Your search “Keep the Death Penalty Abolished fin the Philippfines %20e ”

This report examinesprison conditionsandthe imposition of the death penalty in Japan in light of international human rights standards.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Japan
• Themes list Due Process , International law, Death Row Conditions,

Counting the Condemned contains some shocking revelations. There has been almost a 35 percent reduction in Pakistan’s death row population, but we still account for 26 percent of the world’s death row. Every 8th person executed in the world is a Pakistani. And convictions are often so wrongful, an appellate bench of the Supreme Court has overturned a whopping 85 percent of death sentences since 2014.

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

This report discusses Amnesty International’s concern about political imprisonments in Myanmar. Arbitrary arrests; torture and ill-treatment during incommunicado detention; unfair trials; and laws which greatly curtail the rights to freedom of expression and assembly continue as major obstacles to the improvement in the State Peace and Development Council’s human rights record. The section dedicated to the death penalty talks about the death penalty system in relation to specific cases.

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

This volume provides up-to-date and nuanced analysis across a wide spectrum of capital punishment issues. The essays move beyond the conventional legal approach and propose fresh perspectives, including a unique critique of the abolition sector. Written by a range of leading experts with diverse geographical, methodological and conceptual approaches, the essays in this volume challenge received wisdom and embrace a holistic understanding of capital punishment based on practical experience and empirical data. This collection is indispensable reading for anyone seeking a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the complexity of the death penalty discourse.

• Document type Book
• Themes list Death Penalty,

The American Medical Association is among many medical professional organizations that prohibit the participation of physicians in the physical act of execution. Despite these clear guidelines, debate remains regarding physician involvement in various aspects of death penalty cases. This article outlines different positions that physicians and specifically forensic psychiatrists have taken on this issue. Our position is that given the overwhelming secondary duty related to their physician role—specifically to do no harm—forensic psychiatrists should not use their expertise if they believe their involvement will be used for the primary purpose of obtaining a death penalty.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Intellectual Disability,

Religious arguments in the course of particular capital sentencing proceedings are very common. This may be in part because capital punishment jurisprudence, unlike the jurisprudence of reproductive rights or segregation, has itself mandated individualized decision-making. Public discussion of whether religious principles or authority compel (or preclude) the imposition of the death penalty for all police killings (or, more broadly, all killings) has been largely mooted by the Supreme Court’s determination that mandatory death penalty statutes violate the Eighth Amendment.

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

The order struck during the regulatory years following Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v. Georgia has been inverted. Executions once were rarities of newsworthy moment; now, they are nearly twice-a-week occurrences that often pass with nary a notice. Skeptical scrutiny of death penalty cases once was the professed and practiced mission of the federal judiciary; now, words like weariness, ennui, and resentment seem better choices to capture the spirit of the federal courts when confronted with complaints from death row. As we will see, the various lines of objection join to form a sophisticated and comprehensive critique.

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

While there are antecedent factual determinations jurors must make, including the existence of a statutory aggravating circumstance, the final decision the jurors must make is not factual in nature. As the courts have noted, this is an “awesome responsibility,” and the jury must make a “reasoned moral” decision whether life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or the death penalty is the appropriate punishment.

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

The essays selected for this volume develop conventional abolition discourse and explore the conceptual framework through which abolition is understood and posited. Of particular interest is the attention given to an integral but often forgotten element of the abolition debate: alternatives to capital punishment. The volume also provides an account of strategies employed by the abolition community which challenges tired methodologies and offers a level of transparency previously unseen. This collection tackles complex but fundamental components of the capital punishment debate using empirical data and expert observations and is essential reading for those wishing to comprehend the fundamental issues which underpin capital punishment discourse.

• Document type Book
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty,

An integral part of our Human Rights Policy is a series of Guidelines on issues of importance to the Union. These Guidelines are practical tools to help EU representations in the field better advance our policy. The first Guideline, on the Death Penalty, was elaborated in 1998. It was followed by six others focussed on Torture, Dialogues with Third Countries, Children Affected by Armed Conflict, Human Rights Defenders, the Rights of the Child and Violence Against Women. The first five Guidelines were published as a brochure four years ago; this new edition adds those Guidelines adopted since then. In preparation for publishing this booklet, all of the older Guidelines underwent a review and renovation to reflect changes both in the Union and the external environment that have taken place since 2005. There is one other innovation in the edition you hold in your hands: for the first time, we have included a guideline developed in 2005 by Member State legal experts on the topic of International Humanitarian Law. Because of the explosive growth of operations and missions conducted under the European Security and Defence Policy and as a result of our conviction that counterterrorism be conducted within the framework of international law, the Guideline on IHL is growing in importance.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages EU Lignes Directrices: Droits de l'Homme et le Droit International Humanitaire

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

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

Article 37States Parties shall ensure that:(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Juveniles, International law,
• Available languages اتفاقية حقوق الطفلКонвенция о правах ребенкаConvention relative aux droits de l'enfant儿童权利公约Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño

The Committee also offers a host of other recommendations to prevent and correct wrongfulconvictions. These include recommendations regarding the preservation, testing andpresentation of forensic evidence; the creation of statutory remedies for wrongful convictionsand the implementation of procedures for the systemic review to help avoid future errors; thevideotaping of custodial interrogations – where practical – in order to avoid the documentedproblem of false and otherwise inaccurate confessions; the adoption of best practices foreyewitness identifications; the effective implementation of prosecutors’ constitutionalobligation to disclose exculpatory evidence; and enforcement of the Vienna Convention onConsular Relations.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Innocence,

