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2902 Document(s) 1019 Member(s) 8 Country 1951 Article(s) 42 Page(s)

Document(s)

Myth #3 – The death penalty saves money

By Reprieve / Clive Stafford Smith , on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Myth #2 – The death penalty reduces crime

By Reprieve / Clive Stafford Smith , on 8 September 2020


Academic report


More details See the document

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 ,

Document(s)

Myth #10 – The death penalty is not political

By Reprieve / Emmanuelle Purdon , on 8 September 2020


Academic report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Stop the Death Penalty: Worldwide Abolition Now

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2007


2007

Arguments against the death penalty

arfres
More details See the document

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(s)

Myth #6 – The death penalty applies to everyone equally

By Reprieve / Emmanuelle Purdon , on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Position Paper: Death Penalty under the Palestinian National Authority

By Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report


More details See the document

This paper describes the international law surrounding the trend towards abolition. It then discusses this in relation to the death penalty in Palestine which has come under criticism from Human Rights NGO’s to provide prisoners with international standards regarding their detention and providing a fair trial.

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

Document(s)

Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Information Center / Richard C. Dieter, on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who have committed heinous crimes present hard cases for the American system of justice. The violence that occasionally erupts into murder can easily overcome the special respect that is afforded most veterans. However, looking away and ignoring this issue serves neither veterans nor victims. PTSD has affected an enormous number of veterans returning from combat zones. Over 800,000 Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD. At least 175,000 veterans of Operation Desert Storm were affected by “Gulf War Illness,” which has been linked to brain cancer and other mental deficits. Over 300,000 veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have PTSD. In one study, only about half had received treatment in the prior year.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Mental Illness,

Document(s)

The Right to Life: A Guide to the Implementation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights

By Council of Europe, on 1 January 2006


2006

Working with...

fr
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

Resolution 67/176 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 8 September 2020


2020

International law - United Nations

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

Resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2012 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/67/457/Add.2 and Corr.1)] 67/176. Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

Document(s)

Spectacle of the Scaffold? The Politics of Death Penalty in Indonesia

By Deasy Simandjuntak, on 1 January 2015


2015

Article

Indonesia


More details See the document

Simandjuntak’s article comes back to the death sentences part of the “war against drugs” conducted by President Widjojo in Indonesia. In 2015, 14 drug convicts – mostly foreign nationals – have been executed. The article also comes back to the wide support to the death penalty in the country, on the debate on the presumed deterrent effect of the death penalty and on the political function of the capital punishment in Indonesia.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Indonesia
  • Themes list Public opinion, Deterrence , Drug Offences, Foreign Nationals, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Support for the Death Penalty in Developed Democracies: A Binational Comparative Case Study

By Kevin Buckler / Willian Reed Benedict / Ben Brown / International Criminal Justice Review, on 1 January 2010


2010

Article

Mexico


More details See the document

To assess support for the death penalty in Mexico and South Korea, surveys were administered to students at institutions of higher education. The majority of respondents in Mexico (52.3%) and South Korea (60.8%) supported the death penalty. Given that the Mexican and South Korean governments have histories of using criminal justice agencies to suppress democratic reform, the high level of support for the death penalty indicates that a history of authoritarian governance may not inculcate widespread opposition to the punishment. Concomitantly, regression analyses of the data indicate that beliefs about the treatment afforded to criminal suspects do not significantly affect support for capital punishment. Contrary to research conducted in the United States, which has consistently shown support for capital punishment is lower among females than among males, regression analyses of the data show that gender has no impact on support for the death penalty; findings that call for a reexamination of the thesis that the gender gap in support for the death penalty in the United States is the result of a patriarchal social structure.

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

Member(s)

Save Anthony

on 30 April 2020

Save Anthony is a charity registered under the 1901 French law. It is designed to promote the story and finance the privately retained legal team of Anthony Mungin, sentenced to death and incarcerated at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida (USA) since February 23rd, 1993. Anthony Mungin has always maintained his innocence for the […]

2020

France

Document(s)

Oral Statement from the Quaker United Nations Office during the Panel on Children of Parents Sentenced to the Death Penalty or Executed, Human Rights Council, 24th Session.

By Quaker United Nations Office, on 1 January 2013


2013

Multimedia content


More details Download [ - 0 Ko ]

Oral Statement from the Quaker United Nations Office during the Panel on Children of Parents Sentenced to the Death Penalty or Executed, Human Rights Council, 24th Session.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Juveniles, International law, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The Effect of Race, Gender, and Location on Prosecutioral Decisions to Seek the Death Penalty in South Carolina

By Isaac Unah / Michael J. Songer / South Carolina Law Review, on 1 January 2006


2006

Article

United States


More details See the document

This Article analyzes the factors that influence the decisions of South Carolina prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Professor Unah and Mr. Songer employ statistical methods to examine the legal and nonlegal factors that shape this decision-making process. Controlling for political factors, this Article finds that the race of the victim, gender, and rural crime locations are significant considerations in the decision to seek the death penalty. Further, Professor Unah and Mr. Songer argue that these nonlegal factors undermine the legal guidelines that are intended to channel and steer the decision-making process. This Article highlights the arbitrary nature of the decisions that result from these considerations, and it concludes by challenging the legitimacy of a process influenced by these factors.

