each of these issues, which follow a preliminary chapter on Indiana death penalty law (for a total of 13 chapters). Each of the issue chapters begins with a discussion of the relevant law and then reaches conclusions about the extent to which the State of Indiana complies with the ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report

To assess fairness and accuracy in Ohio’s death penalty system, the Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Team researched the twelve issues that the American Bar Association identified as central to the analysis of the fairness and accuracy of a state’s capital punishment system: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state post-conviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. The Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Report devotes a chapter to each of these issues, which follow a preliminary chapter on Ohio death penalty law (for a total of 13 chapters). Each of the issue chapters begins with a discussion of the relevant law and then reaches conclusions about the extent to which the State of Ohio complies with the ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process ,

To assess fairness and accuracy in Pennsylvania’s death penalty system, the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Team researched the twelve issues that the American Bar Association identified as central to the analysis of the fairness and accuracy of a state’scapital punishment system: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state post-conviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. Following a preliminary chapter on Pennsylvania’s death penalty law, the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report devotes a chapter to each of these issues. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the relevant law and concludes with a discussion of the extent to which the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is in compliance with the ABA’s Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process ,

To assess fairness and accuracy in Tennessee’s death penalty system, the Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment Team researched the twelve issues that the American Bar Association identified as central to the analysis of the fairness and accuracy of a state’s capital punishment system: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state post-conviction proceedings; (8) clemency proceedings; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. Following a preliminary chapter on Tennessee’s death penalty law, the Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment Report devotes a chapter to each of these twelve issues. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the relevant law and then concludes the extent to which the State of Tennessee is in compliance with the ABA’s Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process ,

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.” Article 3 – Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law, Right to life,
• Available languages المتحدة الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسانВсеобщую декларацию прав человекаDéclaration universelle des droits de l'homme世界人权宣言Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos

The attached Log gives available details of death sentences and executions occurring in China throughout 1999.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,

This paper is an attempt to cover developments during 1999 and provide information current at the end of the year concerning the death penalty worldwide, different aspects of its use and attempts to abolish it or reduce its application.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages La peine de mort dans le monde: évolution en 1999LA PENA DE MUERTE EN EL MUNDO: NOTICIAS DE 1999

As the Presidential elections approach in Ghana, Amnesty International is renewing its call for steps towards abolishing the death penalty, after seven years without any executions. This document describes the current use of the death penalty, giving details of those currently under sentence of death and describing the death penalty under Ghanaian law and international law

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages GHANA : Rapport sur la peine de mortGHANA : Informe sobre la pena de muerte

This is the fourth consecutive year that Hands off Cain is publishing its report on the death penalty. The events registered in 2000 reveal a positive trend towards abolition.As of 31/12/2000, there were 123 abolitionist countries of various types: 77 were fully abolitionist, 12 were abolitionist for ordinary crimes, 30 were de facto abolitionist (they haven´t carried out a death sentence in at least ten years), 2 were engaged in abolishing the death penalty as members of the Council of Europe, 2 had a legal moratoria on executions. Seventy three states retained the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : Sintesi dei fatti più rilevanti del 2000

Written in the spirit of “Dead Man Walking,” this book by Antoinette Bosco conveys both the powerful personal experience of a mother whose son was murdered and a wealth of information about the criminal justice system in America. (Orbis Books, 2001)

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Public opinion, Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

It turns out that voir dire in capital cases is woefully ineffective at the most elementary task—weeding out unqualified jurors.Empirical evidence reveals that many capital jurors are in fact unqualified to serve. Moreover, the ineffectiveness of the process is far from even-handed. A juror is not “death-qualified” if she would always vote against a death sentence, regardless of the circumstances, and a handful of the jurors who actually serve in capital cases are in fact unqualified for this reason.

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

This report aims at focusing attention on the country’s use of the death penalty, particularly as Zambia does not apply international standards for fair trials in its use of the death penalty.