The news about the astounding accuracy of felony convictions in the United States, delivered by Justice Scalia and Joshua Marquis in the passage set out epigrammatically above, would be cause for rejoicing if it were true. Imagine. Only 27 factually wrong felony convictions out of every 100,000! Unfortunately, it is not true, as the empirical data analyzed in this article demonstrates. To a great extent, those who believe that our criminal justice system rarely convicts the factually innocent and those who believe such miscarriages are rife have generally talked past each other for want of any empirically-justified factual innocence wrongful conviction rate. This article remedies at least a part of this problem by establishing the first such empirically justified wrongful conviction rate ever for a significant universe of real world serious crimes: capital rape-murders in the 1980’s. Using DNA exonerations for capital rape-murders from 1982 through 1989 as a numerator, and a 406-member sample of the 2235 capital sentences imposed during this period, this article shows that 21.45%, or around 479 of those, were cases of capital rape murder. Data supplied by the Innocence Project of Cardozo Law School and newly developed for this article show that only 67% of those cases would be expected to yield usable DNA for analysis. Combining these figures and dividing the numerator by the resulting denominator, a minimum factually wrongful conviction rate for capital rape-murder in the 1980’s emerges: 3.3%. The article goes on to consider the likely ceiling accompanying this 3.3% floor, arriving at a slightly softer number for the maximum factual error rate of around 5%. The article then goes on to analyze the implications of a factual error rate of 3.3%-5% for both those who currently claim errors are extremely rare, and those who claim they are extremely common. Extension of the 3.3%-5% to other capital and non-capital categories of crime is discussed, and standards of moral duty to support system reform in the light of such error rates is considered at length.

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

Ndume, 56 years old, spent 28 years in prison in the US, 20 of which on death row, for a crime he did not commit. Today, he is human rights activist, and fight with us for the abolition of the death penalty. He is also a very gifted painter.

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

This resource website displays data concerning death sentencing in the United States from 1990 to present. Research using these data includes a book, “End of its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice” published by Harvard University Press in Fall 2017. This research was conducted by Professor Brandon L. Garrett with the support of the University of Virginia School of Law.

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

Four decades after the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States, the harmful impact of death sentences and executions on persons other than the individual offender is still not widely recognized – not even among mental health professionals who specialize in responding to individual and community needs in the aftermath of traumatic events.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Mental Illness, Murder Victims' Families,

For this 12th World Day Against the Death Penalty the World Coalition has decided to focus on a social media campaign which it hopes will spread the truth about death penalty more widely than ever before. The concept is simple. People will make signs stating why they are against the death penalty and take a photo of themselves holding that sign and upload it onto a social media platform, with the hashtag #nodeathpenalty. With the photo uploaded, the person will nominate at least 3 people to do the same, thus creating an exponential (snowball) effect. Think of it as a cross between the #bringbackourgirls campaign in support for

• Document type Academic report
• Available languages #nodeathpenalty - Signs_Farsi#nodeathpenalty - Signs_Russian#nodeathpenalty - Pancarte#nodeathpenalty - Signs_Chinese#nodeathpenalty - Signs_Spanish

Recent years have seen a number of ground-breaking judicial decisions on the mandatory death penalty in various Caribbean and African jurisdictions. In analysing these developments, this manual addresses the key issues that arise in the sentencing and resentencing of offenders following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty for particular crimes. It deals with the general test to be applied when deciding whether an offender should be sentenced to a discretionary death penalty. It also addresses the aggravating and, in particular, mitigating considerations relevant to the sentencing exercise and procedural issues that arise as a result of the discretion now vested in the courts to impose an appropriate sentence in each case.

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

The use of the death penalty is frequent in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In 2009, the government reduced the number of offences punishable by death from 29 to 22. Capital punishment is applied for crimes including murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, rape, sexual abuse of children, and a range of economic crimes. Execution is by firing squad. A draft law was introduced in November 2009 proposing the use of two methods of execution, either by firing squad or by lethal injection. Statistics on the number of death sentences and executions are not made public. Indeed, following criticisms by international human rights organisations, in January 2004, Vietnam adopted a decree classifying death penalty statistics as “state secrets”. According to the Vietnamese and international press, at least 100 people are executed each year in Vietnam. In 2007, 104 death sentences were pronounced, including 14 women. In 2010, the official legal magazine Phap Luat (Law) reported 11 death sentences for the month of January alone.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Viet Nam
• Themes list Death Row Conditions, Firing Squad,

Call for actions in the Philippines

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Philippines
• Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,

Call for actions on World Day in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,

South Africa, 1987. When Leon, a white 19-year-old prison guard commits an inexplicable act of violence, killing seven black men in a hail of bullets, the outcome of the trial – and the court’s sentence – seems a foregone conclusion.

Hotshot lawyer John Weber reluctantly takes on the seemingly unwinnable case.

A passionate opponent of the death penalty, John discovers that young Leon worked on death row in the nation’s most notorious prison, under traumatic conditions: befriending the inmates over the years while having to assist their eventual execution.

As the court hearings progress, the case offers John the opportunity to put the entire system of legally sanctioned murder on trial. How can one man take such a dual role of friend and executioner, becoming both shepherd and butcher?