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

Document(s)

Call by the NHRIs to Strengthen and Broaden the Fight Against the Death Penalty

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), on 1 January 2019


2019

Multimedia content

fr
More details See the document

Call by the NHRIs to Strengthen and Broaden the Fight Against the Death Penalty

Member(s)

Human Rights Watch

on 30 April 2020

Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization made up of more than 275 staff members around the globe. Its staff consists of human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Human Rights Watch is known for its accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, effective use of media, […]

2020

France

Document(s)

Indonesian – Laporan Global Amnesty International : hukuman mati dan eksekusi 2023

on 29 May 2024


2024

NGO report

Trend Towards Abolition


More details Download [ pdf - 897 Ko ]

Pemantauan yang dilakukan oleh Amnesty Internasional terhadap hukuman mati secara global
mencatat terdapat 1.153 eksekusi hukuman mati pada tahun 2023. Angka tersebut menunjukkan
adanya peningkatan sebanyak 31% dari 883 eksekusi pada tahun 2022. Namun, ada penurunan
yang signifikan pada angka negara yang menerapkan hukuman mati. Dari 20 negara pada 2022
menjadi hanya 16 negara di 2023

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition

Document(s)

ULUSLARARASI AF ÖRGÜTÜ KÜRESEL RAPORU ÖLÜM CEZALARI VE İNFAZLAR 2022

By ULUSLARARASI AF ÖRGÜTÜ, on 16 May 2023


2023

NGO report


More details See the document

Bu rapor, Ocak-Aralık 2022 dönemi için ölüm cezasının adli kullanımını kapsamaktadır. Uluslararası Af Örgütü yalnızca infazlar, ölüm cezaları ve ölüm cezasının kullanımına ilişkin diğer hususlar (cezanın hafifletilmesi ve beraat gibi) hakkında makul teyitlerin olduğu durumlarda raporlama yapmaktadır. Birçok ülkede hükümetler ölüm cezasının kullanımına ilişkin bilgi yayınlamamaktadır.

  • Document type NGO report

Document(s)

Strengthening death penalty standards

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

Where the death penalty is applied, international law, jurisprudence and practice require that certain minimum standards are applied. The standards include international and regional treaties that are legally binding on states that have ratified them, customary international law that is binding on all states without exception, and non-binding standards and resolutions that nonetheless command the support of the majority of states. International understanding of these minimum standards has continued to evolve in the years since they were drafted, but the documents themselves do not always keep pace. This paper brings together international, regional and national standards, the most recent understandings of relevant experts and appropriate insights from other connected disciplines. It explores possible ways in which international minimum standards could be further strengthened at this time, whether through ECOSOC, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, regional bodies or national amendments to laws and policies. In each section, the issue and current practice is described, followed by examples of good practice or suggestions for improvement, finishing with a short list of recommendations for strengthening existing standards. These issues and recommendations are not final, but are intended to provide a point from which discussion can begin.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list International law, Legal Representation,

Document(s)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston

By United Nations / Philip Alston, on 1 January 2007


2007

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantzh-hantes
More details See the document

In addition to reporting on the principal initiatives undertaken in 2006 to address the scourge of extrajudicial executions around the world, this report focuses on four issues of particular importance: (a) the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in armed conflicts; (b) “mercy killings” in armed conflict; (c) the “most serious crimes” for which the death penalty may be imposed; and (d) the international law status of the mandatory death penalty.

Document(s)

UPR death penalty stakeholder report template

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2015


2015

Working with...


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty and Mental Illness

By Amnesty International - USA, on 1 January 2013


2013

Arguments against the death penalty

es
More details See the document

The execution of those with mental illness or “the insane” is clearly prohibited by international law. Virtually every country in the world prohibits the execution of people with mental illness. This webpage explores international law and the death penalty in relation to the USA.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Alabama: Judge Override

By Equal Justice Initiative, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Factsheet – Death Penalty Abolition

By European Court of Human Rights, on 8 September 2020


2020

United Nations report


More details See the document

Court’s case-law and pending cases on abolition of the death penalty. It deals with death-row phenomenon – the risk of being stoned to death / of being sentended to death and the death penalty as result of unfair trial.

  • Document type United Nations report
  • Themes list Death Row Phenomenon, Stoning, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

These families lost loved ones to violence. Now they are fighting the death penalty;

By The America Magazine , on 1 January 2017


2017

Working with...


More details See the document
  • Document type Working with...
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The death penalty worldwide: Developments in 1999

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2000


2000

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

Abolition of the Death Penalty: China in World Perspective

By Roger Hood / City University of Hong Kong Law Review 1-21, on 1 January 2009


2009

Academic report


More details See the document

This article outlines changes that the author has observed in the debate on the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Choosing Mercy: A Mother of Murder Victims Pleads to End the Death Penalty

By Antoinette Bosco, on 1 January 2001


2001

Working with...


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

People’s Republic of China: Executed “according to law”? The death penalty in China

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

China

fr
More details See the document

This document describes the process that someone suspected of committing a capital crime goes through under the Chinese criminal justice system, from detention through to execution. This process will be described using examples of cases researched by Amnesty International, and others monitored in the official press in China. As shown, there is potential for the violation of human rights at every stage of the criminal justice process leading to execution.

