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Document(s)

Report by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak – MISSION TO MONGOLIA

By United Nations / Manfred Nowak, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Mongolia

rufrzh-hantesar
More details See the document

The Special Rapporteur is also deeply concerned about all the circumstances surrounding the death penalty in Mongolia, especially the total secrecy. Despite repeated requests to the highest authorities of the Government, as well as prosecutors and the judiciary, the Special Rapporteur was not provided with any official information. Concern was expressed that not even the families of the condemned persons are notified of the exact date or place of execution and do not receive their mortal remains for burial, which amounts to inhuman treatment of the family, contrary to article 7 of the Covenant. Moreover, prisoners on death row at the Gants Hudag and Zuunmod detention centres are held in complete isolation, handcuffed and shackled, and denied adequate food. These conditions constitute additional punishments which can only be qualified as torture as defined in article 1 of the Convention.

Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2005 (AND THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2006)

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2006


2006

NGO report

en
More details See the document

The worldwide situation to date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2005 and the first half of 2006. There are currently 142 countries that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 90 are totally abolitionist; 10 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 1 (Russia) is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe and currently observing a moratorium on executions; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 37 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. no executions have taken place in those countries for at least ten years).

Document(s)

Information Handbook on the Council of the European Union

By Council of the European Union / European Union, on 1 January 2006


Working with...

fr
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The purpose of this handbook — which has been prepared on the responsibility of the General Secretariat of the Council and has no legal force — is to explain certain basic concepts of how the Council works, but above all to provide practical information both on existing sources of information and on the implementation of measures adopted with regard to openness and transparency. These measures illustrate the Council’s desire to get closer to citizens in order to build their confidence in European integration.

Document(s)

America’s Death Penalty: Between Past and Present

By David Garland / Jonathan Simon / Douglas Hay / Michael Meranze / Randall McGowen / New York University (NYU) / Rebecca Mc Lennan, on 8 September 2020


2020

Book

United States


More details See the document

This volume represents an effort to restore the sense of capital punishment as a question caught up in history. Edited by leading scholars of crime and justice, these original essays pursue different strategies for unsettling the usual terms of the debate. In particular, the authors use comparative and historical investigations of both Europe and America in order to cast fresh light on familiar questions about the meaning of capital punishment.

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

Document(s)

Advocacy Strategy

By Fulgence Massawe, on 1 January 2017


2017

Multimedia content


More details Download [ pdf - 705 Ko ]

Presentation of Fulgence Massawe, Legal and Human Rights Centre for the Advocating for the abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa workshop, which took place during the 2017 General Assembly of the World CoalitionLegal and Human Rights Centre

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

From seventy-eight to zero: Why executions declined after Taiwan’s democratization

By Fort Fu-Te Liao / Punishment and Society, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

Taiwan


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

The Failed Failsafe: The Politics of Executive Clemency

By Cathleen Burnett / Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article discusses the role of executive clemency in light of the current political environment. Attending to the political aspects of the capital litigation process gives insight into the trends in the use of executive clemency

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

Document(s)

Grace and Justice on Death Row

By Brian W. Stolarz / Skyhorse Publishing, on 1 January 2016


2016

Book

United States


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Mom of murdered son finds ‘only pain’ from death penalty

By Florida Today, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

United States


More details See the document

Politicians champion the death penalty while they campaign and are in office, and then they retire and move on, never having to deal with the reality of it.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Amnesty International Death Penalty Awareness Weeks guide

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2012


2012

Campaigning


More details See the document

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

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

South Korea’s changing capital punishment policy: The road from de facto to formal abolition

By Byung-Sun Cho / Punishment and Society, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

Republic of Korea


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Whom the State Kills

By Harvard Law Review / Scott Phillips / Justin Marceau, on 1 January 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

An unexpected feature of the modern death penalty is the fact that most persons sentenced to death are not executed […]. Death sentences are remarkably poor predictors of who will ultimately be executed. An even more salient feature of the death penalty is the fat that race matters […]. Rarity and race, then, stand as hallmarks of the American death penalty. But until now the interaction of these two phenomena has not been studied. This Article examines whether race is relevant for understanding the fate of the unfortunate few […]. By combining Baldus’s sentencing data whith original execution data, we demonstrate that the overall execution is susbsentially greater for defendants convicted of killing a white victim than for those convicted of killing a Black victim.

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

Document(s)

Death penalty disproportionately used against persons with significant mental impairments in five Florida Counties

By Fair Punishment Project, on 1 January 2017


2017

NGO report


More details See the document

This study, focusing on five of Florida’s 67 counties considers 48 death sentences that were declared unconstitutional after a Florida Supreme Court decision. The research reveals that “63 percent of these individuals exhibit signs of serious mental illness or intellectual impairment, endured devastatingly severe childhood trauma, or were not old enough to legally purchase alcohol at the time the offense occurred.”

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Intellectual Disability, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Why two mothers back death penalty repeal

By Vicki Schieber and Carolyn Leming / The Gazette, on 8 September 2020


2020

Working with...


More details See the document

This article talks about the tension between protecting the innocent on the one hand and dragging the process out for victims’ families on the other, and how those two can’t be reconciled.