Inspired by true events, this is the story that puts death penalty on trial and changes history.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Row Conditions, Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,

Although counties do not carry out executions, in almost all states the decision to seek the death penalty is made by the county district attorney. A small number of counties are responsible for a disproportionate number of the executions in the United States. Search results can be sorted by county.

• Document type NGO report

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

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

The ritual slaughter of humans for sacrificial purposes has an ancient provenance. Few members of modern society would be inclined to believe that killing humans for sacrificial purposes continues. Of those, most probably envision it only being practiced by individuals who belong to “uncivilized,” or non-“First-World” cultures. Upon closer scrutiny, however, it becomes apparent that this is a misconception because the past and present practice of capital punishment includes a thinly disguised manifestation of the ritualized killing of people, otherwise known as human sacrifice. The purpose of this article is to identify, describe, and analyze the historic and contemporary connection between the practices of capital punishment and human sacrifice. After describing how human sacrifice constitutes an integral component of capital punishment, it will be argued that the institutionalization of this antiquated barbaric ritual, vis-a-vis the use of capital punishment, renders the present use of the death penalty in the United States incompatible with “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society”; and that consequently, this facet of capital punishment renders the penalty at odds with the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against the infliction of “cruel and unusual” punishments.

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

This article analyzes whether state-approved jury instructions adequately guide jury discretion in the penalty phase of first-degree murder trials. It examines Eighth Amendment jurisprudence regarding guided jury discretion, emphasizing the use of “empirical factors” to examine the quality of state-approved instructions. Psychological research and testimony on the topic of the comprehensibility of jury instructions are reviewed. Data from a recently completed simulation with 80 deliberating juries showed that current instructions do not adequately convey the concepts and processes essential to guiding penalty phase judgments. An additional simulation with 20 deliberating juries demonstrated that deliberation alone does not correct for jurors’ errors in comprehension. The article concludes with recommendations for policy and future research.

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

Two of the Bali Nine have been speaking publicly for the first time… just days ahead of final hearings on whether their death sentences for drug trafficking will be carried out.Dateline reporter Mark Davis gained exclusive access to Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in the ‘death tower’ at Indonesia’s Kerobokan Prison.They talk openly about their lives then and now, what they think of their crimes, and the prospect of facing death by firing squad.Mark also hears first-hand of the heartache for their families back in Australia, as they wait to hear if their pleas for clemency will be granted.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of hisactivities and considers four topics relating to the protection of the right to life:(a) the role of regional human rights systems; (b) less lethal and unmanned weaponsinlaw enforcement; (c) resumptions of the death penalty; and (d) the role ofstatistical indicators.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list International law, Statistics,
• Available languages تقريـــر المقـــرِّر الخـــاص المعـــني بحـــالات انعـــداج نـــارا نـــان القـــا ون وو انعداج جرا ات موجزة وو انعداج التعسُّفيДоклад Специального докладчика по вопросу о внесудебных , суммарных или произвольных казняхRapport du Rapporteur spécial sur le s exécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitrairesInforme del Relator Especial sobre las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias

Capital Punishment and the Bible goes beyond proof-text arguments to examine biblical statements about capital punishment in their historical contexts and for present meaning. Does the use of capital punishment in the USA meet Old Testament standards for fairness? How did Jesus and the early church extend God’s love in restorative justice? Gardner C. Hanks convincingly shows that the use of the death penalty is not consistent with Jesus’ call for love and forgiveness.

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

At the same time, the countries that most vigorously employ the death penalty are generally ones that the United States has the least in common with politically, economically, or socially, and ones that the United States is wont to define itself against, as they are among the least democratic and the worst human rights abusers in the world. In recent years, the top five employers of capital punishment were China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States.3 Moreover, in the past twelve years, only seven countries in the world are known to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of their crimes: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United States.

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

In the past several years, there has been a marked change in the climate with regard to public discourse about the death penalty in the United States. This is partly due to advances in DNA technology. This Article, in Part II, will address the impact that DNA testing has had on public discourse on capital punishment. In Part III, it will discuss the overall context in which public discourse has changed, and its likely impact on judges, prosecutors and governors dealing with capital cases. Finally, in Part IV, it will consider the broader implications of this change in climate, in leading to a moratorium on executions in Illinois, consideration of moratoria elsewhere, and potentially to abolition of capital punishment in this country.

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

Arizona said Debra Milke was a baby killer. Phoenix Homicide Detective Armando Saldate testified she “confessed” to having her four-year-old son murdered when he thought he was going to see Santa. In 1990, she ended up exactly where most thought she deserved–the only woman on Arizona’s death row. This compelling investigative work by one of Arizona’s most acclaimed journalists takes readers inside the case–inside the prison, inside the evidence, inside the breakdown of justice, inside the legal tenacity, inside the heart and mind of Debra Milke.

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

The release of Hakamada Iwao from death row in March 2014 after 48 years of incarceration provides an opportunity to reflect on wrongful convictions in Japanese criminal justice. My approach is comparative because this problem cannot be understood without asking how Japan compares with other countries: to know only one country is to know no country well. Comparison with the United States is especially instructive because there have been many studies of wrongful conviction there and because the U.S. and Japan are the only two developed democracies that retain capital punishment and continue to carry out executions on a regular basis. On the surface, the United States seems to have a more serious problem with wrongful convictions than Japan, but this gap is more apparent than real. To reduce the problem of wrongful convictions in Japanese criminal justice, reformers must confront a culture of denial that makes it difficult for police, prosecutors, and judges to acknowledge their own mistakes.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Japan
• Themes list Fair Trial, Innocence,

This study is a quantitative analysis designed to compare two groups of factually innocent capital defendants: Those who were exonerated and those who were executed. There are a total of 97 cases in the sample, including 81 exonerations and 16 executions. The primary objective of the authors is to identify factors that may predict case outcomes among capital defendants with strong claims of factual innocence. Through the use of a logistic regression model, the following variables were significant predictors of case outcome (exoneration vs. execution): allegations of perjury, multiple types of evidence, prior felony record, type of attorney at trial, and race of the defendant. These results point toward significant problems with the administration of capital punishment deriving primarily from the quality of the case record created at trial.