Document(s)

Beyond Reason: The Death Penalty and Offenders with Mental Retardation

By Human Rights Watch, on 1 January 2001


2001

NGO report


More details See the document

Twenty-five U.S. states still permit the execution of offenders with mental retardation and should pass laws to ban the practice without delay. The United States appears to be the only democracy whose laws expressly permit the execution of persons with this severe mental disability.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Intellectual Disability,

Document(s)

Public Opinion On The Death Penalty In Singapore: Survey Findings

By National University of Singapore / Chan Wing Cheong / Tan Ern Ser / Jack Lee / Braema Mathi, on 1 January 2018


2018

Academic report


More details See the document

Informations and survey findings about the public opinion on the death penalty in Singapore

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Public opinion, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Unstacking the Deck – A Handbook for Capital Defense Attorneys on Challenging the State’s Case in Aggravation

By John H. Blume / Death Penalty Resource & Defense Center, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

United States


More details See the document

When the state decides to seek the death penalty against a criminal defendant, the cards are heavily stacked against him before the trial even starts. First, the defendant must face a jury that already assumes he is guilty simply because he has been charged with a crime. They will assume this all the more given that it is a capital case. Moreover, the jury selection process itself will produce a jury that is predisposed to vote both for guilt and for death.The purpose of this handbook is to provide some suggestions for ways to “unstack the deck” for capital defendants by challenging the state’s case in aggravation.

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty: The Political Foundations of the Global Trend Towards Abolition

By Eric Neumayer / Human Rights Review, on 1 January 2008


2008

Article


More details See the document

The death penalty is like no other punishment. Its continued existence in many countries of the world creates political tensions within these countries and between governments of retentionist and abolitionist countries. After the Second World War, more and more countries have abolished the death penalty. This article argues that the major determinants of this global trend towards abolition are political, a claim which receives support in a quantitative cross-national analysis from 1950 to 2002. Democracy, democratisation, international political pressure on retentionist countries and peer group effects in relatively abolitionist regions all raise the likelihood of abolition. There is also a partisan effect, as abolition becomes more likely if the chief executive’s party is left wing-oriented. Cultural, social and economic determinants receive only limited support. The global trend towards abolition will go on if democracy continues to spread around the world and abolitionist countries stand by their commitment to press for abolition all over the world.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Resolution 62/149 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 8 September 2020


2020

International law - United Nations

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

Document(s)

Resolution 63/168 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 8 September 2020


International law - United Nations

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

Document(s)

Resolution 71/187 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 8 September 2020


International law - United Nations

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

United Nations General Assembly Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2016 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/71/484/Add.2] 71/187. Moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Document(s)

Resolution 73/175 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 14 October 2020


2020

International law - United Nations

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

United Nations General Assembly Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 2018 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/73/589/Add.2) 73/175. Moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Document(s)

Resolution 69/186 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 8 September 2020


2020

International law - United Nations

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

United Nations General Assembly Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2014 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/69/488/Add.2 and Corr.1)] 69/186. Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

Document(s)

The Waiver and Withdrawal of Death Penalty Appeals as “Extreme Communicative Acts”

By Avi Brisman / Western Criminology Review, on 1 January 2010


2010

Article

United States


More details See the document

This paper explores the power struggle between the State and the condemned over the timing and conditions under which an inmate is executed. It begins with a discussion of current public opinion about the death penalty and the ways in which the death penalty has been resisted. Next, it describes capital defendants who elect execution over life imprisonment and considers some of the reasons proffered for waiver and withdrawal. This paper then contemplates whether some instances of “volunteering” should be regarded as “extreme communicative acts” (Wee 2004, 2007)—nonlinguistic communicative acts that are usually associated with protest, especially in the context of a lengthy political struggle (such as hunger strikes, self-immolation, and the chopping off of one’s fingers). In so doing, this paper weighs in on the larger questions of who ultimately controls the body of the condemned and what governmental opposition to waiver and withdrawal may reveal about the motives and rationale for the death penalty. This paper also furthers research on how the prison industrial complex is resisted and how State power more generally is negotiated.

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

Document(s)

Study on the question of the death penalty in Africa

By African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights / Working Group on the Death Penalty in Africa, on 1 January 2011


2011

Book

fr
More details See the document

The document broadly looks at the historical, human rights law, and practical aspects of the death penalty. It takes a comprehensive approach to the question of the death penalty, bearing in mind the need to provide the African Commission with sufficient information that will enable it to take an informed position on the matter.

Member(s)

Rescue Alternatives Liberia (RAL)

on 30 April 2020

 Being the forerunner of prisoners’ rights and anti-torture and death penalty in Liberia, we have the vision that the Liberian society will adheres to: 1. The tenets of human rights, rule of law and democracy for all people; 2. Active citizens’ participation in national and local governance; and 3. Rehabilitation of survivals of torture, violence […]

2020

Liberia

Document(s)

The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective

By Roger Hood / Carolyn Hoyle / Oxford University Press, on 1 January 2014


2014

Book


More details See the document

The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective by Roger Hood and Carolyn Hoyle is the Fourth Edition of a text that highlights the latest developments in the death penalty around the world. Roger Hood utilizes his experience as a consultant to the United Nations’ annual survey of capital punishment in compiling a wide range of information from non-governmental organizations and academic literature. The book explores both the advances in legal challenges to the death penalty and the reduction in executions, while noting the continued existence of human rights abuses. Problems include unfair trails, police abuse, painful forms of execution, and excessive periods of time spent in inhumane conditions on death row. The authors explore the latest issues related to capital punishment such as deterrence, arbitrariness, and what influence victims’ families should have in sentencing.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Politics and The Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse and Due Process Survive the Perceived Political Pressure?