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

Document(s)

DPIC Year End Report: Death Sentences, Executions Drop to Historic Lows in 2016

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2016


2016

Article

United States


More details See the document

A press release on the DPIC Year End Report 2016: Use of the death penalty fell to historic lows across the United States in 2016. States imposed the fewest death sentences in the modern era of capital punishment, since states began re-enacting death penalty statutes in 1973. New death sentences are predicted to be down 39% from 2015’s 40-year low. Executions declined more than 25% to their lowest level in 25 years, and public opinion polls also measured support for capital punishment at a four-decade low.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Compliance with ICJ Provisional Measures and the Meaning of Review and Reconsideration Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations: Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. U.S.)

By Linda E. Carter / Michigan Journal of International Law, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

Mexico


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Poster World Day 2007

By World coalition against the death penalty , on 10 October 2007


2007

Campaigning

Trend Towards Abolition

arfr
More details Download [ pdf - 228 Ko ]

Take action
against the death penalty:
Join the hundreds
of initiatives worldwide
Sign the petition
calling for a universal
moratorium on executions

Document(s)

Infographic: Death Sentences in the USA in 2012

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report


More details See the document

DPIC collects information on the number of death sentences in the United States. We only count the number of “new sentences,” i.e., we do not recount individuals who were sentenced to death in a previous year, had their sentenced overturned, and were resentenced in the current year.

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

Document(s)

Errors and Ethics: Dilemmas in Death

By Penny J. White / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2001


2001

Article

United States


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2008 (and the first six months of 2009)

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report

en
More details See the document

The Worldwide Situation to Date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2008 and the first six months of 2009. There are currently 151 countries and territories that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 96 are totally abolitionist; 8 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 42 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).

Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2011 (and the first six months of 2012)

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

en
More details See the document

THE SITUATION TODAY The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2011 and the first six months of 2012. There are currently 155 Countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 99 are totally abolitionist; 7 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 44 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. Countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or Countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).

Document(s)

Human rights, capital punishment and the Commonwealth: still behind the curve

By William A. Schabas / Institute of Commonwealth Studies / Commonwealth Advisory Bureau, on 1 January 2012


2012

Article


More details See the document

In this Opinion, Professor Schabas argues that the Commonwealth is behind the curve of the international trend towards the abolition of the death penalty. He analyses the status and use of capital punishment in Commonwealth countries, as compared to all UN member states more broadly.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list International law,

Document(s)

The Proposed Innocence Protection Act Won’t—Unless It Also Curbs Mistaken Eyewitness Identifications

By Margery Malkin Koosed / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


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This article contends that legislatures should adopt measures to assure greater reliability in the eyewitness testimony introduced in capital cases. Erroneous eyewitness identification is one of the most frequent causes of mistaken convictions and executions. Decades ago, the United States Supreme Court crafted due process and right to counsel constitutional doctrines to curb identification procedures that gratuitously enhanced the risk of mistake. While initial interpretations favored a greater judicial role in preventing such abuses, later rulings retreated. Present constitutional rules do not suffice due to the narrowness of their definition and the weakness of the remedial sanctions allotted. The proposed Innocence Protection Act and similar state legislation trust DNA testing to avert mistaken executions. But testing requires biological material that is often not available in capital prosecutions, and so DNA cannot detect all the innocents among those capitally prosecuted. To avert mistaken convictions and executions, legislative reforms need to go beyond DNA, and avert mistakes arising from erroneous eyewitness identifications. Studies show this is one of the most common sources of unjust conviction, and that suchmistakes may well be on the rise. Federal and state legislation should be adopted that provides a stronger curb on suggestive identification practices that gratuitously increase the risk of executing the innocent. The Recommendations for Lineups and Photospreads, developed by the American Psychology/Law Society (AP/LS) in 1998, are an appropriate starting point for legislatures (or state courts exercising their supervisory powers or interpreting state constitutional provisions). Adopting such guidelines will reduce the risk of error in capital cases, with little or no expense borne by the states. Further, to assure that these more reliable procedures will be used during capital case investigations and prosecutions, legislatures and courts should, minimally, adopt an exclusionary rule of the type first announced by the United States Supreme.

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

Document(s)

Stories of Victims of Terrorism

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2016


2016

Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 142 Ko ]

Together with AfVT, the World Coalition has developed this two-page note explaining why some victims of terrorism are against the death penalty.

Document(s)

MADP 2015 Annual Report: Infographics

By Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2015


2015

Multimedia content

United States


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Missouri has had a surge in executions since 2008. The following data shows just how arbitrary and discriminatory Missouri’s death penalty system is. Such disparities in race, geography, and gender, are causes for concern that this system is broken and applied capriciously.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

End Crime, not Life is not about protecting criminals, but about protecting vulnerable innocents

By Coalition for the Abolition of Death Penalty in ASEAN (CADPA), on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content

Malaysia


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Cheong Chun Yin, a Malaysian boy, was about 23 years old when he was arrested for drug trafficking. A trusting boy he was asked to bring some ‘gold’ to Singapore. Merri was a victim of domestic abuse, whose son had a heart defect. She took a job abroad to help pay his hospital bills. A loving man bought her a suitcase for her home journey. The tragedy of such stories is what keeps human rights activists and lawyers from ASEAN unrelenting in their opposition to the death penalty, for reasons they spell out in this video.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Malaysia
  • Themes list Arbitrariness, Networks, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

There Is No Evil

By YouTube / Mohammad Rasoulof, on 1 January 2020


2020

Multimedia content

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

fr
More details See the document

There Is No Evil (Persian: شیطان وجود ندارد‎, lit. ‘Satan doesn’t exist’) is a 2020 Iranian drama film directed by Mohammad Rasoulof. It won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. The film relates four stories concerning the death penalty in Iran. Rasoulof explained that the film is about “people taking responsibility” for their actions, and that each story “is based on my own experience.”

