Your search “Keep the Death Penalty Abolished fin the Philippfines ”

Among the most significant and compelling aspects of the litigation surrounding the issue of the mandatory death penalty in the Caribbean region has been the interplay between the procedures and jurisprudence of the inter-American human rights system and those of relevant domestic courts. In particular, the supervisory bodies of the inter-American system have relied upon the decisions of appellate courts in certain states employing the death penalty, and have concluded that the practice of mandatory sentencing for the death penalty contravened applicable international human rights norms. Subsequently, appellate courts in the Caribbean region explicitly relied upon the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in interpreting and applying rights that are protected under national constitutions. Moreover, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council found that the protection of due process of law under national constitutions extend to the procedures before the inter-American human rights system,’ with the consequence that states were barred from executing capital defendants while their pending cases were before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and, where available, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Mandatory Death Penalty,

Published on December 12, 2023.

In a recently published academic article, Emory University History Professor Daniel LaChance writes about an important and underrecognized distinction in the way newspaper editors and journalists covered the executions of Black and white men in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Professor LaChance argues that the portrayals of the defendants made legal executions “a high-status punishment that respected the whiteness of those who suffered it.” While the length and detail of articles about the executions of Black men shrank dramatically over time, he notes that journalists consistently highlighted the humanity of white men who were executed, making it “easier for those who wanted to project a modern image of the South to distance capital punishment from lynching, a form of violence that was becoming a source of embarrassment for respectable white Southerners.”

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public Opinion 

The 15th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by Iran Human Rights and ECPM reveals the highest annual number of executions since 2015. At least 582 people were executed, an increase of 75% compared to 2021. In 2022, Iran’s authorities demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instil societal fear in order to hold onto power.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Available languages Rapport annuel sur la peine de mort en Iran 2022

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

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)

Fourteen Days in May is a documentary directed by Paul Hamann. The program recounts the final days before the execution of Edward Earl Johnson, an American prisoner convicted of rape and murder.

The documentary crew, given access to the prison warden, guards and chaplain and to Johnson and his family, filmed the last days of Johnson’s life in detail. The documentary argues against the death penalty and maintains that capital punishment is disproportionately applied to African-Americans convicted of crimes against whites. The programme features attorney Clive Stafford Smith, an advocate against capital punishment.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty / Multimedia content
• Themes list Death Row Conditions 

In The Fear of Too Much Justice, legendary death penalty lawyer Stephen B. Bright and legal scholar James Kwak offer a heart-wrenching overview of how the criminal legal system fails to live up to the values of equality and justice. The book ranges from poor people squeezed for cash by private probation companies because of trivial violations to people executed in violation of the Constitution despite overwhelming evidence of intellectual disability or mental illness. They also show examples from around the country of places that are making progress toward justice.

With a foreword by Bryan Stevenson, who worked for Bright at the Southern Center for Human Rights and credits him for “[breaking] down the issues with the death penalty simply but persuasively,” The Fear of Too Much Justice offers a timely, trenchant, firsthand critique of our criminal courts and points the way toward a more just future.

Available: June 2023

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Fair Trial

The Death Penalty Project’s latest report provides a comprehensive analysis of the lives of prisoners on death row in Kenya. It focuses on prisoners’ socio-economic backgrounds and profiles, their pathways to, and motivation for, offending, as well as their experiences of the criminal justice process and of imprisonment. It complements our previous research, a two-part study of attitudes towards the death penalty in Kenya, The Death Penalty in Kenya: A Punishment that has Died Out in Practice.
While 120 countries around the world have now abolished the death penalty, including 25 in Africa, Kenya is one of 22 African nations that continues to retain the death penalty in law, albeit it has not carried out any executions for more than three decades. As such, Kenya is classified as ‘abolitionist de facto’, the United Nations term for a country that has not carried out an execution for at least 10 years. Yet, while state-sanctioned executions no longer occur, hundreds of people are currently living under sentence of death and others are convicted and sentenced to death each year. As long as the death penalty is retained in law, there remains a risk that executions might resume if there is political change. Moreover, the plight and turmoil of those languishing on death row – consistently the poorest and most vulnerable – cannot be ignored. They are disproportionately sentenced to death and suffer the harshest punishments and treatment.

