Your search “Keep%20the%20Death%20Penalty%20Abolished%20fin%20the%20Philippfines%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20/page/cdm16501.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/criminal/id/154 ”

Death penalty information and statistics by state.

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

A new book published in electronic format, The Death Penalty Failed Experiment: From Gary Graham to Troy Davis in Context by Diann Rust-Tierney, examines the problem of arbitrariness in the death penalty since its reinstatement in 1976. Through an analysis of the cases of Gary Graham and Troy Davis, the author argues that race, wealth and geography play a more significant role in determining who faces capital punishment than the facts of the crime itself.

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

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,

PRI information kit on the alternative sanctions to the death penalty: ; a review of current practices; the increasing use of ‘life’ and long-term sentences and their contribution to growing prison numbers; 12 steps toward alternative sanctions to the death penalty that respect international human rights standards and norms.

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

Status of signature ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, including declarations, reservations and objections.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Moratorium ,
• Available languages État de signature et ratification du Deuxième Protocole facultatif se rapportant au Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques visant à abolir la peine de mort.État de signature et ratification du Deuxième Protocole facultatif se rapportant au Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques visant à abolir la peine de mort.

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 article analyses the latest controversy over the use of the death penalty that erupted not in mainland China but across the strait in Taiwan. In January, the defense ministry there was forced to issue a public apology for a wrongful execution in 1997, followed in early March by the execution of five prisoners without notifying their families.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

Listing of verifiable executions worldwide reported per month.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,

MYTH: Only guilty prisoners are sent to their death. FACT: Professionals in the justice system know that innocent people have been executed.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Innocence,

MYTH: The death penalty acts as a deterrent to potential criminals. FACT: The death penalty does not deter crime. It stimulates it.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Deterrence ,

MYTH: The death penalty saves money. It costs less to kill people than to imprison them for life. FACT:The death penalty costs millions more than a sentence of life without parole. Taxpayers’ money could be used more efficiently on crime prevention programs and police.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives, Financial cost,

MYTH: Only evil people are executed. People on death row are truly evil. FACT: There is a lot more to a human being than his worst action.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Right to life,

MYTH: The death penalty applies to everyone equally, regardless of race, wealth or background. FACT: People who are convicted of the same crime receive vastly different penalties, across the world and within the same country or even case.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Arbitrariness,

This database can be searched using any combination of the search filters below. All columns are sortable by clicking the title at the top of the column. To find out more about a case in the list, click on the name of the individual.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Innocence,

MYTH: Executions are humane. The process is painless and orderly. FACT: There is no decent way to kill a prisoner. Hanging, stoning, beheading and electrocuting all constitute cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,

MYTH: Executions help victims’ families to heal. FACT: Whilst we cannot speak for all victims’ families, it is clear that not all families are healed after the execution. Rather, the death penalty creates more victims and more brutality.

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

MYTH: The Bible preaches retribution. Jesus supports the death penalty. FACT: People have been arguing for decades over interpretations of the Bible. The Church has officially declared its opposition to the death penalty. The concept of “mercy” is preached in the majority of religions.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Religion ,

MYTH: The death penalty is not political. FACT: The death penalty is often driven by politics rather than a desire to repair social problems and bring justice.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Fair Trial,

How a grieving mother put compassion before vengeance, and found closure along the way.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families,

This Article identifies the woeful inefficiencies of the current procedures that have led to inexcusable delays in arriving at just results in death penalty cases and describes how California came to find itself in this untenable condition. The article makes recomendations.