By Norman Redlich / Fordham Urban Law Journal, on 1 January 1994


1994

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article is a transcript from a program sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities entitled, “Politics and the Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse and Due Process Survive the Perceived Political Pressure?” In it, Norman Redlich discusses his experience litigating organizing the New York State Justice-PAC, a political action committee which promoted anti-death penalty candidates for the New York State legislature, and challenges the notion that there is overwhelming public support in the United States of America for the death penalty.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Public debate, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Detailed Factsheet: Women and the Death Penalty

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 July 2021


2021

Campaigning

Women

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 534 Ko ]

On 10 October 2021, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and other abolitionist organizations worldwide will celebrate the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

This year, the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, exonerated, or pardoned.

This detailed factsheet will use the phrase “women sentenced to death” as an inclusive phrase for all of these categories. As women represent a small percentage of those on death row globally, very little has been reported about these women. Yet we can learn much by analyzing their crimes, their lives prior to the crimes, and the conditions under which they are detained on death row.

Document(s)

Punishment at all Costs: On Religion, Convicting the Innocent, and Supporting the Death Penalty

By Robert L. Young / William & Mary Bill of rights journal 9(1), 237-46., on 1 January 2000


2000

Article

United States


More details See the document

This Paper explores the impact of the belief structure among white fundamentalist denominations on the support for the death penalty. Professor Robert L. Young observes that the tenets of fundamentalism, as well as the great extent thatfundamentalists conform to the positions oftheir clergy, support this link between fundamentalism anda punitive orientation toward wrongdoers. Professor Young explains that members in white fundamentalist churches, to a greater extent than others, are inclined toward a negative view of human nature, which in turn leads to the belief that letting the guilty go free is a more serious mistake than convicting the innocent. This relative tolerance for convicting the innocent has a direct impact on support for the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Executing the Insane Is Against the Law of the Land. So Why Do We Keep Doing It?

By Stephanie Mencimer / Mother Jones, on 1 January 2015


2015

Article

United States


More details See the document

A recent article in Mother Jones examines lingering questions in the determination of which inmates are exempt from execution because of mental incompetency. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ford v. Wainwright that a person could not be executed if he or she was “unaware of the punishment they’re about to suffer and why they are to suffer it.” The 2007 ruling in Panetti v. Quarterman updated that decision, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing, “A prisoner’s awareness of the State’s rationale for an execution is not the same as a rational understanding of it.” Scott Panetti (pictured), the inmate involved in the 2007 case, knew that the state of Texas planned to execute him for the murder of his in-laws, but also sincerely believed that he was at the center of a struggle between God and Satan and was being executed to stop him from preaching the Gospel.

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

Document(s)

2011 World Day Report

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2011


2011

Campaigning

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1664 Ko ]

It presents the theme of 2011 World Day, facts on the death penalty and all the actions and media coveragefor the 20011 World Day on the inhumanity of the death penalty

Document(s)

Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report 2017

By NLU Delhi , on 1 January 2017


2017

NGO report


More details See the document
  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Death Row Conditions, Legal Representation, Death Penalty, Statistics,

Document(s)

Human Rights and Democracy: The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report

By United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Afghanistan


More details See the document

The report covers the period from January to December 2010, though some key events in early 2011 have also been included. It highlights the important progressbeing made, serious concerns that we have, and what we are doing to promote our values around the world. It will rightly be studied closely by Parliament, NGOs and the wider public. There is a chapter dedicated to the death penalty, as well as 2010 figures on the death penalty in target countries.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Afghanistan
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Death by Geography: A County By County Analysis of the Road to Execution in California

By Natasha Minsker / Romy Ganschow / American Civil Liberties Union / Jeff Gillenkirk / Elise Banducci, on 1 January 2008


2008

NGO report


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Does the Death Penalty Deter Homicide in Japan?

By David T. Johnson / Asian Law Centre, on 1 January 2017


2017

Multimedia content

Japan


More details See the document

Unlike the United States, where death penalty and deterrence studies are legion, there has been little research about the death penalty and deterrence in Japan, though the paucity of studies has not discouraged citizens and officials from making confident claims about this issue. Indeed, deterrence has been called “the core of argumentation for and against” the death penalty in Japan. Serious research on this subject has beenall but impossible because of difficulties obtaining decent crime data from the Japanese government. This paper uses monthly homicide and robbery-homicide statistics thatwere previously unavailable to examine whether death sentences and executions in Japan deterred these crimes from 1990 to 2010. The main finding is that the death penalty did not deter homicide or robbery-homicide during this period. More research is needed on this subject, but at present the Japanese government has no sound basis for continuing to claim that the country needs to retain the death penalty because it detersheinous crime.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Japan
  • Themes list Deterrence , Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The Needs of the Wrongfully Convicted: A Report on a Panel Discussion

By Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority's Research & Analysis Unit / Northwestern University School of Law, on 1 January 2002


2002

Working with...


More details See the document

This report has been prepared for Governor Ryan’s Commission on Capital Punishment to provide additional information on those who have been wrongfully convicted of murder and subsequently incarcerated. It is hoped that this information is useful in the Commission’s consideration of possible improvements in the way criminal justice agencies and allied entities meet the needs of those who have been wrongfully convicted.