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

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,

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,

One major goal of these recommendations is to create additional safeguards against the endemic tendency of decision-makers in the criminal justice system to “pass the buck.” The system is far too lax in catching errors and injustices in part because many of those who might catch these errors and injustices do not fully understand their own duty to ensure that a death sentence is the appropriate punishment. Several of these recommendations are addressed to those who occupy critical roles in the capital punishment system, including the defense attorney, the prosecutor, the jury, the trial judge, and the reviewing courts. They emphasize that each, individually, has the responsibility to ensure, to the best of his or her ability, that justice is done.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,

Questions regarding the jury’s inability to reach a unanimous decision are often asked of judges and similar uninformative responses are generally given. Is ignoringjuror concerns the proper method for handling jury inquiries about the result of juror non-unanimity in capital sentencing? Or should courts inform capital juries up-front of the consequences of their failure to reach a unanimous verdict?

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

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,

This guide was created because of the growing flaws in the adminstration of the death penatly, it provides a guide to the death penalty administration process and vulnerable populations in death row administration.

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

Occasionally, physicians’ personal values conflict with their perceived societal duties. One example is the case of lethal injection for the purpose of capital punishment. Some states require that such lethal injections be performed by physicians. At the same time, leading medical societies have concluded that physicians should avoid participating in capital punishment. Physicians’ attitudes toward involvement in capital punishment may depend on how they balance their responsibilities to individuals against their duties to society. Other factors may include a desire to provide a more painless death for the prisoner or concern over the competency of other health care personnel. In a previous survey, we found that a majority of physicians condoned involvement of their fellow physicians in capital punishment. For the current study, we conducted another survey to ascertain physicians’ attitudes about their own involvement in capital punishment, as well as factors associated with these attitudes.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Lethal Injection,

I offer an account of the ordeal of Earl Washington, who—having come within days of execution—was released from prison on February 12, 2001, after DNA evidence of his innocence finally proved conclusive to the Virginia authorities. I do so for two reasons. First, I believe, both as a member of his legal team and a scholar, that history deserves an accurate account of the events. Second, more broadly, I believe that the case exemplifies many of the phenomena that contribute to the injustice of the death penalty in America today.

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

The goal of our bill is simple, but profoundly important: to reduce the risk of mistaken executions. The Innocence Protection Act proposes basic, common-sense reforms to our criminal justice system that are designed to protect the innocent and to ensure that if the death penalty is imposed, it is the result of informed and reasoned deliberation, not politics, luck, bias, or guesswork. We have listened to a lot of good advice and made some refinements to the bill since the last Congress, but it is still structured around two principal reforms: improving the availability of DNA testing, and ensuring reasonable minimum standards and funding for court-appointed counsel.

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

There have been at least sixty-seven postconviction DNA exonerations in the United States. Our Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law has either assisted or been the attorney of record in thirty-nine of those cases, including eight men who served time on death row. For all of these men, existing appellate remedies failed to catch the mistakes and correct the injustice. In one third of the exonerations, bad lawyering contributed to their convictions yet in only one case was ineffective assistance of counsel recognized by an appellate court. Mistaken eyewitness identification was a critical factor in almost 90% of the unjust convictions yet not a single trial or appellate court found the eyewitness testimony to be unreliable.

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

In the last five years, the death penalty has become a frequent topic of discussion. While discussion of such an emotive topic is not unusual for any period in history, the tenor of the recent dialogue is unusual. For the most part, the discussion centers around the problems with capital punishment, particularly its inaccuracy and unfairness. This Article begins in Part II with a discussion of recent claims about the frequency of errors in capital cases. Part III enumerates and discusses the factors generally thought to be the cause of the errors. Part IV details new rules recently adopted in one jurisdiction in an effort to eliminate the errors. Part IV also suggests that these new rules, though worthwhile, are actually a reiteration of long-standing ethical obligations of judges and lawyers, the breach of which is responsible for many of the errors. Part V recommends additional remedies which the bench and the bar must take if there is a true commitment to providing a fair, just, and reliable system for determining who the government is entitled to kill.

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

Many states fail to conduct, or even to permit, DNA testing of biological materials in circumstances in which the results might exonerate convicts under sentence of death. Senator Patrick Leahy thinks that Congress should enact a statute requiring states to provide for testing when it promises to reveal the truth. Leahy’s idea is sensible as a matter of policy. I mean in this Article to argue that it is also constitutionally feasible.

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

This report examines four key 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 race. During its preparation, another issue became apparent: the state’s record keeping.