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

This Article uncovers the true costs of administering the death penalty in California by tracing how much taxpayers are spending for death penalty trials versus non–death penalty trials and for costs incurred due to the delay from the initial sentence of death to the execution.The article makes recomendations.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives, Financial cost,

This report examenes how, after three and a half decades of experience under the revised statutes on death penalty, the randomness of the system continues.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Arbitrariness,

Getting it right is a project to learn more about the central causes of wrongful convictions and suggested reforms to prevent future injustice. It analyses the role of eyewitness, forensics, confessions, informants, representation and law enforcement.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Innocence,

Professor Jody Lynee’ Madeira of the Indiana University School of Law follows the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing to explore whether the families of murder victims obtain closure from an execution. In Killing McVeigh: The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure, Prof. Madeira recounts her wide range of interviews with those who experienced this tragedy first-hand.

• Document type Book
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families,

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,

PRI training resource (1/3): Aimed mainly to mid-level prison officers, this resource’s trains these stakeholders on: due process and fair trial standards, international standards on the treatment of prisoners, vulnerable prisoners, building a rehabilitation-oriented penal culture.

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

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

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

Esta Guía práctica para la sociedad civil: fondos, subvenciones y becas de derechos humanos contiene una breve descripción de las fuentes de financiación, las subvenciones y las becas administradas por o con la participación de la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos (ACNUDH).

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list International law, Networks,
• Available languages 民间社会实用指南 人权基金、赠款和研究金Практическое руководство для гражданского общества: права человека Фонды, гранты и стипендииGuide pratique pour la société civile: FONDS, SUBVENTIONS ET BOURSES EN FAVEUR DES DROITS DE L’HOMME

Delia Perez-Meyer, an elementary school teacher, has taken a weeklyjourney from the classroom to death row for the past 12 years. She tells of her personal voyage, beginning from a place of frustration to acceptanceand hopeful activism.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Women, Innocence,

The death penalty in the state of California continues to be a major focus, due in part to the burden it places on tax payers. Our goal with this infographic was to examine the facts, and the facts alone. Even though Proposition 34 did not pass in the most recent election, this issue will continue to be argued and remain a pressing issue, especially during difficult economic times.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Minorities, International law, Public debate,

The U.S.-China Death Penalty Reform Project of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) at New York University School of Law is a product of cooperation between USALI and Chinese experts during the recent period of death penalty law reform in China and the U.S. It includes the full text of USALI’s U.S. death penalty law casebook, The Contemporary American Struggle with Death Penalty Law: Selected Topics and Cases, in English and Chinese, and an online forum for discussion and questions.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list International law,

Short video of Darryl Stallworth, a former California Deputy DA who once sought the death penalty as a prosecutor — and now wants to replace the death penalty with life without parole. Darryl believes Prop. 34 is right step for California, and I wanted to share his story with you, too

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public debate, Trend Towards Abolition,

The animation film, created by talented volunteers of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against Death Penalty”, dwells on the topic of the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty in Belarus. Our country is the last one in Europe and on the post-Soviet space where the death penalty is still used

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list Belarus
• Themes list International law, Public debate,

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,

A recent law review article by Professors Carol and Jordan Steiker examines two decades of attempts to regulate capital punishment and concludes that this process may have paved the way to a finding that the death penalty is unconstitutional

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

Conditions surrounding the death penalty and its application necessitate examination and recognition of the tortuous experience endured by death row inmates, as it culminates in the onset of the death row phenomenon

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

The purpose of the Round Table was to review developments on the death penalty and to identify legal and political challenges and opportunities for the coming five years. The meeting covered country, regional and thematic questions.

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

The report presents the conclusions of monitoring by the IACHR in recent years, including an on-site visit to Jamaica in December 2008, several public hearings on human rights in the country, as well as a constant exchange of information with the State and civil society organizations.

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

Our vision is to build a database that brings together all the case law of international human rights bodies. It will be the first to make human rights case law available in a coherent manner, break new grounds in terms of accessibility and on top of that will encourage sense-making by adding tools that help the user to go beyond the text.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Public opinion,

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,

This Index of Paralegal Services in Africa is the latest resource in PRI’s paralegal series. It lists paralegal services, paralegal networks and university legal clinics in 21 African countries and, where the information was available, provides contact details, a summary of the main services offered, a list of donors and examples of important results achieved.