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

Document(s)

Death penalty developments in 2005

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2006


2006

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

This document covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2005. Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes, bringing to 86 the number of totally abolitionist countries at year end. Moratoria or suspensions of executions were being observed in several countries. At least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries, and at least 5,186 were sentenced to death in 53 countries. Eight child offenders were executed in Iran. Other sections include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against child offenders and resumptions of executions.

Document(s)

Death Penalty Cost

By Amnesty International - USA, on 8 September 2020


2020

Arguments against the death penalty

es
More details See the document

This factsheet deals with the cost of the death penalty in the United States using figures from a study conducted by the Californian Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice.

Document(s)

Too Broken to Fix: Part I – An In-depth Look at America’s Outlier Death Penalty Counties

By Fair Punishment Project, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

United States


More details See the document

The trends are clear. In 2015, juries returned the fewest number of new death sentences—49—since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.Of the 3,143 county or county equivalents in the United States, only 16—or one half of one percent—imposed five or more death sentences between 2010 and 2015.This report takes a close look at how capital punishment operates on the ground in half of these active death-sentencing counties. In this first report, we dig deep into Caddo, Clark, Duval, Harris, Maricopa, Mobile, Kern, and Riverside counties. Our review reveals that these counties frequently share at least three systemic deficiencies: a history of overzealous prosecutions, inadequate defense lawyering, and a pattern of racial bias and exclusion. These structural failings regularly produce two types of unjust outcomes which disproportionately impact people of color: the wrongful conviction of innocent people, and the excessive punishment of persons who are young or suffer from severe mental illnesses, brain damage, trauma, and intellectual disabilities.

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

Document(s)

Chad, Death Penalty: ending a moratorium, between security opportunism and settling of scores

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Mahfoudh Ould Bettah / Isabelle Gourmelon / Olivier Foks, on 1 January 2004


2004

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

Too Broken to Fix: Part II – An In-depth Look at America’s Outlier Death Penalty Counties

By Fair Punishment Project, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

The trends are clear. In 2015, juries returned the fewest number of new death sentences—49—since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.Of the 3,143 county or county equivalents in the United States, only 16—or one half of one percent—imposed five or more death sentences between 2010 and 2015.This report takes a close look at how capital punishment operates on the ground in half of these active death-sentencing counties. In Part II, we highlight Dallas (TX), Jefferson(AL), San Bernardino (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Orange (CA), Miami-Dade (FL),Hillsborough (FL), and Pinellas (FL) counties.Our review of these counties, like the places profiled in Part I, reveals thatthese counties frequently share at least three systemic deficiencies: a history ofoverzealous prosecutions, inadequate defense lawyering, and a pattern of racialbias and exclusion. These structural failings regularly produce two types of unjustoutcomes which disproportionately impact people of color: the wrongful convictionof innocent people, and the excessive punishment of persons who are young or sufferfrom severe mental illnesses, brain damage, trauma, and intellectual disabilities.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Foreign Nationals

By Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document
  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences, Foreign Nationals, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

People’s Republic of China: The Death Penalty Log in 2000

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

China


More details See the document

The Death Penalty Log gives available details of death sentences and executions occurring in China throughout 2000.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list China
  • Themes list Statistics,

Document(s)

Stolen Youth. Juvenils, mass trials and the death penalty in Egypt

By Reprieve, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document
  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Juveniles, Fair Trial, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Moratorium on the use of death penalty

By United Nations, on 1 January 2018


2018

United Nations report

arrufrzh-hantes
More details See the document

Document(s)

The Pakistan Capital Punishment Study. A Study of the Capital Jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Pakistan

By Reprieve / Fundation for Fundamental Rights, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document

The Pakistan Capital Punishment Study is the result of a two-year long research and analysis project undertaken by lawyers and academics at the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (‘FFR’) in Pakistan and international legal non-profit organization, Reprieve.

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

Question of the death penalty – Report of the Secretary General

on 3 September 2024

Question of the death penalty – Report of the Secretary General

2024

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the United States: A Crisis of Conscience

By Richard L. Wiener / Craig Haney / Psychology, Public Policy and Law, on 1 January 2004


2004

Article

United States


More details See the document

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,
Harm Reduction International

Member(s)

Harm Reduction International

on 30 April 2020

Harm Reduction International is a leading NGO dedicated to reducing the negative health, social and legal impacts of drug use and drug policy. We promote the rights of people who use drugs and their communities through research and advocacy to help achieve a world where drug policies and laws contribute to healthier, safer societies. Since […]

2020

United Kingdom

World Coalition Against the Death Penalty_ Gender and Death Penalty Glossary

on 1 August 2023

World Coalition Against the Death Penalty_ Gender and Death Penalty Glossary

2023

World-Coalition-Against-the-Death-Penalty_Brochure-women-and-death-penalty

on 2 October 2023

World-Coalition-Against-the-Death-Penalty_Brochure-women-and-death-penalty

2023

Document(s)

Public Opinion on the Death Penalty in China: Results from a General Population Survey Conducted in Three Provinces in 2007/08

By Shenghui Qi / Dietrich Oberwittler / Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, on 1 January 2008


2008

Article

China


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Towards the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Africa: A Human Rights Perspective

By Lilian Chenwi / Pretoria University Law Press, on 1 January 2007


2007

Book


More details See the document

In “Towards the abolition of the death penalty in Africa – a human rights perspective”, the author shows that international law increasingly recognises that the imposition and execution of the death penalty constitute violations of human rights. The author locates an emerging international trend towards the abolition of capital punishment in the African context. In doing so, she provides a particular African perspective on the issue. In this rich and informative text, she reflects on the role and impact of relevant UN instruments on African states, and analyses related African regional instruments, domestic law and case-law.