• Document type NGO report

The Guide should be useful to people in all sectors who wish to improve policies and programs through advocacy.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,

Article 1The States Parties to this Protocol shall not apply the death penalty in their territory to any person subject to their jurisdiction.

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages PROTOCOLO A LA CONVENCIÓN AMERICANA SOBRE DERECHOS HUMANOS RELATIVO A LA ABOLICIÓN DE LA PENA DE MUERTE

In China last year, approximately 17 people were sentenced to death each day, every day of the year. This report examines the record versus the rhetoric in 1996. It examines the death penalty in practice during this year’s “Strike Hard Anti-Crime Campaign” which highlights legal inadequacies and institutionalized abuses long discussed by domestic critics.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages RÉPUBLIQUE POPULAIRE DE CHINE: La peine capitale en Chine : nouveaux records et nouvelles transgressions de la loiREPÚBLICA POPULAR CHINA: La pena de muerte en China: Batir récords abatiendo vidas

The States Parties to the present Protocol,Believing that abolition of the death penalty contributes to enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights,Recalling article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948, and article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on 16 December 1966,Noting that article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights refers to abolition of the death penalty in terms that strongly suggest that abolition is desirable,Convinced that all measures of abolition of the death penalty should be considered as progress in the enjoyment of the right to life,Desirous to undertake hereby an international commitment to abolish the death penalty,Have agreed as follows:Article 11. No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed.2. Each State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages البروتوكول الاختياري الثاني الملحق بالعهد الدولي الخاص بالحقوق المدنية والسياسية بهدف العمل علي إلغاء عقوبة الإعدامВторой Факультативный протокол к Международному пакту о гражданских и политических правах, направленный на отмену смертной казниDeuxième protocole facultatif se rapportant au Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques, visant à l'abolition de la peine de mort第二任择议定书的公民权利和政治权利国际公约，其目的在废除死刑Segundo Protocolo Facultativo del Pacto Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos, destinado a abolir la pena de muerte

Article 4. Right to Life1. Every person has the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law and, in general, from the moment of conception. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law, Right to life,
• Available languages CONVENCION AMERICANA SOBRE DERECHOS HUMANOS "PACTO DE SAN JOSE DE COSTARICA"

This report examines the sequence of recent events that has increasingly placed the death penalty in the international spotlight. Some of these events are direct challenges to the practice of capital punishment in the U.S. Others are changes in the balance of death penalty practices and attitudes around the world. The report looks at the ways in which the international community has sought to limit the application of the death penalty, and the U.S.’s response to these initiatives. It also explores the world-wide trend towards complete abolition of the death penalty and the U.S. reaction. Although much of the official U.S. response to international criticism has been denial, the report looks at some local and unofficial actions, which indicate a different direction. Finally, the report notes the present and potential costs the U.S. is facing for adhering to the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,

This Guide combines research and practical perspectives. The growth of social science research into the eyewitness process coincided with parallel efforts of law enforcement agencies to improve their own procedures. This Guide benefits from the inclusion of the diverse perspectives of TWGEYEE members; the group included not only researchers but also prosecutors, defense lawyers, and working police investigators from departments of all sizes and from all regions. This Guide represents a combination of the best current, workable police practices and psychological research.

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

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,

ARTICLE 4Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.ARTICLE 5Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man, particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages Charte Africaine des Droits de l'Homme et des Peuples

This paper covers events around the exercise of the death penalty during the year 2000, including such subjects as significant national and international court cases and decisions; important studies; the use of the death penalty against the mentally ill and those with mental retardation; its use against the `innocent’ and against women; medical and religious perspectives and public opinion polls and surveys.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages العقوبة الاعدام في العالم : تطورات في العام ٢٠٠٠La peine de mort dans le monde : évolution en 2000La pena de muerte en el mundo: noticias del 2000

Article 51. Every human being has the inherent right to life.2. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.Article 6Sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes inaccordance with the laws in force at the time of commission of the crime and pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence.Article 71. Sentence of death shall not be imposed on persons under 18 years of age, unlessotherwise stipulated in the laws in force at the time of the commission of the crime.2. The death penalty shall not be inflicted on a pregnant woman prior to her deliveryor on a nursing mother within two years from the date of her delivery; in all cases, the best interests of the infant shall be the primary consideration.