• Document type Book
• Countries list Kenya

In striking down the death penalty for intellectually disabled and juvenile defendants, Atkins v. Virginia and Roper v. Simmons have been understandably heralded as important holdings under the Court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence that has found the death penalty “disproportional” for certain types of defendants and crimes. This Article argues, however, that the cases have a far more revolutionary reach than their conventional understanding. In both cases the Court went one step beyond its usual two-step analysis of assessing whether imposing the death penalty violated “evolving standards of decency.” This extra step looked at why even though intellectual disability and youth were powerful mitigators, juries were not able to reliably use them in their decision making. The Court thus articulated expressly for the first time what this Article calls the “unreliability principle:” if too great a risk exists that constitutionally protected mitigation cannot be reliably assessed, the unreliability means that the death penalty cannot be constitutionally imposed. In recognizing the unreliability principle, the Court has called into serious question the death penalty for other offenders to whom the principle applies, such as mentally ill defendants. And, unlike with the “evolving standards” analysis, the unreliability principle does not depend on whether a national consensus exists against the practice. This Article identifies the six Atkins-Roper factors that bring the unreliability principle into play and shows why they make application of the death penalty to mentally ill defendants unconstitutional. The principle, which finds its constitutional home in the cases of Woodson v. North Carolina and Lockett v. Ohio, has profound implications for the death penalty, and if taken to its logical endpoint calls into question the Court’s core premise since Furman v. Georgia, that by providing individualized consideration of a defendant and his crime, the death penalty decision will be free of arbitrariness.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Fair Trial, Intellectual Disability,

The use of the death penalty is frequent in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). Capital punishment is applied for 22 offences, including murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, rape, sexual abuse of children, and a range of economic crimes, such as graft and corruption, fraud and embezzlement (for 500 million dong – $33,200 – or more of state property), illegal production and trade of food, foodstuffs and medicines. Seven political acts perceived as “threats against national security” carry the death penalty as a maximum sentence. Capital punishment is most often used to sanction drug-related offences, followed by corruption, black-market and violent crimes. Vietnam has some of the harshest drug laws in the world. A 1997 law made possession or smuggling of 100g or more of heroin, or 5 kilograms or more of opium, punishable by death. In 2001, 55 sentences were pronounced for drug trafficking alone.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Viet Nam
• Themes list Firing Squad, Country/Regional profiles,

Since July 1978, when Maryland’s capital punishment statute took effect, the State has been plagued by charges that the imposition of the death penalty is influenced by the race of the defendant and the legal jurisdiction in which the homicide occurred. Most critics use the characteristics of condemned inmates on Maryland’s death row, which reveal possible racial motivations. However, the authors argue that simply relying on the characteristics of condemned inmates reveals little about the underlying mechanisms of the imposition of the death penalty. The recent history of capital punishment in Maryland is reviewed, followed by a brief description of the legal structure of capital punishment under Maryland law. In order to empirically measure whether the imposition of capital punishment in Maryland is discriminatory, the authors examined 1,311 death eligible cases in Maryland from July 1, 1978 to December 31, 1999. Death eligible cases were defined as those cases in which the State’s attorney filed a notice of intention to seek a death sentence, the facts established that first degree murder was committed, the defendant was the principle in the first degree murder, the murder included at least one statutory aggravating circumstance, and the defendant was eligible for capital punishment at the time of the offense. The statistical strategy focused on determining the influence of race of victim, race of defendant, and geography on the imposition of the death penalty. Findings suggest that race and geography indeed play an important role in the Maryland justice system. Race and geography exert their most influence at the death notification and death notice retraction stages of the process. Thus, it is prosecutorial discretion that is the most apparent in the possible discriminatory application of capital punishment in Maryland. The findings from this study are unsurprising and are in line with similar studies from other States. The author cautions that overt racism is not necessarily the reason beyond the disproportionate application of capital punishment.

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

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 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 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

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 

• Document type World Coalition

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 ,

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses
• Available languages Maintenir l'abolition de la peine de mort aux Philippines (Français)

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

This brochure was developed by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty with the Commission on the Human Rights in the Philippines. It explains why the death penalty risks returning in the Philippines and the reasons against its resurgence. It is available in 11 languages of the Philippines, plus French and English.