• Document type Book
• Themes list Fair Trial,

This annual report is characterized by contrasts – some victories to celebrate against a background of hateful laws still in force and hate crimes around the world.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Minorities, Capital offences, Homosexuality,

Report from PRI that analyzes how there has been a global trend towards the universal abolition of the death penalty and a restriction in the scope and use of capital punishment over the last fifty years.

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

The present report, the first to be submitted to the Human Rights Council, is submitted pursuant to Council resolution 16/9 and covers the human rights developments since the commencement of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on 1 August 2011.

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

This guide is part of Amnesty International’s Education for Human Dignity project and is intended to be used with the project’s substantive modules on poverty and human rights issues. This facilitation manual has been developed, however, with the necessary flexibility to be used alone as a general resource in a diversity of settings.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

This paper updates The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2011. It is intended to provide a concise update to highlight changes in the status of the death penalty in OSCE participating States since the previous publication and to promote constructive discussion of this issue.

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

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, provides an overview of his mandate activities since the submission of the previous report to the General Assembly (A/66/156), including his country visits, communications and other activities.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Moratorium ,
• Available languages القضاء على جميع أشكال التعصّب الدينيЛиквидация всех форм религиозной нетерпимостиÉlimination de toutes les formes d’intolérance religieuse消除一切形式宗教不容忍Eliminación de todas las formas de intolerancia religiosa

The book looks at issues such as jury selection, ineffective assistance of counsel, innocence, and race, and how these issues reflect on who is sentenced to death. Prof. Williams concludes that that application of the death penalty is inconsistent and incoherent, partly because of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence, and this leads to a lack of public confidence in the system.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Due Process , Fair Trial, Capital offences,

This resource targets journalists. The aim of this resource is to build and strengthen the knowledge and raise awareness of how to report on the death penalty and alternative sanctions. This training resource has been developed in conjunction with PRI’s partner, Inter Press Service (IPS).

• Document type NGO report

Bessler examines the Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment case law and concludes that the death penalty may well be declared unconstitutional in time. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, called the book, “A searing indictment of capital punishment, this pioneering history of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause is destined to reframe America’s death penalty debate.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list International law, Public debate,

A new book by Professor Robert Bohm of the University of Central Florida looks at death-penalty decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court prior to the modern era of capital punishment that began in 1968. In The Past As Prologue, Bohm examines 39 Court decisions, covering issues such as clemency, jury selection, coerced confessions, and effective representation.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition,

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,

A new book by Larry Koch, Colin Wark and John Galliher discusses the status of the death penalty in the U.S. in light of recent legislative activity and court decisions. In The Death of the American Death Penalty, the authors examine the impact of factors such as economic conditions, public sentiment, the role of elites, the media, and population diversity on the death penalty debate.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

A new book by Professor Harry M. Ward of the University of Richmond examines the death penalty in Virginia at a time when executions were carried out for all to see.

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

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

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

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Innocence,

Essays on the theme of the issue of the DNA and the Death Penalty

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

The aim of this resource is to build and strengthen civil society organisation’s (CSOs) knowledge and awareness of advocacy and what advocacy methods are available for the fight against the death penalty and for alternative sanctions that respect international human rights standards. This resource covers issues related to using the media to influence, and how to build coalitions to strengthen your advocacy work.