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  • Themes list Public debate,
  • Available languages Le Diable n'existe pas

Document(s)

Add Resources and Apply Them Systemically: Governments’ Responsibilities Under the Revised ABA Capital Defense Representation Guidelines

By Eric M. Freedman / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


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The mainstream legal community, including the ABA, has long understood the importance of system-building, but the revised Guidelines state the point especially forcefully. In articulating “the current consensus about what is required to provide effective defense representation in capital cases,” they set high performance standards not just for lawyers, but for death penalty jurisdictions. As the problems are systemic, it is “imperative” that the solutions be.The Guidelines accordingly not only call on governments to deliver capital defense resources that are sufficient in amount, but also furnish the states with a user-friendly blueprint for using those resources wisely to create structures that will function well in the present and evolve effectively over time. This mandate for institution-building is welcome, and the states should lead it. Indeed, they must do so if the Guidelines are to achieve their ameliorative purposes and avoid becoming just a collection of lofty aspirations “‘that palter with us in a double sense, that keep the word of promise to our ear, and break it to our hope”.

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

Document(s)

Call for actions in Barbados and Eastern Caribbean

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Greater Caribbean For Life, on 1 January 2018


2018

Multimedia content


More details Download [ - 76 Ko ]

The Greater Caribbean For Life (GCL) and the World Coalition are part of a joint project which aims to create a platform for death penalty reform in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, leading to eventual abolition.

  • Document type Multimedia content

Document(s)

Death Penalty and Race

By Amnesty International - USA, on 8 September 2020


2020

Arguments against the death penalty

es
More details See the document

From initial charging decisions to plea bargaining to jury sentencing, African-Americans are treated more harshly when they are defendants, and their lives are accorded less value when they are victims.

Document(s)

Death Row Fall 2014

By Criminal Justice Project / NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., on 1 January 2014


2014

International law - Regional body


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The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Death Row, USA showed a continuing decline in the size of the death row population. The new total of 3,035 represented a 13% drop from 10 years earlier, when the death row population was 3,471. The racial demographics of death row have been steady, with white inmates making up 43% of death row, black inmates composing 42%, and Latino inmates 13%. California continued to have the largest death row, with 745 inmates, followed by Florida (404), Texas (276), Alabama (198), and Pennsylvania (188). Arkansas, which last carried out an execution nearly nine years ago, had a 13% decrease in its death row population since last year. The report also contains information about executions. Since 1976, 10% (143) of those executed were defendants who gave up their appeals.

  • Document type International law - Regional body
  • Themes list Due Process , Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Death Penalty Sentencing in Trial Courts: Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (2000-2015)

By Project 39A, on 1 January 2019


2019

Academic report


More details See the document

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

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Death Penalty Issues Checklist – Universal Periodic Review Stakeholder Reports

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report


More details See the document

List of points of international human rights law to review when submitting a report on a country’s use of the death penalty to the United Nations’ Universial Periodic Review.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list International law,

Document(s)

Terror on Death Row: The Abuse and Overuse of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Legislation

By Reprieve / Justice Project Pakistan, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

Pakistan


More details See the document

This report is a result of death row prisoner data from 38 prisons across Pakistan’s four provinces(Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (‘KPK ’),Punjab and Sindh. For most of Pakistan, the data runs to December 2012, thereby covering all those who are presently subject to execution dates. However, the report reflects further data on the province of Sindh running to October 2014

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

Document(s)

Death penalty’s unlikely opponents

By Death Penalty Information Center / Eliott C. McLaughlin, on 8 September 2020


Academic report

United States


More details See the document

This article reviews several cases where the families of victim’s speak out against the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Evidence Does Not Support Death Penalty As Deterrent

By Sacramento Bee, on 1 January 2012


2012

Article

United States


More details See the document

Ever since California added the death penalty to its penal code in the 1870s, supporters have argued that the threat of executions would make potential murderers think twice before committing heinous crimes.

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

Document(s)

Pakistan: Death Penalty Action on Pakistan

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2006


2006

NGO report


More details See the document

Amnesty International has received reports from contacts in Pakistan that there has recently been an increase in executions in Pakistan: 60 people have been executed this year in the province of Punjab alone. In addition, 10 executions are known to have taken place in the North-West Frontier Province. There are continuing concerns around the application of the death penalty in Pakistan including the execution of juveniles.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Death sentences and executions in 2011

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report

enenfafrzh-hantes
More details See the document

Developments on the use of the death penalty in 2011 confirmed the global trend towards abolition. The number of countries that were known to have carried out death sentences decreased compared to the previous year, and overall, progress was recorded in all regions of the world. In this report, Amnesty International analyses some of the key developments in the worldwide application of the death penalty, citing figures it has gathered on the number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out during the year.