• Document type Campaigning
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list Drug Offenses

• Document type NGO report / Regional body report
• Available languages Carta conjunta con la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos sobre el 30º aniversario del Protocolo a la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos sobre la Abolición de la Pena de MuerteLettre conjointe avec la Commission interaméricaine des droits de l'homme à l'occasion du 30ème anniversaire du Protocole à la Convention américaine relative aux droits de l'homme traitant de l'abolition de la peine de mort

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 Report examines the possible consequences of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of various human rights, including human dignity, the right to life, the right to freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to a fair trial and the right to equality and non-discrimination. It further examines the human rights consequences of the lack of transparency in the imposition and application of the death penalty.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Fair Trial, Right to life, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,
• Available languages Peine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort. Supplément annuel au rapport quinquennal du Secrétaire général sur la peine capitaleLa pena capital y la aplicación de las salvaguardias para garantizar la protección de los derechos de los condenados a la pena de muerte. Suplemento anual del Secretario General de su informe quinquenal sobre la pena capitalСмертная казнь и осуществление мер, гарантирующих защиту прав лиц, приговоренных к смертной казни. Ежегодное дополнение Генерального секретаря к его пятилетнему докладу по вопросу о смертной казни死刑和保护死刑犯权利的保障措施的执行情况 秘书长关于死刑问题的五年一度报告的年度补编

The report Sentenced to Death Without Execution, Why capital punishment has not yet been abolished in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados, was published on 7 April 2020. It presents the views of opinion formers and was written by Roger Hood and Florence Seemungal with the assistance of Amaya Athill.Six independent nations in the Eastern Caribbean – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, all members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) – and Barbados, retain the death penalty for murder. Most of these countries have not executed anyone sentenced to death for at least ten years with the vast majority not carrying out an execution for more than twenty years.This independent empirical study, which presents the views of 100 ‘opinion formers’, drawn from the seven jurisdictions, aims to shed light on why these countries hang on to capital punishment and what are the barriers to the complete abolition of the death penalty in these nations. The respondents were asked about their knowledge of the use of capital punishment in their respective countries and the extent to which, and why, they either supported the policy of retaining the death penalty or were in favour of its abolition, as well as the factors, beliefs, and assumptions that appeared to account for their government’s unwillingness to embrace complete abolition.Key findings include:- Across these seven nations, 48 of the interviewees favoured retention of the death penalty (18 of them strongly) and 52 were in favour of its abolition (30 of them strongly) Of those who favoured retention of the death penalty, only a minority were committed to retaining it: only 10 of 48 interviewees said they would ‘strongly oppose an Act of Parliament to completely abolish the death penalty by definitely voting against it’. Respondents believed the best strategies to persuade their respective governments to embrace reform were: ‘through creating an influential civil society pressure group ‘Citizens Against the Death Penalty’; by ‘mounting a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty’; or by ‘persuading the government to establish a high-level commission to report on the subject’.

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

In 2021, The Death Penalty Project and the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) commissioned Professor Carolyn Hoyle at the University of Oxford and Professor Shiow-duan Hawang at Soochow University, Taipei to carry out a study exploring Taiwanese legislators’ attitudes towards capital punishment.

The study reveals that the majority of Taiwan’s legislators would like to see the death penalty abolished. The risk of wrongful convictions, the abuse of human rights and a recognition that the death penalty has no unique deterrent effect, were the primary reasons cited for supporting abolition. Additionally, a majority of legislators interviewed expressed fairly low levels of trust in the Taiwanese criminal justice system, with doubts raised over its ability to offer adequate safeguards to individuals facing capital trials.

Key findings:

– 61% of legislators interviewed are in favour of abolishing the death penalty
– 39% of legislators interviewed are in favour of retaining the death penalty, but only one legislator was strongly in favour
– 71% of retentionists and 65% of abolitionists asserted that wrongful convictions ‘sometimes’ occurred
– Only 11% of legislators interviewed thought that wrongful convictions ‘rarely’ occur
– All legislators interviewed expressed a preference for social justice measures, such as poverty reduction, over increased executions when asked to rank a range of policies aimed at reducing violent crime

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Taiwan
• Themes list Public Opinion 
• Available languages 台灣立法委員對死刑 之意見調查

The present report is submitted pursuant to resolution 30/5 of the Human Rights Council. The report examines the consequences arising at various stages of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of the human rights of those facing the death penalty. It pays specific attention to the right to equality and non-discrimination in the context of the use of the death penalty. The report also highlights the discriminatory application of the death penalty to foreign nationals.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law, Right to life, Death Penalty,

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 La 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 GeneralСмертная казнь и применение мер, гарантирующих защиту прав тех, кому грозит смертная казнь : Доклад Генерального секретаряعقوبة الإعدام وتنفيذ الضمانات التي تكفل حماية حقوق الذين يواجهون عقوبة الإعدام : م ذكّرة من الأمين العام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Peine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général