• Document type NGO report

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

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

The present report is submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to its resolution 65/206. It discusses the trend towards abolition of the death penalty and the establishment of a moratorium on execution. The report also reflects on the application of international standards relating to the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty. It further discusses the importance of making available relevant information with regard to the use of the death penalty, which can contribute to transparent national debates and international and regional initiatives for the promotion of the universal abolition of the death penalty.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Moratorium
• Available languages تقرير 2012 - وقف العمل بعقوبة الإعدامInforme 2012 - Moratoria del uso de la pena de muerteRapport 2012 - Moratoire sur l’application de la peine de mortДоклад 2012 - Мораторий на применение смертной казни2012报告 - 暂停使用死刑

This 2012 documentary film ‘Behind Bars’ was produced under the EU funded project ‘Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty and Alternatives that Respect International Human Rights Standards’.The film reflects the application of life sentence, conditions of lifers and long sentenced prisoners and the State’s attitude towards these offenders in the countries of the South Caucasus.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Death Row Conditions,

In Uganda, 28 crimes can attract the death penalty – including robbery, smuggling, acts of treason and terrorism, and non-lethal military sentences, and death sentences continue to be handed out after judicial proceedings which fail to meet international standards for a fair trial. This film produced by PRI’s Ugandan partner the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative provides a moving insight into the situation of prisoners on death row and others serving life sentences in the country.

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

This 2011 film ‘Forgotten’ was produced under the EU funded project ‘Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty and Alternatives that Respect International Human Rights Standards’. The film reflects the conditions for those sentenced to life imprisonment in the countries of Central Asia.

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

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

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

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

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

This 2012 animation “The Final Request” was produced under the EU funded project ‘Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty and Alternatives that Respect International Human Rights Standards’. The three-minute animation provides a basic overview of the application of the death penalty in the Middle East and North African region.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,

Why do states retain the death penalty? Any suggestions that the death penalty has a meaningful deterrent effect have been overstated, with little research supporting such an assertion. The OHCHR is organising a series of global panel discussions on the abolition of the death penalty. This publication is based on the first of these discussions, held at the United Nations in New York on 3 July 2012.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,

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

In the present report, submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 66/150, the Special Rapporteur addresses issues of special concern and recent developments in the context of his mandate.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list International law, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,
• Available languages التقرير المؤقت للمقرر الخاص المعني بالتعذيب وغيره من ضروب المعاملة أو العقوبة القاسية أو اللاإنسانية أو المهينةПромежуточный доклад Специального докладчика по вопросу о пытках и других жестоких, бесчеловечных или унижающих достоинство видах обращения и наказанияRapport intérimaire du Rapporteur spécial sur la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚问题特别 报告员的临时报告Informe provisional del Relator Especial sobre la tortura y otros tratos o penas crueles, inhumanos o degradantes

PRI information pack on the state of the death penalty in 2014: international trends toward abolition; moratorium; the death penalty for the “most serious crimes”; right to a fair trial; mandatory death penalty; conditions of imprisonment; clemency; execution; transparency; deterrence; public opinion; victims’ rights.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks,

In Alabama, elected trial judges can override jury verdicts of life and impose death sentences. Although judges have authority to override life or death verdicts, in 92% of overrides elected judges have overruled jury verdicts of life to impose the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial, Arbitrariness, Sentencing Alternatives,

This document provides information on the cost of death penalty cases in the United States.

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

This briefing examines the use of life imprisonment worldwide, including the increasing trend of life imprisonment without the possibility of release, or life without parole (LWOP). Emerging trends indicate an increase in the number of offences carrying the sanction of life imprisonment, a greater prevalence of indeterminate sentencing, a reduction in the use of parole, and the lengthening of prison terms as a whole. The abolition of the death penalty has played a significant role in the increased use of life imprisonment sentences, and LWOP in particular. Conditions of detention and the treatment of prisoners serving life sentences are often far worse than those for the rest of the prison population and more likely to fall below international human rights standards.

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

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

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

A fact sheet on the cost of the death penalty in the United States. Life emprisonment without parole is suggested.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Transparency, Death Penalty, Financial cost,

Scientific studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that executions deter people from committing crime anymore than long prison sentences.

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

The race of the victim and the race of the defendant in capital cases are major factors in determining who is sentenced to die in this country. In 1990 a report from the General Accounting Office concluded that “in 82 percent of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e. those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks.