Document(s)

SLAMMING THE COURTHOUSE DOORS – Denial of Access to Justice and Remedy in America

By American Civil Liberties Union / Washington, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

According to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) entitled, “Slamming the Courthouse Doors: Denial of Access to Justice and Remedy in America,” many states severely restrict access to justice for capital defendants and limit the availability of remedies to correct errors. The problem of inadequate counsel continues to pervade death penalty systems across the country: “Few states provide adequate funds to compensate lawyers for their work or to investigate cases properly. In addition to inadequate funding, the majority of death-penalty states lack adequate competency standards. Many states require only minimal training and experience for attorneys handling death penalty cases, and in some cases capital defense attorneys fail to meet the minimum guidelines for capital defense set by the American Bar Association (ABA),” according to the ACLU. The report also states that the absence of a right to counsel in post-conviction appeals leaves capital defendants with few options to address serious errors during their trial.

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

Document(s)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak

By United Nations / Manfred Nowak, on 1 January 2009


2009

International law - United Nations

arfrzh-hantesru
More details See the document

In chapter III, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the compatibility of the death penalty with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. He concludes that the historic interpretation of the right to personal integrity and human dignity in relation to the death penalty is increasingly challenged by the dynamic interpretation of this right in relation to corporal punishment and the inconsistencies deriving from the distinction between corporal and capital punishment, as well as by the universal trend towards the abolition of capital punishment.

Document(s)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on a gender-sensitive approach to arbitrary killings

By United Nations, on 8 September 2020


2020

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

In the report, the Special Rapporteur considers key elements of a gender-sensitive perspective to the mandate, in the interests of strengthening an inclusive application of critical norms and standards related to the right to life. These elements include consideration of the impact of gender identity and expression, intersecting with other identities, on the risks factors to killings or death, the degree of predictability of harm and States’ implementation of its due diligence obligations. Applying gender lenses to the notion of arbitrariness, the Special Rapporteur highlights that gender-based killings — when committed by non-State actors — may constitute arbitrary killings. It also shows that violations of the right to life stem not only from an intentional act of deprivation of life by the State or a non-State actor, but also from the deprivation of basic conditions that guarantee life, such as access to essential health care

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list International law, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Torture, Arbitrariness, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2007 (and the first six months of 2008)

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2008


2008

NGO report

en
More details See the document

The U.N. Moratorium on Executions : On December 18, 2007, with 104 votes in favour, 54 votes against and 29 abstentions, the United Nations 62nd General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a Resolution that calls upon all States that still maintain the death penalty to “Establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”

Document(s)

English speaking Caribbean: State Killing in the English speaking Caribbean: a legacy of colonial times

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2002


2002

NGO report


More details See the document

This report seeks to answer the arguments put forward by the proponents of capital punishment in the English Speaking Caribbean and examines the shortcomings in the administration of the death penalty in the region.The paper primarily focuses on Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the two countries with the largest death row populations in the region. However, details of other counties are given and the themes and problems illustrated in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are prevalent in the other nations of the ESC.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Statistics,

Document(s)

Preventing the Reinstatement of Capital Punishment in the Maldives

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Nasheen Kalkat - Reprieve, on 10 August 2021


2021

Campaigning

Maldives

Public Opinion 

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 261 Ko ]

Findings from a preliminary study concerning the local abolitionist movement, risksto related civilsociety organizations and the identification of capacity building opportunities.

Document(s)

When Law and Ethics Collide — Why Physicians Participate in Executions

By Atul Gawande / New England Journal of Medecine 354(12), 1-13., on 1 January 2006


2006

Article

United States


More details See the document

Evidence from execution logs showed that six of the last eight prisoners executed in California had not stopped breathing before technicians gave the paralytic agent, raising a serious possibility that prisoners experienced suffocation from the paralytic, a feeling much like being buried alive, and felt intense pain from the potassium bolus. This experience would be unacceptable under the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. So the judge ordered the state to have an anesthesiologist present in the death chamber to determine when the prisoner was unconscious enough for the second and third injections to be given — or to perform the execution with sodium thiopental alone.The California Medical Association, the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) immediately and loudly opposed such physician participation as a clear violation of medical ethics codes. “Physicians are healers, not executioners,” the ASA’s president told reporters. Nonetheless, in just two days, prison officials announced that they had found two willing anesthesiologists. The court agreed to maintain their anonymity and to allow them to shield their identities from witnesses. Both withdrew the day before the execution, however, after the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit added a further stipulation requiring them personally to administer additional medication if the prisoner remained conscious or was in pain. This they would not accept. The execution was then postponed until at least May, but the court has continued to require that medical professionals assist with the administration of any lethal injection given to Morales. This turn of events is the culmination of a steady evolution in methods of execution in the United States.