  • Document type Book

Member(s)

Center for Prisoner’s Rights (CPR)

on 30 April 2020

The Center for Prisoners’ Rights (CPR) was established in March 1995 as the first Japanese NGO specializing in prison reform. CPR‘s goal is to reform Japanese prison conditions in accordance with international human rights standards and to abolish the death penalty. The organisation researches human rights violations in Japanese prisons and makes its finding known […]

2020

Japan

Member(s)

Mêmes droits pour tous (MDT)

on 30 April 2020

Les Mêmes Droits pour Tous (MDT) is a Guinean organization from the civil society. It has been created by Order No. 3242/MATD/CAB/SACCO of 26 May 2006. Since then, MDT has been actively involved in the defence and promotion of human rights in Guinea. MDT specializes in the field of criminal justice. To date, MDT acts in […]

Guinea

Document(s)

The “New Abolitionism” and the Possibilities of Legislative Action: The New Hampshire Experience

By Sarat Austin / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

Recently, the work of the abolitionist community has shifted from the courts to the legislatures. In this article, Professor Sarat examines the significance of what he calls the “new abolitionism” in the politics of legislation aimed at changing or ending the death penalty. The author describes the new abolitionism in detail and then examines its role in the May 2000 vote of the New Hampshire State Legislature to repeal the death penalty. The author concludes that the focus of the new abolitionism on the practical liabilities of our system of capital punishment makes it possible for legislators to oppose the death penalty whilepresenting themselves as guardians of widely shared values and the integrity and fairness of our legal institutions.

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

Document(s)

Anti-death penalty group launches handbook

By Manila Bulletin, on 1 January 2018


2018

Article

Philippines


More details See the document

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, together with the Free Legal Assistance Group, the Commission on Human Rights, and other members of the Anti-Death Penalty Task Force, have launched a handbook opposing the capital punishment and the drug war.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Philippines
  • Themes list Drug Offences, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston

By United Nations / Philip Alston, on 1 January 2007


2007

International law - United Nations

arrufres
More details See the document

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(s)

Stakeholder report for Iraq UPR

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / The Advocates for Human Rights / Iraqi Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2014


2014

NGO report


More details See the document

The Advocates for Human Rights, in collaboration with the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the Iraqi Coalition Against the Death Penalty, submitted a joint stakeholder report to the U.N. Human Rights Council for its October-November 2014 Universal Periodic Review of Iraq. This submission describes Iraq’s international human rights obligations with regard to its use of the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Minorities, Due Process , Fair Trial, International law, Transparency, Torture, Discrimination, Legal Representation, Most Serious Crimes, Hanging, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Death Penalty in India: 2018 Annual Statistics Report

By Project 39A, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document

The number of death sentences reached a new peak in 2018 in India.

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty and Arbitrariness

By Amnesty International - USA, on 8 September 2020


2020

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

This sheet details the factors which contribute to the arbitrariness of the death penalty in the USA.

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty Information Pack

By Penal Reform International , on 1 January 2014


2014

NGO report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Drugs and the Death Penalty

By Patrick Gallahue / Open Society Foundations, on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

Experience has proved that for certain governments it is not easy to balance international drug laws with human rights, public health, alternatives to incarceration, and experimentation with regulation.This Report intends to provide a primer on why governments must not turn a blind eye to pressing human rights and public health impacts of current drug policies.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

Briefing Paper on the death penalty in Middle East & North Africa

By Penal Reform International, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report


More details See the document

NGO coalition report submitted to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights

  • Document type Academic report

Document(s)

Death Row’s Children: Pakistan’s Unlawful Executions of Juvenile Offenders

By Justice Project Pakistan, on 1 January 2017


2017

NGO report


More details See the document

On 16 December 2014, the Government of Pakistan lifted a six-year de facto moratorium on the death penalty. Whilst the Government claims that the lifting of the moratorium is designed to curb terrorism, an analysis of the 423 executions that have taken place till February 2017 reveals that the death penalty has disproportionately impacted the most vulnerable of all populations including juvenile offenders. Even though Pakistan’s international obligations and domestic laws prohibit sentencing juvenile offenders to death, at least 6 have been executed in the past two years.Through this report, the Justice Project Pakistan highlights the fundamental weaknesses under Pakistan’s juvenile justice system that lead to the unlawful and arbitrary implementation of the death penalty against juvenile offenders.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Juveniles, Fair Trial, International law, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Blind Justice: Juries Deciding Life and Death With Only Half the Truth

By Death Penalty Information Center / Richard C. Dieter, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report


More details See the document

Blind Justice is a report which focuses on the problems of the death penalty from the perspective of jurors. While jurors have always occupied an esteemed position in the broader criminal justice system in the United States, in capital cases the responsibility of jurors is even more critical as they decide whether defendants should live or die. Even with this unique authority in capital cases, they are treated less than respectfully. Frequently, they are kept in the dark regarding key information about the case and are often barred from serving based on their beliefs or their race.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Dehumanized: The Prison Conditions of People Sentenced to Death in Indonesia

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Kontras / Carole Berrih, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report

en
More details See the document

Although much research has been carried out into the administration of justice in death penalty cases in Indonesia, there is little research into the conditions of detention of the men and women sentenced to death in that country. This study is one of the first to focus on the conditions of detention of death row prisoners in Indonesia. This report aims to give a voice to the men and women on death row in Indonesia and to their families, while documenting their situation.