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

Perhaps the most important factor in determining whether a defendant will receive the death penalty is the quality of the representation he or she is provided. Almost all defendants in capital cases cannot afford their own attorneys. In many cases, the appointed attorneys are overworked, underpaid, or lacking the trial experience required for death penalty cases.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Legal Representation,

This sheet details what human rights are in relation to the death penalty and the USA. It discusses racism, inadequete legal representation and the unjustifiable cost of the death penalty in the US.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty

This webpage provides information on the link between racism and the death penalty in the United States.

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

The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 139 men and women have been released from death row nationally.

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

The articles in this issue discuss many appellate court decisions that turned on due process problems in the guilt and penalty phases of capital murder trials and the troubling role of race in capital prosecutions. Governor Ryan of Illinois cited many of these issues when he declared a moratorium on the death penalty and appointed a blue-ribbon panel to study the prosecution of capital murder in 2000. Governor Ryan commuted the sentences of all Illinois death row inmates in January 2003, in part, because the legislature was unable to address these issues that again appeared in the panel’s report. These issues raise serious questions about the reliability of the capital murder system and recommend a continued public debate about its fairness.

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

The vast majority of countries in Western Europe, North America and South America – more than 139 nations worldwide – have abandoned capital punishment in law or in practice. This document goes through the death penalty status of countries world wide.

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

This video by Amnesty International talks about how the administration of the death penalty is cruel, often sought after unfair trials and how innocent people have been wrongfully convicted. Voice over by Colin Firth.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Available languages فيديو حول عقوبة الاعدام يسردها الممثل كولن فيرثDiaporama animé sur la peine de mort dans le mondeFotogalería: historias de todo el mundo sobre la pena capital

This document gives advice and help to those wishing to create an innocence project. The topics covered are varied and detail what is required in terms of office space, professional skills, etc.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

Errors have been made repeatedly in death penalty cases because of: poor legal representation, racial prejudice, prosecutorial misconduct, the presentation of erroneous evidence, false confession, junk science, eyewitness error. Once convicted, a death row prisoner faces enormous obstacles in convincing any court that he or she is innocent.

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

Saeed Malekpour was sentenced to death in December 2010 following what appears to have been an unfair trial, without access to his lawyer, and amid allegations that he was tortured and forced to confess to crimes which he did not commit. Iran must not execute this web programmer sentenced to death after one of his web programs was used to post pornographic images without his knowledge, Amnesty International said today, as the Iranian authorities continue their crackdown on bloggers and other users of the internet.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

Troy Anthony Davis has been on death row in Georgia for more than 15 years for the murder of a police officer he maintains he did not commit. Given that all but three of the witnesses who testified against Troy Davis at his trial have since recanted or contradicted their testimony amidst allegations that some of it had been made under police duress, there are serious and as yet unanswered questions surrounding the reliability of his conviction and the state’s conduct in obtaining it. As the case currently stands, the government’s pursuit of the death penalty contravenes international safeguards which prohibit the execution of anyone whose guilt is not based on “clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts”. Amnesty International does not know if Troy Davis is guilty or innocent of the crime for which he is facing execution. As an abolitionist organization, it opposes his death sentence either way. It nevertheless believes that this is one in a long line of cases in the USA that should give even ardent supporters of the death penalty pause for thought. For it provides further evidence of the danger, inherent in the death penalty, of irrevocable error. As the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court wrote in 1993, “It is an unalterable fact that our judicial system, like the human beings who administer it, is fallible. Or as a US federal judge said in 2006, “The assessment of the death penalty, however well designed the system for doing so, remains a human endeavour with a consequent risk of error that may not be remediable.”