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

Document(s)

The European Parliament 2004-2009 and European Civil Society: A Guide for Partnership

By European Union, on 1 January 2010


2010

Working with...

enfr
More details See the document

The handbook is intended to introduce you to the rights and value based NGO sectors in the EU and helps you to navigate your way around Civil Society. Part I gives a general overview of the context of dialogue between the EU institutions and NGOs – as it has been established over the last 20 years – and how NGOs would like civil dialogue to develop in the context of the new Constitution. In Part II you will find an overview of the policy areas that each of the 6 sectors will work on during the EP period 2004-2009. This is intended to help you identify the areas of expertise European NGOs can offer for your specific work in the EP. The values and objectives of the EU Civil Society Contact Group from Part III and the annex contain a comprehensive contact list for European NGOs within the 6 sectors.

Document(s)

THE JURY IN THE TWENTY – FIRST CENTURY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE

By William J. Bowers / Ursula Bentele / Brooklyn Law Review, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

The first section below describes how, for many jurors, the decision about guilt appears to be so overwhelming that it prevents truly separate decision making about punishment. The second section focuses on the degree to which jurors feel constrained by what they view as a requirement to impose death if certain aggravating factors are present in the case. And finally, the third section explores the way in which mitigating evidence, even when it appears to have been extensive and credible, is ignored, devalued, or discredited.

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

Document(s)

Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong

By Brandon L. Garrett / Harvard University Press, on 1 January 2011


2011

Book

United States


More details See the document

Very few crimes committed in the United States involve biological evidence that can be tested using DNA. Convicting the Innocent makes a powerful case for systemic reforms to improve the accuracy of all criminal cases.

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

Document(s)

Reforming Criminal Justice

By Arizona State University (ASU), on 1 January 2017


2017

Academic report


More details See the document

Reforming Criminal Justice is a four-volume report meant to enlighten reform efforts in the United States with the research and analysis of leading academics. Broken down into individual chapters—each authored by a top scholar in the relevant field—the report covers dozens of topics within the areas of criminalization, policing, pretrial and trial processes, punishment, incarceration, and release. The chapters seek to enhance both professional and public understanding of the subject matter, to facilitate an appreciation of the relevant scholarly literature and the need for reform, and to offer potential solutions. The ultimate goal is to increase the likelihood of success when worthwhile reforms are debated, put to a vote or otherwise considered for action, and implemented in the criminal justice system.

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

Document(s)

: Résolution des barreaux sur la peine de mort

By Paris Bar / International Association of Lawyers, on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content


More details Download [ pdf - 1493 Ko ]

Résolution des avocats sur la peine de mort et les conditions de détention et de traitement des condamnés à mort Resolution of lawyers on the death penalty and conditions of detention and treatment of persons sentenced to deathResolución sobre la pena de muerte y cas condiciones de detención y el trato a las personas condenadas a muerte

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Conditions, Legal Representation, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,

Document(s)

FREE MEN

By Anne-Frédérique Widmann / International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, on 1 January 2018


2018

Multimedia content

United States


More details See the document

How can a human being stand up, under conditions of unjust imprisonment on death row, alone and without hope of being released? In this documentary film, Anne-Frédérique Widmann draws the portrait of Kenneth Reams, who wakes up every day with an unwavering desire to live, and succeeds in writing, testifying, painting and loving a woman. A film about the art, resistance and dignity of every human life.

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

Document(s)

Leaflet – 16th World Day

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content

arfr
More details Download [ pdf - 719 Ko ]

The 2018 World Day leaflet provides information about living conditions on death row.

Document(s)

Leaflet – World Coalition Presentation

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1202 Ko ]

Presentation of the World Coalition’s activities

Document(s)

Factsheet for Parliamentarians

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2016


2016

Working with...

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 756 Ko ]

Together with PGA the World Coalition has developed this Factsheet that will help parliamentarians face political pressure during discussions surrounding the death penalty for terrorism. It will also help civil society better collaborate with parliamentarians.

Document(s)

Annexes 2014 World Day Report

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2015


2015

Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 869 Ko ]

Annexes of the 2014 World Day Report

Document(s)

The Truth About False Confessions and Advocacy Scholarship

By Richard A. Leo / Criminal Law Bulletin, on 1 January 2001


2001

Article

United States


More details See the document

In 1998 Richard A. Leo and Richard J. Ofshe published a study of false confession cases entitled, The Consequences of False Confessions: Deprivations of Liberty and Miscarriages of Justice in the Age of Psychological Interrogation, which drew a response from Paul Cassell (1999), The Guilty and the Innocent : An Examination of Alleged Cases of Wrongful Conviction from False Confessions. In this article, the authors demonstrate that Cassell s article misreports the research and analysis contained in Leo and Ofshes 1998 article, and that Cassell s attempt to challenge Leo and Ofshes classifications of nine out of sixty false confessions is erroneous because Cassell excludes or presents an incomplete picture of important facts in his case summaries, selectively ignores enormous inconsistencies, implausibilities and/or contradictions in the prosecution s cases, and fails to acknowledge the existence of substantial exculpatory, if not dispositive, evidence. To illustrate the problems and biases in Cassell s commentary, this article discusses at length one of Cassell s challenges, the Barry Lee Fairchild case, in the main body of the article and in a detailed appendix analyzes the eight other cases (Joseph Giarratano, Paul Ingram, Richard Lapointe, Jessie Misskelley, Bradley Page, James Harry Reyos, Linda Stangel, and Martin Tankleff). Leo and Ofshe provide a point by point refutation of Cassell s assertions in all nine cases, demonstrating that all nine individuals were, as originally classified, almost certainly innocent of the crimes to which they had confessed.