Document(s)

No to the Death Penalty, No to Revenge

By YouTube, on 1 January 2008


2008

Working with...


More details See the document

A murder victim’s family member talks out about her opposition to the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Jeremy Irons talks about the death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2007


2007

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

This video features Jeremy Irons who speaks about the death penalty and arguements commonly made for it.

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

Document(s)

Travelling abroad? Beware the death penalty

By Reprieve / Emmanuelle Purdon , on 1 January 2011


2011

Campaigning


More details See the document

Many Britons abroad think that the local death penalty cannot be applied to them. Most would not know what to do if they got arrested. Yet well-meaning Britons can indeed find themselves facing execution, even if they are innocent.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Foreign Nationals,

Document(s)

Mental retardation and the death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2001


2001

NGO report


More details See the document

This paper attempts to summarise the issues arising from the practice of executing prisoners who have mental retardation. It draws mainly on the US experience but makes reference to other jurisdictions.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Intellectual Disability,

Document(s)

Video “Flight” – animation about death penalty in Belarus

By Viasna Human Rights Center, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

Belarus


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Abolishing the Death Penalty: Why India Should Say No to Capital Punishment

By Gopalkrishna Gandhi, on 1 January 2016


2016

Book

India


More details See the document

In Abolishing the Death Penalty: Why India Should Say No to Capital Punishment, Gopalkrishna Gandhi asks fundamental questions about the ultimate legal punishment awarded to those accused of major crimes. Is taking another life a just punishment or an act as inhuman as the crime that triggered it? Does having capital punishment in the law books deter crime? His conclusions are unequivocal: Cruel in its operation, ineffectual as deterrence, unequal in its application in an uneven society, liable like any punishment to be in error but incorrigibly so, these grievous flaws that are intrinsic to the death penalty are compounded by yet another—it leaves the need for retribution (cited as its primary ‘good’) unrequited and simply makes society more bloodthirsty.Examining capital punishment around the world from the time of Socrates onwards, the author delves into how the penalty was applied in India during the times of Asoka, Sikandar Lodi, Krishnadevaraya, the Peshwas and the British Raj, and how it works today

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list India
  • Themes list Capital offences, Public debate, Deterrence , Trend Towards Abolition, Right to life, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Slavery and the Death Penalty

By Routledge / Bharat Malkani, on 1 January 2018


2018

Book

United States


More details See the document

It has long been acknowledged that the death penalty in the United States of America has been shaped by the country’s history of slavery and racial violence, but this book considers the lesser-explored relationship between the two practices’ respective abolitionist movements. The book explains how the historical and conceptual links between slavery and capital punishment have both helped and hindered efforts to end capital punishment. The comparative study also sheds light on the nature of such efforts, and offers lessons for how death penalty abolitionism should proceed in future. Using the history of slavery and abolition, it is argued that anti-death penalty efforts should be premised on the ideologies of the radical slavery abolitionists.

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

Document(s)

ASEAN’s legacy of hope A short video about many of the weakness of a justice system that relies on the death penalty

By Coalition for the Abolition of Death Penalty in ASEAN (CADPA), on 1 January 2017


2017

Multimedia content


More details See the document

Drawing on dramatic footage from famous cases, told by the priests and lawyers who knew them, this video depicts the death penalty as a cruel and inhumane practice that persists even through weaknesses in our legal systems might mean we are killing innocent people even though no evidence exists to suggest that the death penalty serves as a deterrent.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Due Process , Moratorium , Networks, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America’s Future

By Bruce Shapiro / Rev. Jesse L. Jackson / Anchor , on 8 September 2020


2020

Book

United States


More details See the document

In this collaborative work, the Jacksons, father (former presidential candidate and founder of the Rainbow Coalition) and son (a congressional representative) with Salon.com editor Shapiro, pursue a nationwide conversation on the issues surrounding the death penalty one that begins with the proposal of a moratorium and could lead to the eventual cessation of capital punishment. This book describes a bureaucratic nightmare involving defense lawyers asleep at trial, vengeance-hungry politicos and a problematic, imperfect justice system in which the handing out of death sentences is skewed, both racially and economically. An objective examination of this penal system would be beneficial to all, say the authors: since the Supreme Court allowed executions to resume in 1976, one in every eight prisoners on death row has been found innocent and released. There are undoubtedly cases, the authors argue, where the proof of innocence didn’t see the light of day in time. Navigating the historical precedents of the death penalty and the reasons why federally mandated executions were restored following a 10-year moratorium imposed in 1967, the authors thoroughly detail legitimate questions regarding what they view as erroneous deterrence theories, scriptural misrepresentation and simple vengeance.