The permanent missions to the United Nations in New York listed below have the honour to refer to General Assembly resolution 65/206, entitled “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty”, which was adopted by the Third Committee on 11 November 2010, and subsequently by the General Assembly on 21 December 2010 by a recorded vote. The permanent missions wish to place on record that they are in persistent objection to any attempt to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty or its abolition in contravention of existing stipulations under international law, for the following reasons:

• Document type United Nations report
• Countries list Afghanistan / Antigua and Barbuda / Bahamas / Bahrain / Bangladesh / Barbados / Botswana / Brunei Darussalam / Central African Republic / Chad / China / Democratic People's Republic of Korea / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Dominica / Egypt / Equatorial Guinea / Eritrea / Eswatini / Ethiopia / Grenada / Guinea / Guyana / Indonesia / Iran (Islamic Republic of) / Iraq / Jamaica / Kuwait / Lao People's Democratic Republic / Libya / Malaysia / Myanmar / Niger / Nigeria / Oman / Pakistan / Papua New Guinea / Qatar / Saint Kitts and Nevis / Saint Lucia / Saint Vincent and the Grenadines / Saudi Arabia / Sierra Leone / Singapore / Solomon Islands / Somalia / Sudan / Syrian Arab Republic / Tonga / Trinidad and Tobago / Uganda / United Arab Emirates / Yemen / Zimbabwe
• Themes list Moratorium
• Available languages مذكرة شفوية مؤرخة 11 آذار/مارس 2011 موجَّهة إلى الأمين العام من البعثة الدائمة لمصر لدى الأمم المتحدةNota verbal de fecha 11 de marzo de 2011 dirigida al Secretario General por la Misión Permanente de Egipto ante las Naciones UnidasNote verbale datée du 11 mars 2011, adressée au Secrétaire général par la Mission permanente de l’Égypte auprès de l’Organisation des Nations UniesВербальная нота Постоянного представительства Египта при Организации Объединенных Наций от 11 марта 2011 года на имя Генерального секретаря2011年3月11日埃及常驻联合国代表团给秘书长的普通照会

To assess fairness and accuracy in Arizona’s death penalty system, the Arizona 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 Arizona Death Penalty Assessment Report summarizes the research on each issue and analyzes the State’s level of compliance with the relevant ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report

To assess fairness and accuracy in Alabama’s death penalty system, the Alabama 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 Alabama 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

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

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

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,

This article examines the potential impact of the new lay assessor system, or saiban-in seido, on capital punishment in Japan, and considers whether it may reduce death sentences to the point of effectively abolishing them at trial stage in the District Court. The article posits that the introduction of the lay assessor system may create the momentum for Japan to align its criminal justice system with that of other developed countries—that is, abolition of the death penalty as an available criminal sanction.

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

This paper updates The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2021. It is intended to provide a concise update to highlight changes in the status of the death penalty in OSCE participating States since the previous publication and to promote constructive discussion of the issue. It covers the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

• Document type Regional body report

The present report is submitted pursuant to resolution 36/17,of the Human Rights Council. The report examines the consequences arising at various stages of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of the human rights of persons facing the death penalty and other affected persons. It pays specific attention to the impact of the resumption of the use of the death penalty on human rights

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law, Death Penalty,
• Available languages A/HRC/42/28 - Peine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mortA/HRC/42/28 - Смертная казнь и осуществление мер, гарантирующих защиту прав лиц, приговоренных к смертной казниA/HRC/42/28 - 死刑和保护死刑犯权利的保障措施的执行情况عقوبة الإعوداموتنفيو الضومات الويتكفو حمايوةحقووقالو ي يواجهوونعقوبة الإعدام - A/HRC/42/28

To supplement and strengthen the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Article 66 of the Charter authorises the adoption of Protocols or special agreements. It is on this basis that the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) – the African Union (AU) authority responsible for promoting and protecting human rights in Africa – proposed that the AU adopt a specific Protocol on the abolition of the death penalty that specifies that “the right to life is the foundation of all the other rights” and that “the abolition of the death penalty is vital for the effective protection” of this right.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list International law, Moratorium , Public debate, Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty,
• Available languages Portuguese : Projecto de protocolo adicional à carta Africana dos direitos humanos e dos povos acerca da abolição da pena de morte em AfricaBrochure sur le Protocole additionnel à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples portant sur l’abolition de la peine de mort en Afrique

In this essay, Professor Douglas conducts an historical review of religious attitudes toward capital punishment and the influence of those attitudes on the state’s use of the death penalty. He surveys the Christian Church’s strong support for capital punishment throughout most of its history, along with recent expressions of opposition from many Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish groups. Despite this recent abolitionist sentiment from an array of religious institutions, Professor Douglas notes a divergence of opinion between the “pulpit and the pew” as the laity continues to support the death penalty in large numbers. Professor Douglas accounts for this divergence by noting the declining influence of religious organizations over the social policy choices of their members. He concludes that the fate of the death penalty in America will therefore “most likely be resolved in the realm of the secular rather than the sacred.