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

The present report details the activities of the Special Rapporteur in 2009 and the first four months of 2010. This is the final report to the Human Rights Council by Philip Alston in his capacity as Special Rapporteur. It analyses the activities and working methods of the mandate over the past six years, and identifies important issues for future research. Detailed addenda to this report address: (a) accountability for killings by police; (b) election-related killings; and (c) targeted killings.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages تقرير المقرر الخاص المعني بحالات الإعدام خارج نطاق القضاءأو بإجراءات موجزة أو تعسفًا، السيد فيليب ألستونДоклад Специального докладчика по вопросу о внесудебных казнях, казнях без надлежащего судебного разбирательства или произвольных казнях, Филипа АлстонаRapport du Rapporteur spécial sur les exécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitraires, M. Philip AlstonInforme del Relator Especial, Philip Alston, sobre las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias

Almost everyone agrees that indigent defense in America is underfunded, but workable solutions have been hard to come by. For the most part, courts have been unwilling to inject themselves into legislative budget decisions. And, when courts have become involved and issued favorable decisions, the benefits have been only temporary because once the pressure of litigation disappears so does a legislature’s desire to appropriate more funding. This Article proposes that if an indigent defense system is under-funded, the state supreme court should impose a default rule raising the standard of proof to “beyond all doubt” to convict indigent defendants. The legislature would then have the opportunity to opt out of this higher standard of proof by providing enough funding to bring defense lawyers’ caseloads within well-recognized standards or by providing funding parity with prosecutors’ offices. Such an approach will create an incentive for legislatures to adequately fund indigent defense without miring courts in detailed supervision of legislative budget decisions. At the same time, because courts can check once per year to determine whether there is funding parity with prosecutors’ offices or compliance with caseload guidelines, there will be constant pressure on legislatures to maintain adequate funding in order to avoid the higher standard of proof.

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

Bryan Stevenson discusses criminal justice in the United States. He discusses the influence of race in the outcome of criminal justice cases and uses social statistics to give the listeners a broader view of why the US state prisons are comprised of more of one race or another. Between chapter 4 and 8 Stevenson discusses the seemingly inherent racial bias to the administration of capital punishment in the United States.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Minorities, Discrimination,

This paper seeks first to show that persons who are convicted of crimes can be perceived as either remorseful or as lacking in remorse. This division establishes a moral hierarchy that has profound implications for the characterization and disposition of persons who are so designated. Second, using both Canadian and American cases, it looks at how inclusion in the category of the unremorseful affects the characterization and disposition of those who have been wrongfully convicted. Finally, it suggests that remorse is a major site of conflict between persons who are wrongfully convicted and officials within the criminal justice system, conflict that involves the use of institutional pressure to encourage the expression of remorse, on the one hand, and the mobilization of individual resources to resist those expressions.

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

Detailed factsheet on living conditions on death row

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon, Death Penalty,
• Available languages ورقة معلومات مفصلة2018Fiche détaillée sur les conditions de vie dans les couloirs de la mort

Sentenced to death in Nigeria for murder, Arthur Judah was finally released in 2000 after 16 years of incarceration. Today, he works as writer and painter, and fight with us for the abolition of the death penalty.

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

Poster World Day against the death penalty 2010

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Poster Spanish 2010Affiche journée mondiale 2010

This docu-series investigate the fallibility of the death penalty in the United States.

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

Amnesty International published its international global review of the death penalty on Tuesday, 12th April 2018.At least 993 executions in 23 countries in 2017 were recorded, down by 4% from 2016 (1,032 executions) and 39% from 2015 (when the organization reported 1,634 executions, the highest number since 1989). China remained the world’s top executioner, but excluding China, 84% of all reported executions took place in just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty, Statistics,
• Available languages أحكام الإعدام وما نفذ من أحكام في 2017: التقرير العالمي لمنظمة العفو الدوليةمار احکام مرگ و اعدام در سال 2017Смертные приговоры и казни 2017Condamnations à mort et exécutions en 2017Condenas a muerte y ejecutiones 2017

In Louisiana in the late 50s, Moreese Bickham, who was the oldest living survivor of death row, killed two members of the Ku Klux Klan to save his own life. He was sentenced to death and believes he was lucky enough to even have a trial as a black man in the south. Due to mental toughness, a timely supreme court decision, and a lot of hope, Bickham survived his death sentence. Whether he knew it or not, after that day, his life was not going to get any easier

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Minorities, Death Row Conditions, Electrocution,

For this 12th World Day Against the Death Penalty the World Coalition has decided to focus on a social media campaign which it hopes will spread the truth about death penalty more widely than ever before. The concept is simple. People will make signs stating why they are against the death penalty and take a photo of themselves holding that sign and upload it onto a social media platform, with the hashtag #nodeathpenalty. With the photo uploaded, the person will nominate at least 3 people to do the same, thus creating an exponential (snowball) effect.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Public opinion, Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages #nodeathpenalty - Flyer