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

Document(s)

The Global Debate on the Death Penalty

By Sandra Babcock / Human Rights Magazine, on 1 January 2007


2007

Article

United States


More details See the document

Many human rights organizations and intergovernmental organizations, such as the European Union, see the death penalty as one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time and have taken an active role in persuading countries to halt executions. The debate over capital punishment in the United States—be it in the courts, in state legislatures, or on nationally televised talk shows—is always fraught with emotion. The themes have changed little over the last two or three hundred years. Does it deter crime? If not, is it necessary to satisfy society’s desire for retribution against those who commit unspeakably violent crimes? Is it worth the cost? Are murderers capable of redemption? Should states take the lives of their own citizens? Are current methods of execution humane? Is there too great a risk of executing the innocent?

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the USA

By Robert Dunham, on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content

United States


More details Download [ pdf - 3888 Ko ]

Presentation of Robert Dunham, Death Penalty Information Center, for the plenary session on the death penalty in the USA which took place during the 2017 General Assembly of the World Coalition.

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

Document(s)

Transcript of Speech on Religion’s Role in the Administration of the Death Penalty

By Pat Robertson / William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 9(1), 215-222, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article

United States


More details See the document

About fifteen years ago, I was in the maximum-security prison in Raiford, Florida, and after I had spoken to the inmates, and had several interviews for our television program, I was permitted to go back into death row. It was a very sobering sight because the electric chair was just down the hall from where I was, and you could see that rather grim room. There were two men that they had asked me to talk to. One was a young man, in his mid-twenties who had been a contract killer for organized crime. He had dispatched at least twenty people to the next world as a cold-blooded killer. He was there on death row awaiting execution. The other man was a rather simple soul who had discovered his wife having an affair with another man, at least that’s my understanding, and in a fit of rage, he killed her. In the subsequent trial, he had received the death penalty for his action. Both of these men had had profound religious conversions. I know the difference between somejailhouse conversions-and there are plenty of them out there-and something that’s sincere from the heart. Both of these men, in my opinion, had been spiritually transformed.

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

Document(s)

Crossing the line: Rape-murder and the death penalty

By Phyllis L. Crocker / Ohio Northern Law Review 26(3), 689-723., on 1 January 2000


Article

United States


More details See the document

When a woman is raped and then murdered, it is among the most horrifying of crimes. It is also, often, among the most sensational, notorious, and galvanizing of cases. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered in Queens, New York. Her murder sparked soul-searching across the country because her neighbors heard her cries for help and did not respond: it made us question whether we had become an uncaring people. During the 1970s and 80s a number of serial killers raped and murdered their victims: including Ted Bundy in Florida and William George Bonin, the “Freeway Killer,” in Southern California. In the 1990s, the sexual assault-murder of seven- year-old Megan Kanka in New Jersey contributed to a firestorm of states passing sex offender notification statutes. Rolando Cruz was released from Illinois death row in 1995, after serving eleven years for a crime he did not commit: the rape and murder of ten-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. The crime itself sent shock waves through the Chicago metropolitan area and pressure to quickly solve it contributed to Cruz’s arrest and conviction. In each instance the rape- murder terrified us and made us want to impose the severest of punishments. This explores the crime and punishment of those convicted of committed rape .murder

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

Document(s)

A Heavy Thumb on the Scale: The Effect of Victim Iimpact Evidence On Capital Decision Making

By Ray Paternoster / Criminology / Jerome Deise, on 1 January 2011


2011

Article

United States


More details See the document

The past several decades have seen the emergence of a movement in the criminal justice system that has called for a greater consideration for the rights of victims. One manifestation of this movement has been the “right” of victims or victims’ families to speak to the sentencing body through what are called victim impact statements about the value of the victim and the full harm that the offender has created. Although victim impact statements have been a relatively noncontroversial part of regular criminal trials, their presence in capital cases has had a more contentious history. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned previous decisions and explicitly permitted victim impact testimony in capital cases in Payne v. Tennessee (1991). The dissenters in that case argued that such evidence only would arouse the emotions of jurors and bias them in favor of imposing death. A body of research in behavioral economics on the “identifiable victim effect” and the “identifiable wrongdoer effect” would have supported such a view. Using a randomized controlled experiment with a death-eligible sample of potential jurors and the videotape of an actual penalty trial in which victim impact evidence (VIE) was used, we found that these concerns about VIE are perhaps well placed. Subjects who viewed VIE testimony in the penalty phase were more likely to feel negative emotions like anger, hostility, and vengeance; were more likely to feel sympathy and empathy toward the victim; and were more likely to have favorable perceptions of the victim and victim’s family as well as unfavorable perceptions of the offender. We found that these positive feelings toward the victim and family were in turn related to a heightened risk of them imposing the death penalty. We found evidence that part of the effect of VIE on the decision to impose death was mediated by emotions of sympathy and empathy. We think our findings open the door for future work to put together better the causal story that links VIE to an increased inclination to impose death as well as explore possible remedies.

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

Document(s)

Report 2008. Asia: Its time to end executions

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2008


2008

Campaigning

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 771 Ko ]

The 2008 World Day report presents information on the death penalty in the world with particular attention to India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Pakistan and Vietnam. The events that took place around the world in 2008 for the world day are noted in this report also.

Document(s)

2017 World Day report

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


2018

NGO report

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 2252 Ko ]

On 10 October 2017, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty along with abolitionist activists worldwide marked the 15th World Day against the Death Penalty by drawing attention to the death penalty and its link with poverty. This report presents the activities organised for the 15th world day and the media coverage it received.

Document(s)

Affront to Justice: Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2008


2008

NGO report

ar
More details See the document

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