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

The Economic and Social Council, by its resolution 1745 (LIV) of 16 May 1973, invited the Secretary-General to submit to it, at five-year intervals starting from 1975, periodic updated and analytical reports on capital punishment. The Council, by its resolution 1995/57 of 28 July 1995, recommended that the quinquennial reports of the Secretary-General should continue to cover also the implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty. By the same resolution, the Council requested the Secretary-General, in preparing the quinquennial report, to draw on all available data, including current criminological research. The present ninth quinquennial report reviews the use of and trends in capital punishment, including the implementation of the safeguards during the period 2009-2013.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition, Most Serious Crimes,
• Available languages Смертная казнь и применение мер, гарантирующих защиту прав тех, кому грозит смертная казнь : Доклад Генерального секретаряPeine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort : Rapport du Secrétaire généralLa 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 General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

The number of abolitionist countries continued to grow in 2016, but national crises have created a political climate that heightens the risk that the death penalty will be reintroduced in a handful of abolitionist nations.The Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide assesses the evolutions of the worldwide situation of the death penalty in 2016.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Member organizations, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,

The present study of public opinion on the death penalty in Tajikistan was conductedbetween June and August 2013. The main purpose of the study was to obtain reliableinformation about public opinion on the deathpenalty in Tajikistan, its awareness ofthe changes that have occurred in this areaand to see any changes in attitude since2010.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public opinion,

The Commonwealth Caribbean remains an obstinate holdout against the international trend limiting use of the death penalty. The death row population in the region per capita is about four times that of the United States. Widely debated in legal circles for a decade, capital punishment jurisprudence will be affected by the creation of the regional appellate court that was launched in April 2005. Modeled after the European Court of Justice, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will assume the constitutional jurisdiction currently exercised by the Judicial Committee of the London-based Privy Council. Critics claim the CCJ was created to undo the constraints on the death penalty decreed by the Privy Council and international human rights tribunals, while proponents maintain that the new court completes the region’s assumption of sovereignty. This article situates the debate in the constitutional history of the independence era, the current regionalization movement, and the interplay between international norms and domestic fundamental rights.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Antigua and Barbuda

The present, sixth quinquennial report contains a review of the trends in the application of the death penalty, including the implementation of the safeguards, during the period l994-2000. It is a revised, updated version of the report of the Secretary-General on the subject (E/2000/3) that was submitted to the Council at its substantive session of 2000, to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its ninth session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session. Sixty-three countries participated in the survey. There was again a relatively poor response from retentionist countries, especially those making the most use of capital punishment. One major conclusion to be drawn is that, since l994, the rate at which countries have embraced abolition has remained unchanged.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages Смертная казнь и применение мер, гарантирующих защиту прав тех, кому грозит смертная казнь : Доклад Генерального секретаряعقوبة الإعدام وتنفيذ الضمانات التي تكفل حماية حقوق الذين يواجهون عقوبة الإعدام : م ذكّرة من الأمين العامLa 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 General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Peine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général

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 Moratoria del uso de la pena de muerte : Informe del Secretario GeneralМоратории на применение смертной казни: Доклад Генерального секретаря暂停使用死刑: 秘书长的报告وقف استخدام عقوبة الإعدام :تقرير الأمين العامMoratoires sur l'application de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général

From the point of arrest decades after the execution or release of a parent accused of a capital crime, the children’s mental health and wellbeing, living situation, and relationships with others can all be affected, usually in a devastating manner. The inherent trauma of knowing that a loved one is going to be executed can be exacerbated by public indifference or hostility, and by authorities who either fail to recognise or deliberately refuse to consider the situation of these children. This publication addresses the challenges to support the children.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Juveniles, International law, Murder Victims' Families,

The report as presented to the Ohio State Bar Association Council of Delegates in 1997,the OSBA’s recommendations and, where there have been changes in the law since that time, updates reflecting those changes. New information is noted at the conclusion of each section of the report immediately following the OSBA recommendation for that section.

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