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

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

In States in which the death penalty continues to be used, international law imposes stringent requirements that must be met for it not to be regarded as unlawful. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur considers the problem of error and the use of military tribunals in the context of fair trial requirements. He also examines the constraint that the death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes: those involving intentional killing. Lastly, he considers the issues of collaboration and complicity, in addition to transparency in respect of the use of the death penalty.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Fair Trial, Most Serious Crimes, Statistics,
• Available languages Записка Генерального секретаряExécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitraires法外处决、即决处决或任意处决Exécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitrairesالإعدام خارج القضاء أو بإجراءات موجزة أو تعسفا

The authors argue that capital litigators should use their skills challenging the abuses not just of process, but of the conditions in which the condemned await their fate, namely prison conditions, education, leisure, visits, medical services, etc. In the aftermath of successful constitutional challenges it is the beneficiaries (arguably those who are considered successes, having been ‘saved’ from the death penalty and now serving living death penalties of one sort or another) who are suffering the cruel and inhumane alternative.Part I of the book offers a selection of diverse, nuanced examinations of death penalty phenomena, scrutinizing complexities frequently omitted from the narrative of academics and activists. It offers a challenging and comprehensive analysis of issues critical to the abolition debate. Part II offers examinations of countries usually absent from academic analysis to provide an understanding of the status of the debate locally, with opportunities for wider application.

• Document type Book

The State of Criminal Justice 2011 contains a chapter on death penalty by Ronald Tabak (Ch. 19). Tabak explores legislative changes, the declining use of the death penalty, important Supreme Court decisions and the adequacy of representation.

• Document type NGO report

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

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

On 9 and 10 April, more than 300 abolitionists, activists, diplomats, politicians, parliamentarians, lawyers, former death row inmates and citizens gathered in Abidjan for the first African Congress against the death penalty. After two days of debating and sharing experiences, the delegates adopted a final declaration at the closing ceremony.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Congrès Africain: déclaration finale pour une Afrique abolitionniste

Regularly denounced by human rights associations, violations of the right to a fair trial and inequality before the law for prisoners who face the death penalty are flagrant. Most prisoners belong to the most disadvantaged social classes or to ethnic or religious minorities. Involved in often questionable circumstances, with confessions extracted under frequent beatings and torture, many litigants are not given an adequate defence. To defend these cases, lawyers appointed ex officio receive 200 rupees per hearing (less than 5 U.S. dollars). Often young and inexperienced to deal with procedures not respecting the minimum fair trial guarantees, these lawyers are not in a position to ensure the mandate entrusted to them.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process , Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Pakistan, une longue marche pour la démocratie et l'etat de droit

Following the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma on 29 April, the United Nations called on the United States to suspend executions in the face of potential international law violations. The World Coalition supports this call.

• Document type World Coalition
• Themes list International law, Moratorium , Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Transparency, Lethal Injection,
• Available languages Déclaration concernant les exécutions aux USA

Mental illness is a phenomenon that knifes across the entire corpus of our criminal justice system. From interrogations and waivers of Miranda rights, to consent to searches and seizures, to plea negotiations and the capacity to stand trial, to calculating sentences and participating in appellate and postconviction proceedings, mental illness warps the machinery of our criminal law and challenges its most cherished assumptions about free will, decisional competence, and culpability. This is so regardless of whether or not life hangs in the balance. But when the stakes are life and death, the structural distortions caused by mental illness become magnified, and the contradictions can rise to constitutional magnitude.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Mental Illness,

The government’s ineptness to stop the religious and sectarian intolerance has strengthened the banned militant religious groups to organize and collect their funds in the streets and hold big rallies. This ineptness of the government has helped the forced conversion to Islam of girls from religious minority groups. In total thorough out the country during the year 1800 women from Hindu and Christian groups were forced to convert to Islam by different methods particularly though abduction and rape.

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

This paper provides an introduction to the Indian judicial system and court hierarchy, outlining the jurisdiction of constitutional and statutory courts and tribunals and the appointment, tenure and removal of judges. It describes forms of alternative dispute resolution that have emerged in recent decades, partly to combat delays in the court system, and informal dispute resolution bodies that mediate family disputes, such as Sharia courts. The paper concludes by discussing the contentious issues of delay in the court system, public interest litigation, and appointments to the Supreme and High Courts of India.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list India

In its resolution 1999/35, the Commission on Human Rights requested the Special Rapporteur to continue monitoring the implementation of existing international standards on safeguards and restrictions relating to the imposition of capital punishment, bearing in mind the comments made by the Human Rights Committee in its interpretation of article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Second Optional Protocol thereto.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages حالات الإعدام خارج نطاق القضاء أو بإجراء اتموجة أو تعسفاً تقرير المقرر الخاص اسمة جهانقير, مقدم مطابقا لقرار لجنة الحقوق الانسان 1999/35Внесудебные, суммарные и произвольные казни: Отчет специального докладчика Асмы Джахангир (Asma Jahangir) предоставленный в ответ на резолюцию 1999/35 Комиссии по правам человекаExécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitraires: Rapport de Mme Asma Jahangir, Rapporteuse spéciale, présenté conformément à la résolution 1999/35 de la Commission des droits de l'homme法外处决即审即决或任意处决: 特别报告员阿斯玛贾汉吉尔女士根据人权委员会第1999/35 号决议提交的报告Las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias: Informe de la Relatora Especial, Sra. Asma Jahangir, presentado en cumplimiento de la resolución 1999/35 de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos

The haunting specter of hanging trees holds a powerful sway on the American imagination, conjuring images of rough-and-tumble frontier towns struggling to impose law and order in a land where violence was endemic. In this thoughtful study, former New Mexico State Historian Robert Torrez examines several fascinating criminal cases that reveal the harsh and often gruesome realities of the role hangings, legal or otherwise, played in the administration of frontier justice. At first glance, the topic may seem downright morbid, and in a sense it is, but these violent attempts at justice are embedded in our perception of America’s western experience. In tracing territorial New Mexico’s efforts to enforce law, Torrez challenges the myths and popular perceptions about hangings and lynching in this corner of the Wild West.

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

The Last Supper illustrates the meal requests of U.S. death row inmates. Cobalt blue mineral paint is applied to second-hand plates, then kiln-fired by technical advisor Toni Acock. I am looking for a space to exhibit all the plates on a ten-year loan. 540 final meals, and two first meals on the outside for exonerated men, are completed to date. I plan to continue adding fifty plates a year until capital punishment is abolished.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Death Row Conditions,

Amnesty International’s annual report on the use of the death penalty in the world

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,
• Available languages التقرير العالمي لمنظمة العفو الدولية: أحكام وعمليات الإعدام في 2018گرارش جهانی : مجازات اعدام در سال 2018Cмертные приговоры и казни 2018Condamnations à mort et exécutions 2018Condenas a muerte y ejecuciones 2018

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

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

Survivor on Death Row, a new e-book co-authored by death row inmate Romell Broom and Clare Nonhebel, tells the story of Ohio’s botched attempt to execute Broom by lethal injection in 2009. In September of that year, Broom was readied for execution and placed on the gurney, but the procedure was terminated after corrections officials spent over two hours attempting to find a suitable vein for the lethal injection.

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

n Life After Death Row: Exonerees’ Search for Community and Identity, the authors focus on three central areas affecting those who had to begin a new life after leaving years of severe confinement: the seeming invisibility of these individuals after their release; the complicity of the justice system in allowing that invisibility; and the need for each of them to confront their personal trauma

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States

On the occasion of the 2020 World Day, focusing on the right to access to counsel, The Advocates for Human Rights and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty released a facthsheet for judges.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Fair Trial, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,
• Available languages : Fiche d'information pour les juges - Journée mondiale 2020

On 10 October 2016, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty along with abolitionist activists worldwide marked the 13th World Day against the Death Penalty by drawing attention to the death penalty for terrorism. This report presents the activities organised for the 13th world day and the media coverage it received.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages Rapport Journée mondiale 2016

This video was made by IHR after the start of the executions of 77 prisoners in Ghezehesar prison. Two of the prisoners speak about the interrogations, torture, – You also see the last farewell of a prisoner before the execution.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Torture, Death Row Conditions,

The ‘Garret Study’ analyses the first 200 post conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. This article wheights the impact of the study and how it will depend on how jurists, politicians, and scholars extrapolate the explanatory power of the data.

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

Call for actions on the World Day in the Maldives and Turkey

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Death Penalty,

This mini-series sheds light on 8 true stories of wrongful convictions overturned thanks to the work of the Innocence Project and several organizations from the Innocence Network. One of its episode feature the case of Texas death-row exoneree Alfred Dewayne Brown.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Innocence, Legal Representation, Death Penalty,
• Available languages Preuves d'innocence

In the first part of this paper we address the problems inherent in studying wrongful convictions: our pervasive ignorance and the extreme difficulty of obtaining the data that we need to answer even basic questions. The main reason that we know so little about false convictions is that, by definition, they are hidden from view. As a result, it is nearly impossible to gather reliable data on the characteristics or even the frequency of false convictions. In addition, we have very limited data on criminal investigations and prosecutions in general, so even if we could somehow obtain data on cases of wrongful conviction, we would have inadequate data on true convictions to compare them to. In the second part we dispel some of that ignorance by considering data on false convictions in a small but important subset of criminal cases about which we have unusually detailed information: death sentences. From 1973 on we know basic facts about all defendants who were sentenced to death in the United States, and we know which of them were exonerated. From these data we estimate that the frequency of wrongful death sentences in the United States is at least 2.3%. In addition, we compare post-1973 capital exonerations in the United States to a random sample of cases of defendants who were sentenced in the same time period and ultimately executed. Based on these comparisons we present a handful of findings on features of the investigations of capital cases, and on background facts about capital defendants, that are modest predictors of false convictions.

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

The Caribbean Human Development Report reviews the current state of crime as well as national and regional policies and programmes to address the problem in seven English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. The new study recommends that Caribbean governments implement youth crime prevention through education, as well as provide employment opportunities that target the marginalized urban poor. A shift in focus is needed it says, from a state protection approach to one that focuses on citizen security and participation, promoting law enforcement that is fair, accountable, and more respectful of human rights.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Death Penalty,

This report, released appropriately on International Human Rights Day, serves to strip away the “conspiracy of silence” and give voice to a group of victims who have for too long been largely ignored in the debate surrounding the death penalty: the families of the executed.