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

Document(s)

Death sentences and executions in 2010

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

In the last decade, more than 30 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Fifty-eight countries worldwide now retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and less than half of these carried out executions in 2010. This report analyzes some of the key developments in the worldwide application of the death penalty in 2010, citing figures gathered by Amnesty International on the number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out during the year.

Document(s)

Juvenile Death Penalty: Is It Cruel and Unusual in Light of Contemporary Standards

By American Bar Association / Adam Caine Ortiz, on 1 January 2003


2003

NGO report


More details See the document

Reviews the use of the death penalty on juveniles in light of contemporary standards.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Juveniles,

Document(s)

Designed to break you: Human Rights Violations in Texas’ Death Row

By The Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, on 1 January 2017


2017

Academic report


More details See the document

The State of Texas stands today as one of the most extensive utilizers of the death penalty worldwide. Consequently, inmate living conditions on Texas’ death row are ripe for review. This report demonstrates that the mandatory conditions implemented for death row inmates by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) are harsh and inhumane. Particular conditions of relevance include mandatory solitary confinement, a total ban on contact visits with both attorneys and friends and family, substandard physical and psychological health care, and a lack of access to sufficient religious services.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

CHINA’S DEATH PENALTY REFORMS

By Bonny Ling / Si-si Liu / Cliff Ip / Human Rights In China, on 1 January 2007


2007

NGO report


More details See the document

The Chinese authorities have introduced reforms to the death penalty system aimed at “killing fewer, and killing carefully.” Key systemic challenges remain, however, in ensuring that the criminally accused are not arbitrarily deprived of their inherent right to life.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Towards an Islamic Critique of Capital Punishment

By Robert Postawko / Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

Iran (Islamic Republic of)


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Pictures at an execution: The condemned in art

By BBC / Jason Farago, on 1 January 2014


2014

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article discusses a new art exhibition in Los Angeles which aims to humanise condemned prisoners. It continues to situate the exhibition in the greater context of the depiction of the death penalty in art history. The conversation this article raises is the link the death penalty in art history has with creating a public discussion. From the sword to the electric chair, the death penalty has inspired challenging art, writes Jason Farago.

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

Document(s)

When the Wall has Fallen: Decades of Failure in the Supervision of Capital Juries

By Jose Felipe Anderson / Ohio Northern University Law Review, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article

United States


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

A Death Before Dying: Solitary Confinement on Death Row

By American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report


More details See the document

Using the results of an ACLU survey of death row conditions nationwide, this briefing paper offers the first comprehensive review of the legal and human implications of subjecting death row prisoners to solitary confinement for years.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Death Row Conditions,

Document(s)

Detailed Factsheet – World Day 2023

By World coalition against the death penalty, on 2 October 2023


2023

Campaigning

World Coalition

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 855 Ko ]

Detailed factsheet on the link between torture and the death penalty, to mark the 21st World Day against the Death Penalty.Detailed factsheet on the link between torture and the death penalty, to mark the 21st World Day against the Death Penalty.

Document(s)

Protection of the Rights of Children of Parents Sentenced to Death or Exectued: An Expert Legal Analysis

By Quaker United Nations Office / Stephanie Farrior, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document

The QUNO’s report offers an updated review of differents elements of international law on the human rights of the child.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list International law, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America

By Clive Stafford Smith / Harvill Secker, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book

United States


More details See the document

A new book by Clive Stafford Smith, a British lawyer who has defended death row inmates in the U.S., offers an in-depth view of capital punishment in America. In Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America, Stafford Smith examines the case of Kris Maharaj, a British citizen who was sentenced to death in Florida for a double murder, to expose problems in the justice system.

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

Document(s)

Felony-Murder in Ohio: Felony-Murder or Murder-Felony?

By Dana K. Cole / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

Ohio’s aggravated felony-murder rule and felony-murder death penalty specification provisions apply where a death occurs “while committing or attempting to commit” certain enumerated felonies. In a line of cases beginning in 1996, the Ohio Supreme Court broadly interpreted this statutory language to include situations where the intent to commit the underlying felony was formed subsequent to the death, as a complete afterthought. With these cases, the Ohio Supreme Court departed from the majority view that the intent to commit the underlying felony must precede or co-exist with the death. The author argues that this new statutory interpretation represents an unwarranted expansion of the felony-murder rule that disregards the statutory language, ignores the underlying purpose of the rule, and dispenses with traditional safeguards designed to ameliorate its harshness. The author further argues that applying this new statutory interpretation to the felony-murder death penalty specification potentially selects for death those who are not necessarily the most deserving of this ultimate punishment. The author suggests that the solution must be a legislative one.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Capital offences, Arbitrariness,

Document(s)

Filling The Void

By CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform / Bill Leonard / Maggie Smart, on 1 January 2014


2014

Book

United States


More details See the document

‘Filling The Void’ is a brutal record of Bill Leonard’s troubled childhood and youth.The memoir provides a shocking insight into the neglect and abuse that he suffered as a child at the hands of his parents and stepfather and gives a frank account of the murders that led to his incarceration. It reveals the horrendous conditions in which Bill is held in Ely State Prison, Nevada and gives a graphic description of the barbarous treatment that he has received at the hands of his prison guards. It also details and examines the flawed process that earned him the death penalty and describes his struggle for self-rehabilitation through a process called neuroplasticity. This is the life story of a man who has suffered a great deal, who has passions that aren’t always under control. A man who loves order and truth but hasn’t always been able to engage in them. Someone who is hugely motivated to learn and develop his abilities. Someone who ought to be alive for a long time. This is Bill Leonard – and this is his story.