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law, Right to life, Most Serious Crimes,
• Available languages الميثاق العربي لحقوق الإنسانCHARTE ARABE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME

This article examines the situation of the death penalty in Africa. It does so byaddressing three main questions: First, to what extent is the death penalty inAfrica in fact an issue about which one should be particularly concerned?Second, what are the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? Third, whatis to be done to strengthen the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? Inaddition, the article examines the question whether article 4 of the AfricanCharter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its related provisions will inspirethe abolition of the death penalty. It is suggested that challenging mandatorydeath sentences, advancing procedural challenges, open debate onalternatives to the death penalty, and improving the national criminaljustice system will strengthen restrictions on the death penalty in Africa. Thearticle concludes that positive criminal justice reform rather than moralisticcondemnation is the most effective route to the eventual abolition of thedeath penalty in Africa.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

The purpose of this resource guide is to provide judges who are assigned capital cases with information about how other judges have handled these cases and an idea of what to expect as the case proceeds. The guide does not prescribe how such cases should be handled, and any examples of case-management approaches discussed should be considered illustrative.

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

Poster for the world day against the death penalty 2003

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition

Poster World Day 2003

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Affiche journée mondiale 2003

This report — the first-ever national survey of women currently on Death Row — found that women who have been sentenced to death are often subjected to harsh living conditions, including being forced to live in virtual isolation, and many are sentenced for crimes that don’t result in a death sentence for men.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Women,

The first part of the paper looks at the national law governing the death penalty vis-à-vis international standards; the second part of the paper identifies the problems one encounters at the pretrial, trial and post trial stages and examines the attempts to solve some of these problems; the final part looks at present trends in the application of the death penalty and draws tentative conclusions as to the future prospects of the death penalty in Lesotho.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process ,

This report catalogs the emergence of innocence as the most important issue in the long-simmering death penalty debate. The sheer number of cases and the pervasive awareness of this trend in the public’s consciousness have changed the way capital punishment is perceived around the country. The steady evolution of this issue since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 has been accelerated in recent years by the development of DNA technology, the new gold standard of forensic investigation. This science, along with a vigorous re-investigation of many cases, has led to the discovery of a growing number of tragic mistakes and freed inmates. The evidence in this report presents a compelling case for many Americans that the risks associated with capital punishment exceed acceptable bounds. One hundred and sixteen people have been freed from death row after being cleared of their charges, including 16 people in the past 20 months. These inmates cumulatively spent over 1,000 years awaiting their freedom. The pace of exonerations has sharply increased, raising doubts about the reliability of the whole system.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Innocence,

This document contains Amnesty International’s written observations to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on legislative or other measures denying judicial or other effective recourse to challenge the death penalty; in the matter of a request by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (article 64(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights) and in the matter of legislative measures concerning the mandatory imposition of the death penalty and related matters.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Right to life, Mandatory Death Penalty,
• Available languages Proteger el derecho a la vida frente a la pena de muerte. Observaciones escritas a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos respecto de las medidas legislativas o de otra índole que niegan un recurso judicial u otro recurso efectivo para impugnar la pena de muerte

The report is damning, showing a system of justice which attaches little importance to regional and international instruments for the protection of human rights ratified by Chad. The case was conducted with a haste wholly incompatible with the respect for the right to a fair trial – proceedings exclusively for the prosecution, confessions obtained under torture, refusal to take account of evidence brought by the defence during the investigation, no lawyer present during the investigation stage. This iniquitous trial proves the hypothesis that justice has been manipulated in order to hide the true nature of a crime and the identity of its perpetrators, whilst securing the executions of persons judged undesirable.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Tchad, Peine de mort: la levée d'un moratoire, entre opportunisme sécuritaire et règlement de compte

The recent extension in parts of Nigeria of the death penalty to areas many consider to be private aspects of life has focused the debate on both the appropriateness of the death penalty in general and on the use of the criminal justice system as a way to regulate sexual behaviour. Amnesty International Believes that the death penalty in its application in Nigeria in particular violates women’’s human rights to access to justice, according to international human rights law and standards, and has a discriminatory effect on women in certain cases and for certain crimes. This becomes especially serious in cases of capital punishment which is severely affecting women from deprived socio-economic backgrounds and remote areas.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Women,
• Available languages NIGÉRIA : Les femmes et la peine de mortNigeria : Las mujeres y la pena de muerte en los sistemas penales nigerianos