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

This leaflet gives details about the importance of the Protocol for the abolitionist movement and explains the reasons behind this ratification campaign.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages Folleto - campaña de ratificaciónBrochure campagne de ratification Protocole ONU

The dark room was a photography exhibition planned as part of a project lunched by Amnesty International Italy under the title “I am against the death penalty because…”. The exhibition was held in Rome at Palazzo delle Exposizioni, Sala della Fontana, from 8th to 20th June 2010.

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

The state of Texas incarcerated him for nearly two decades — and nearly executed him twice — for murders he didn’t commit. And now, the state is balking at giving him the $1.4 million he’s owed for all the years he spent wrongfully imprisoned.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Innocence,

The article discusses the difficulties and controversies surrounding the 1999 Draft Resolution on the Death Penalty to the United Nations General Assembly.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

chronicles the compelling story of Philip Workman, who was executed in Tennessee in 2007. The author, a minister of the United Church of Christ who has spent decades working with those on death row, served as Mr. Workman’s pastor and tells the story from his own viewpoint, as well as those of others familiar with the case.

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

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

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

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

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

European executions obeyed a complex model that the author proposes to call ‘the supplice pattern’. The term supplice designates tortures and tormented executions, but it also includes their cultural background. The European way of executing used religious deeds, aesthetic devices and performing arts techniques which themselves called for artistic representations through paintings, theatre, etc. Moreover, Christian civilisation was unique in the belief that the spectacle of a painful execution had a redemptive effect on the criminals and the attendants as well. Chinese executions obeyed an entirely different conception. They were designed to show that punishment fitted the crime as provided in the penal code. All details were aimed to highlight and inculcate the meaning of the law, while signs of emotions, deeds, words, that could have interfered with the lesson in law were prohibited. In China, capital executions were not organized as a show nor subject to aesthetic representations, and they had no redemptive function. This matter-of-fact way of executing people caused Westerners deep uneasiness. The absence of religious background and staging devices was interpreted as a sign of barbarity and cruelty. What was stigmatised was not so much the facts that their failure to conform to the ‘supplice pattern’ that constituted for any Westerner the due process of capital executions.

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

One of the largely unique aspects of the American jury system is that it confers upon the parties the unilateral power – in the form of peremptory challenges – to remove prospective jurors for any non-racial or non-gender-based reason. This article presents an overview of the literature on peremptory challenges, and an empirical analysis of their use in Philadelphia capital cases in the 1980s and 1990s.

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

Evidence indicates that the conviction and imprisonment of factually innocent persons occur with some regularity. Most research focuses on causes, but the incidence of wrongful convictions is an important scientific and policy issue, especially as no official body gathers data on miscarriages of justice. Two methods are available for discovering the incidence of wrongful conviction: (1) enumerating specific cases and (2) having criminal justice experts estimate its incidence. Counts or catalogues of wrongful conviction necessarily undercount its incidence and are subject to accuracy challenges. We surveyed Michigan criminal justice officials, replicating a recent Ohio survey, to obtain an expert estimate of the incidence of wrongful conviction. All groups combined estimated that wrongful convictions occurred at a rate of less than 1/2 percent in their own jurisdiction and at a rate of 1-3 percent in the United States. Defense lawyers estimate higher rates of wrongful conviction than judges, who estimate higher rates than police officials and prosecutors. These differences may be explained by professional socialization. An overall wrongful conviction estimate of 1/2 percent extrapolates to about 5,000 wrongful felony convictions and the imprisonment of more than 2,000 innocent persons in the United States every year.

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

The logframe is a tool for concisely describing the results of an LFA project design process, as it summarises in a standard format: What the project is going to achieve, what activities will be carried out, what means/resources/inputs (human, technical, infrastructural, etc.) are required, what potential problems could affect the success of the project, how the progress and ultimate success of the project will be measured and verified.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

The article, with three co-authors, examines empirically the capital cases decided by the lower courts since the United States Supreme Court created the categorical ban against the execution of persons with intellectual disability twelve years ago in the Atkins decision.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Mental Illness,

Executions per Death Sentence, with cumulative death sentences (1977 through 2010), cumulative executions (1977 through 2010) and executions per death sentence, per State.

• Document type NGO report

This video tells the story of one prisoner, Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent 30 years on death row in Alabama for a crime he did not commit.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Innocence, Death Row Conditions,

Spring 2020 edition of Death Row USA, on the situation of the death penalty in the USA as of April 2020

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

This video explores the case of Greg Tomson who killed a 28 year woman. Originally he was seen as competent to stand trial, now his defense who are appealing his case, are trying to show that Tomson was not mentally stable when he committed the crime and also that he does not understand why the state is seeking the death penalty against him.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

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

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

On 18 April 2018, the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and Malawi’s Paralegal Advisory Services Institute (PASI) released their report on “Malawian Traditional Leaders’ Perspectives on Capital Punishment” before a group of public officials and stakeholders in Lilongwe.The report analyses data from surveys of 102 traditional leaders in villages across Malawi. Clifford Msiska, the National Director of PASI, informed an audience in Lilongwe that over ninety percent of traditional leaders surveyed did not support the use of the death penalty to punish individuals convicted of murder. Only six traditional leaders stated that death was the appropriate penalty for murder. The rest preferred a term of years, life imprisonment with opportunity for early release, or (least frequently of all) life imprisonment with no opportunity for release.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Story of Ivan Ray Murphy Jr who was condemned to death for murder. Over a period of ten years and through the medium of more than a hundred letters, Murphy, who was known as Pee-Wee, shared his innermost thoughts with his twenty years older Norwegian pen friend, the author of this book, Marit Lund Bødtker. The author twice travelled to the prison in Huntsville, Texas, where Murphy was held and from where he worked tirelessly to regain his freedom. ‘Whether he is innocent, as he claims to be, or guilty, Murphy is first and foremost a human being, a man with his own personal strengths and weaknesses, dreams and aspirations. In all probability readers will sometimes find themselves agreeing with him, at other times totally at variance with his conduct and opinions, just as they do with other people they meet or read about.’ From the afterword by John Peder Egenæs, Secretary General, Amnesty International Norway

• Document type Book
• Themes list Innocence,

This paper focuses on the problems relating to mental illness or other mental disabilities that arise after sentencing, where the underlying values at stake are the dignity of the condemned prisoner and the integrity of the law.