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

Document(s)

Abortion, Capital Punishment, and the Politics of “God’s” Will

By Kimberly J. Cook / William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

In her paper, Professor Kimberly J. Cook uses statistics to illustrate the role the Christian Right plays in the public discourse over two issues permeated with religious overtones: abortion and the death penalty. She shows how the Christian Right’s approach to these issues is based on an ideological notion of ‘Justice ” that is primarily focused on vengeance and punishment, to the exclusion of forgiveness. Professor Cook’s exploration of the modern roots of this ideology leads to a movement dating from the 1960s known as Christian Reconstructionism, which advocates using state action to enforce its unique interpretation of “God’s Will.” This interpretation not only advocates an expansive view of the death penalty, but also patriarchal gender roles backed by force of law, religious intolerance, and the manifest goal of establishing a global Christian theocracy. Though it has been publicly disavowed by mainstream Christian Fundamentalists, Professor Cook argues that Reconstructionism has become the cornerstone of the Christian Right. To support this assertion, she compares current Christian Right socio-political goals with Reconstructionist theology. Professor Cook concludes with a warning that the Christian Right’s political power, coupled with its Reconstructionist influenced ideology, places our constitutional protections at risk.

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

Document(s)

The Defense Team in Capital Cases

By Jill Miller / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Caught in a Web Treatment of Pakistanis in the Saudi Criminal Justice System

By Human Rights Watch / Justice Project Pakistan, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Pakistan


More details See the document

Report about the treatment of Pakistanis in the Saudi criminal justice system

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Pakistan
  • Themes list Discrimination, Foreign Nationals,

Document(s)

Juan Melendez-6446

By YouTube / Comision de Derechos Civiles, on 1 January 2014


2014

Working with...


More details See the document

Juan Melendez-6446 portrays the story of a New York born Puerto Rican immigrant who was accused of murder in the state of Florida, a crime he did not commit. Juan Melendez was sentenced to death in a trial that only lasted 5 days. He was on death row for 17 years, 8 months and 1 day, until his exoneration on January 3, 2002.

  • Document type Working with...

Document(s)

The State of Criminal Justice 2012

By American Bar Association / Ronald Tabak, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report


More details See the document

The American Bar Association recently published The State of Criminal Justice 2012, an annual report that examines major issues, trends and significant changes in America’s criminal justice system.

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

Document(s)

APYN Death Penalty Quizz

By Asia Pacific Youth Network, on 1 January 2009


2009

Campaigning


More details See the document

Quizz on the death penalty by the Asia Pacific Youth Network

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

: Madam Eswari’s story

By Coalition for the Abolition of Death Penalty in ASEAN (CADPA), on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content


More details See the document

CADPA invited filmmaker Dawn Mikkelsen to make 8 short videos for a series called ‘Say Yes to Life’. Dawn spoke with many of those intimately linked with people on death row to bring you their stories. “Madam Eswari’s story’ is the first of these.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Arbitrariness, Networks, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice

By TED / Bryan Stevenson, on 1 January 2012


2012

Multimedia content

United States


More details See the document

In an engaging and personal talk — with cameo appearances from his grandmother and Rosa Parks — human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares some hard truths about America’s justice system, starting with a massive imbalance along racial lines: a third of the country’s black male population has been incarcerated at some point in their lives. These issues, which are wrapped up in America’s unexamined history, are rarely talked about with this level of candor, insight and persuasiveness.Speaker starts talking about the death penalty at the 8 minute mark.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Discrimination,

Document(s)

Declaration on Malaysia

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / International Association of Lawyers, on 1 January 2019


2019

Multimedia content

Malaysia


More details Download [ pdf - 70 Ko ]

Declaration on Malaysia adopted by acclamation in Brussels on 1st March 2019

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Malaysia
  • Themes list Moratorium , Trend Towards Abolition, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Call for tenders for printing, design and layout services – Annex

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 171 Ko ]

Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2003

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2004


2004

NGO report

en
More details See the document

The worldwide situation to date: The worldwide situation concerning the death penalty has once again registered a trend towards abolition in the past year. The countries or territories that to different extents have decided to give up the practice of capital punishment total 133, including the first months of 2004. Of these 81 have abolished the death penalty completely; 14 have abolished it for ordinary crimes; 1, Russia, as a member of the Council of Europe is committed to abolish it and in the meanwhile apply a moratorium on executions; 5 are observing moratoriums and 32 countries are de facto abolitionist, not having carried out executions for at least 10 years.