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

It was during this time Akmal met a man who claimed to be in the music industry; he told Akmal he could help him realise his dream of becoming a pop, When Akmal landed in China on 12 September 2007 the police stopped him, searched his bag, where they alleged they found around 4 kg of heroin, and arrested him on drug charges sensation and sent him to Kyrgyzstan to meet with his “colleagues”. In Kyrgyzstan Akmal was asked to accompany one of the men to China. The man claimed to own a nightclub there and said he wanted Akmal to sing in his club. Excited at the prospect, Akmal agreed to travel to China with him; Before boarding the plane Akmal was asked to carry this mans suitcase, he did so without knowing that there were drugs in it.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

Summary of key supreme court cases in the United States, these cases deal with juror problems, the constitutionality of the death penalty and juveniles amongst key cases discussed.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

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

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

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,

This article explores the roots of white support for capital punishment in the United States. Our analysis addresses individual-level and contextual factors, paying particular attention to how racial attitudes and racial composition influence white support for capital punishment. Our findings suggest that white support hinges on a range of attitudes wider than prior research has indicated, including social and governmental trust and individualist and authoritarian values. Extending individual-level analyses, we also find that white responses to capital punishment are sensitive to local context. Perhaps most important, our results clarify the impact of race in two ways. First, racial prejudice emerges here as a comparatively strong predictor of white support for the death penalty. Second, black residential proximity functions to polarize white opinion along lines of racial attitude. As the black percentage of county residents rises, so too does the impact of racial prejudice on white support for capital punishment.

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

Lobbying your elected officials is one of the most important actions you can take to bring about the end of the death penalty. Here are some tips for communicating effectively with government officials.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,

This article aims to show that there is a need for constructive debate on the death penalty in Africa. Considering that the African Commission is encouraging such a debate, the article begins with an examination of its stance on the subject. This is followed by a brief evaluation of the use of the death penalty in Africa, highlighting some areas of concern. The death penalty is then considered from a human rights perspective, focusing mainly on the possibility of relying on constitutional provisions on the right to life and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment to challenge the death penalty.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Right to life, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Mandatory Death Penalty,

Part I of this report offers an introduction and overview of the research. Part II examines the way prosecution policies and practices have developed from 1989, the beginning of the modern federal death penalty era, through the end of 2009. Parts III, IV, and V of this report discuss the costs associated with defending a federal capital case. Section VI describes qualitative data obtained through interviews of federal judges who had presided over a federal death penalty case and experienced federal capital defense counsel on topics such as the quality of defense representation, case budgeting and case management practices, the role of experts, and the death penalty authorization process. Finally, in Sections VII and VIII, the Recommendations of the 1998 Spencer Report are reaffirmed, and the Commentary associated with those recommendations is updated to reflect the past 12 years of experience with federal capital litigation.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Financial cost,

This paper examines Chinese students’ attitudes about the death penalty in contemporary China. Drawing upon Western public opinion research on the death penalty, samples of Chinese college students at home and abroad are used to explore the magnitude of their pro-death penalty attitudes and sources of variation in these opinions. Both groups of Chinese students are found to support the death penalty across different measures of this concept. Several individual and contextual factors are correlated with pro-death penalty attitudes, but the belief in the specific deterrent effect of punishments was the only variable that had a significant net effect on these attitudes in our multivariate analysis. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study for future research on public opinion about crime and punishment in China.

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

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

• Document type Article
• Countries list Antigua and Barbuda

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

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

One cost this country pays for the death penalty is that its courts are constantly compelled to corrupt the law in order to uphold death sentences. That corruption soils the character of the United States as a nation dedicated to equal justice under law.This is not the only price we pay for being one of the very few democracies in the world that retains capital punishment in the 21st century. But it is a significant item on the cost side of the cost-benefit ledger, something that each thinking person ought to balance in deciding whether he or she supports capital punishment. And it warrants discussion because this cost is little understood. I have spent much of my time for the past 40 years representing death-sentenced inmates in appeals at every level of the state and federal judicial systems, and I am only lately coming to realize how large a tax the death penalty imposes on the quality of justice in those systems.

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