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

During 2009, we continued to strive for the global abolition of the death penalty. We made our opposition to it clear in our engagement with countries around the world, both bilaterally and in partnership with the EU. Bilaterally, we continue to fund work in the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Asia from our Human Rights Strategic Programme Fund. This includes working with key NGO partners, such as the Death Penalty Project and the Centre for Capital Punishment Studies at Westminster University in London. We also continued to raise the death penalty directly with governments, including China, Jamaica and the US.

• Document type Government body report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

This article argues that because prosecutors have discretion to seek the death penalty in too many cases, they lack the incentive to police themselvesand choose carefully. Put simply, because there are few legal constraints — and virtually no political constraints — on the sheer number of cases in which prosecutors can pursue the death penalty, the Government is not under sufficient pressure to limit its use of capital punishment to only the most heinous cases. As a result, two things happen. First, the death penalty is sought and meted out in some cases, which though terrible, are no worse than the thousands of other murder cases in which prosecutors pursue only life imprisonment. Second, because prosecutors file too many capital cases, the criminal justice system lacks the resources to focus sufficient attention on each one.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Arbitrariness, Most Serious Crimes,

Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, has written a new book, Just Mercy, about his experiences defending the poor and the wrongfully convicted throughout the south. It includes the story of one of Stevenson’s first cases as a young lawyer, that of Walter McMillian, who was eventually exonerated and freed from death row. McMillian, a black man, had been convicted of the murder of a white woman in Monroeville, Alabama. His trial lasted just a day and a half, prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, and the judge imposed a death sentence over the jury’s recommendation for life. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said of the book, “Bryan Stevenson is America’s young Nelson Mandela, a brilliant lawyer fighting with courage and conviction to guarantee justice for all. Just Mercy should be read by people of conscience in every civilized country in the world to discover what happens when revenge and retribution replace justice and mercy. It is as gripping to read as any legal thriller, and what hangs in the balance is nothing less than the soul of a great nation.”

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Due Process , Fair Trial, Death Penalty,

House Bill 472 and Senate Bill 461, known as The North Carolina Racial Justice Act, addresses racial discrimination in capital sentencing. This video featuring death row exonoree Edward Chapman, talks about racial bias and how the Racial Justice Act attempts to assure that race would not play a role in who gets the death penalty.

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

The report also discusses the issue of capital punishment and makes reference to death penalty cases in which the Special Rapporteur has intervened in reaction to reports that the sentences concerned had been passed in violation of international restrictions and human rights standards.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages حالات الإعدام خارج نطاق القضاء أو بإجراء اتموجة أو تعسفاً تقرير المقرر الخاص اسمة جهانقير, مقدم مطابقا لقرار لجنة الحقوق الانسان 2001/45Внесудебные казни, казни без надлежащего судебного разбирательства или произвольные казни: Доклад Специального докладчика г-жи Асмы Джахангир, представленный в соответствии с резолюцией 2001/45 Комиссии по правам человекаExécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitraires: Rapport de la Rapporteuse spéciale, Mme Asma Jahangir, présenté en application de la résolution 2001/45 de la Commission des droits de l’'homme法外处决 即审即决或任意处决: 特别报告员阿斯玛 贾汉吉尔女士 根据人权委员会第 2001/45 号决议提交的报告Las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias: Informe de la Relatora Especial, Sra. Asma Jahangir, presentado en cumplimiento de la resolución 2001/45 de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos

The report also discusses the issue of capital punishment and makes reference to death penalty cases in which the Special Rapporteur has intervened in reaction to reports that the sentences concerned had been passed in violation of international restrictions and human rights standards.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages حالات الإعدام خارج نطاق القضاء أو بإجراء اتموجة أو تعسفاً تقرير المقرر الخاص اسمة جهانقير, مقدم مطابقا لقرار لجنة الحقوق الانسان 2002/36Внесудебные казни, казни без надлежащего судебного разбирательства или произвольные казни: Доклад Специального докладчика Асмы Джахангир, представленный в соответствии с резолюцией 2002/36 Комиссии по правам человекаExécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitraires: Rapport de la Rapporteuse spéciale, Mme Asma Jahangir, soumis en application de la résolution 2002/36 de la Commission des droits de l’homme法外处决、即审即决或任意处决: 特别报告员阿斯玛·贾汉吉尔根据人权委员会第 2002/36 号决议提交的报告Las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias: Informe de la Relatora Especial, Asma Jahangir, presentado en cumplimiento de la resolución 2002/36 de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos

List of states that have signed and/or ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Classifyied by region of the world as of 1st July 2011.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Liste des Etats signataires du deuxième Protocole facultatif par région