This briefing follows the first executions in Indonesia in more than three years. Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey, an Indian national convicted of drug-trafficking in 1994, was executed by firing squad. Two Thai nationals, Saelow Prasert (m) and Namsong Sirilak (f), who had been sentenced to death in the same case, were executed on 1 October 2004. A total of at least 54 people are currently believed to be under sentence of death in Indonesia, 30 of them for drug-related offences. Amnesty International is concerned that these recent developments reflect an increasing willingness by the authorities to use the death penalty to address crime, in particular drug-trafficking. The organization is also concerned about calls to expand the number of crimes for which the death penalty may be imposed.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Indonesian : Indonesia: Urusan tentang pidana mati

International law prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by people younger than 18, yet some countries continue to execute child offenders or sentence them to death. Although executions of child offenders are few compared to the total number of executions in the world, they represent a complete disregard by the executing states of their commitments under international law, and an affront to all notions of morality and decency when it comes to the protection of children – one of the most vulnerable groups in society. This document describes the use of the death penalty against child offenders worldwide and its prohibition under international law.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles,
• Available languages HALTE À L'EXECUTION DE MINEURS DELINQUANTS!Eliminar la pena de muerte para delincuentes juveniles

Despite the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations’ efforts towards improving the defence system, Japanese prisoners – especially those sentenced to death – do not receive a fair trial.The Daiyo Kangoku practice is one amongst several practices which allows suspects to be detained in police stations for 23 days, contravening the rules of a fair trial. Confessions, which can be obtained through strong pressure, give police the basis for accusation. Furthermore, the conditions on death row themselves amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments: Once the death sentence has been delivered, the prisoner is held in solitary confinement. Detainees have extremely limited contact with families and lawyers and meetings are closely monitored. Above all, prisoners live with the constant fear of never knowing if today will be their last day. The prisoner is informed that the execution will take place on the very same day, and family members are notified the following day.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Japanese : 死刑民主主義国家にあるまじき行為La peine de mort au Japon, une pratique indigne d'une démocratie

The Paralegal Advisory Service (PAS) trainers manual for conducting paralegal aid clinics (PLCs) inside prison has been written for paralegal facilitators who will conduct PLCs in prisons aimed principally at remand prisoners

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

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,

The document details cases of child offenders executed since 1990 and cites the relevant international standards. Two tables are appended: a list of cases and a table of the 113 countries which provide for the death penalty but exclude its use of the death penalty against child offenders. There are also appendices giving the text of the resolution on “The death penalty in relation to child offenders” adopted by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in August 2000 and extracts from the resolution on “The question of the death penalty” adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights in April 2002.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles, Statistics,
• Available languages LES MINEURS FACE À LA PEINE DE MORT : Les exécutions recensées dans le monde depuis 1990LOS MENORES Y LA PENA DE MUERTE : Ejecuciones en el mundo desde 1990

This report details the reasons for the Japan Federation of Bar Associations recommendation that an immediate moratorium on death sentences takes place.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Japanese : 死刑制度問題に関する提言

This paper discusses some case law on detention issues by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) that supervises the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as HRC case law on the so-called “death row phenomenon,” which involves forcing a person to live under conditions that spawn intense fear, distress, and the virtual destruction of the personality while awaiting execution.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Phenomenon,

Despite the interest in the death penalty, no statistical studies have isolated the social and political forces that account for the legality of this punishment. Racial or ethnic threat theories suggest that the death penalty will more likely be legal in jurisdictions with relatively large black or Hispanic populations. Economic threat explanations suggest that this punishment will be present in unequal areas. Jurisdictions with a more conservative public or a stronger law and order Republican party should be more likely to legalize the death penalty as well. After controlling for social disorganization, region, period, and voilent crime, panel analyses suggest that minority presence and economic inequality enhance the likelihood of a legal death penalty. Conservative values and Republican strength in the legislature have equivalent effects; A supplement time-to-event analysis supports these conclusions. The results suggest that a political approach has explanatory power because threat effects expressed through politics and effects that are directly political invariable account for decisions about the legality of capital punishment.

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