Document(s)

Myth #5 – Death penalty trials are a fair process

By Reprieve / Emmanuelle Purdon , on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report


More details See the document

MYTH: Death penalty trials are a fair process. Trials and appeals are closely scrutinised. The defendant’s basic rights are protected. FACT: People are executed around the world every day because they did not have a fair trial.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Fair Trial,

Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2001

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2002


2002

NGO report

en
More details See the document

The year 2001 has confirmed the accelerated trend towards the abolition of the death penalty on course for the past ten years. In 2001 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became totally abolitionist, Chile abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, Ireland removed all references to the death penalty from its constitution, Burkina Faso joined the group of de facto abolitionists not having carried out any executions for more than ten years, and Lebanon has imposed a moratorium on executions.

Document(s)

UPR death penalty stakeholder report template

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2015


2015

Working with...


More details See the document

Template for civil society submissions to the Universal Periodic Review of human rights organised by the United Nations.

  • Document type Working with...
  • Themes list International law,

Document(s)

Fault Lines: Politics of Death Penalty

By Fault Lines / YouTube, on 1 January 2010


2010

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

FaultLines explores the death penalty in the United States. Interviews with murder victim families, politicans and the exonerated are included.

  • Document type Arguments against the death penalty
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Explaining Death Row’s Population and Racial Composition

By Theodore Eisenberg / John Blume / Journal of Empirical Legal Studies / Martin T. Wells, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement, and 12 years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul

By Anthony Graves / Beacon Press, on 1 January 2018


2018

Book

United States


More details See the document

Autobiography of Anthony Graves, an innocent exonerated from death row in the USA. In the summer of 1992, a family was beaten and stabbed to death in Somerville, Texas. The perpetrator set the house on fire to cover his tracks, deepening the heinousness of the crime and rocking the tiny community to its core. Authorities were eager to make an arrest. Five days later, Anthony Graves was in custody.Graves was indicted, convicted of capital murder, sentenced to death, and, over the course of twelve years on death row, given two execution dates. He was not freed for eighteen years, two months, four days.

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

Document(s)

Bangladesh: Mandatory death penalty declared void after 14-year legal battle

By Child Rights International Network, on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report


More details See the document

Sentenced to death for a crime allegedly committed when he was just 14, a Bangladeshi boy’s case became the centre of a lengthy legal battle which ultimately led to mandatory executions being declared unconstitutional.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Juveniles, Trend Towards Abolition, Mandatory Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Detailed Fact Sheet – Death Penalty and Mental Health

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1671 Ko ]

Detailed information on the death penalty and mental health.

Document(s)

Black Deaths Matter: The Race-of-Victim Effect and Capital Punishment

By Daniel Medwed / Northeastern, on 1 January 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Annual Report: Death Penalty in Iran 2011

By Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report

enfafrfafr
More details See the document

The execution wave that began after the June 2009 post-election protests in Iran continues with high frequency. According to the present report, the execution figure in 2011 is currently the highest since the beginning of 1990’s.

Document(s)

Justice Denied : A Global Study of Wrongful Death Row Convictions January 2018

By Sandra Babcock / Cornell Law School / Madalyn Wasilczuk and Sharon Pia Hickey / Delphine Lourtau / Katie Campbell / Julie Bloch, on 1 January 2018


2018

Academic report

fr
More details See the document

On March 7, 2018, the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide launched its new report entitled Justice Denied: A Global Study of Wrongful Death Row Convictions at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The report is a first-of-its-kind comparative study of the risk factors that increase the likelihood of wrongful convictions. The report illuminates the similarities in wrongful conviction risk factors in six countries across the geographical and political spectrum: Cameroon, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Document(s)

General comment No. 36 on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life

By Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) , on 1 January 2018


United Nations report


More details See the document

General comment No. 36 on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life.

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

Document(s)

Give up Tomorrow

By Michael Collins / Thoughtful Robot Production, on 1 January 2011


2011

Legal Representation


More details See the document

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

  • Document type Legal Representation
  • Themes list Innocence,

Document(s)

A Life in the Balance: The Billy Wayne Sinclair Story, A Journey from Murder to Redemption Inside America’s Worst Prison System

By Jodie Sinclair / Billy Wayne Sinclair / Arcade Publishing, on 8 September 2020


2020

Book

United States


More details See the document

Life in the Balance: a book on the Billy Wayne Sinclair Story, A Journey from Murder to Redemption Inside America’s Worst Prison System. The New York Times Book Review called it a “numbing tale of crime, punishment, and redemption.”

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Innocence, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Provisional Budget – 18th World Day

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet - 31 Ko ]

Small Grants 2020 provisional budget

Document(s)

Application form – Call for actions in Sub-Saharan Africa (18th World Day)

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document - 52 Ko ]

Call for actions on 2020 World Day in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Document(s)

Italian : Poster – 16° Giornata mondiale contro la Pena di morte

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


Multimedia content

enarrufrzh-hantzh-hantes
More details Download [ pdf - 2085 Ko ]

Document(s)

Datos y Cifras 2018

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2018


2018

Multimedia content

enfr
More details Download [ pdf - 188 Ko ]

Documento de antecedentes sobre el uso de la pena de muerte en todo el mundo para 2017 y principios de 2018.

Document(s)

Just Mercy

By Destin Daniel Cretton / Gil Netter / Asher Goldstein / Michael B. Jordan, on 1 January 2019


2019

Multimedia content

United States


More details See the document

A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson). Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.

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