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Document(s)

Financial Costs of the Death Penalty

By Office of Performance Evaluations Idaho Legislature, on 1 January 2014


2014

Government body report


More details See the document

Idaho’s death penalty involves many criminal justicestakeholders at both the local and state levels and in all three branches of government. Because death penalty processes involve so many entities, legislators asked for a better understanding of the structure, workings, and costs. The following events also sparked legislative interest: (1) two offenders sentenced to death werelater released from prison in 2001 and (2) two recent executions after a 17-year pause.Legislators wanted to know whether costs of sentencingdefendants to death could be compared with costs of sentencing them to life in prison.

  • Document type Government body report
  • Themes list Statistics, Financial cost,

Document(s)

A year-end compilation of death penalty data for the state of Missouri : Annual Report 2015

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


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

MADP released its annual report which highlights some of the major problems with Missouri’s broken death penalty system. Here is a snapshot of the death penalty in Missouri in 2015: 6 executions in 2015 but no new death sentences in Missouri in 2015.

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

Document(s)

Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2013

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2014


2014

NGO report

fafr
More details See the document

The sixth annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty gives an assessment of how the death penalty was implemented in 2013 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Document(s)

Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning

By John D. Carlson / Erik C. Owens / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company / Eric P. Elshtain / J. Budziszewski / E. J. Dionne / Avery Cardinal Dulles / Stanley Hauerwas / Frank Keating / Gilbert Meilaender / David Novak, on 1 January 2004


2004

Book


More details See the document

This important book is sure to foster informed public discussion about the death penalty by deepening readers’ understanding of how religious beliefs and perspectives shape this contentious issue. Featuring a fair, balanced appraisal of its topic, Religion and the Death Penalty brings thoughtful religious reflection to bear on current challenges facing the capital justice system.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Religion ,

Document(s)

Ultimate Sanction: Understanding the Death Penalty Through Its Many Voices and Many Sides

By Robert M. Bohm / Kaplan Trade, on 1 January 2010


2010

Book

United States


More details See the document

The book looks at the death penalty through interviews with people affected by the system in different ways. He uses interviews to explore issues of deterrence, retribution, and fairness, while taking a unique look at how the death penalty affects those who participate in the system.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Fair Trial, Deterrence , Retribution,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2015

By Rick Lines / Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

In this new fourth edition of HRI’s ‘Global Overview’ series, HRI updates its previous research on the death penalty for drugs worldwide, and it considers critical developments on the issue. While the report notes that there still are a troubling number of governments with capital drug laws, in practice very few states execute people for drugs. The number of people killed for drug-related offences is high because China, Iran and Saudi Arabia are aggressive executioners. Those governments that kill for drugs are an extreme fringe of the international community.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND ELITE POLITICS: DISSENSUS AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN AMERICA

By Judith Randle / Studies in Law, Politics and Society, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

Drawing from televised debates over capital punishment on CNN’s Crossfire from February 2000 to June 2002, I argue that Teles’s (1998) theory of “dissensus politics” is useful in understanding the U.S.’s preservation of capital punishment as well as current divisions in death penalty sentiment within the U.S. I pose the retention of capital punishment as the product of rival elites who are unwilling to forsake capital punishment’s moral character (and often the political benefits it offers), and who consequently ignore an American public that appears to have reached a measured consensus of doubt about the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Annual Report of the Death Penalty in Iran in 2010

By Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report

fa
More details See the document

The annual report of the death penalty in 2010 shows a dramatic increase in the number of executions compared to the previous years. The number of annual executions in 2010 in Iran is probably the highest since the mass executions of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.

Document(s)

Is the Death Penalty Good for Women

By Phyllis L. Crocker / Buffalo Law Review, on 1 January 2001


2001

Article

United States


More details See the document

In this essay, I suggest a different and particularly feminist reason for reexamining, and rejecting, the death penalty. The death penalty perverts society’s response to the tragedy of a woman being raped and murdered by relying on a form of racism that is gendered in nature and by making the horrific nature of the crime of rape-murder a more important consideration in determining punishment than the individual characteristics of the person who committed it.

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

Document(s)

The State of Texas vs. Melissa

By Sabrina Van Tassel, on 25 March 2020


2020

Multimedia content

Fair Trial

United States


More details See the document

Melissa Lucio was the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in Texas. For ten years she has been awaiting her fate, and she now faces her last appeal.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Fair Trial

Document(s)

Human Rights and the Death Penalty

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2012


2012

Campaigning


More details See the document

Four-page introduction to the status of the death penalty in international human rights law and the global trend abolition.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Race Discrimination and the Legitimacy of Capital Punishment: Reflections on the Interaction of Fact and Perception

By George Woodworth / David C. Baldus / DePaul Law Review, on 1 January 2004


2004

Article

United States


More details See the document

The authors analyze data concerning race discrimination in capital sentencing and data regarding how the public perceives this issue. They conclude that race discrimination is not an inevitable feature of all death penalty systems. Before Furman v. Georgia was decided in 1972, widespread discrimination against black defendants marred the practice of capital punishment in America. According to studies cited by the authors, race-of-defendant discrimination has lessened since Furman. However, race-of-victim discrimination remains a significant factor in sentencing; defendants with white victims are at a significantly higher risk of being sentenced to death and executed than are defendants whose victims are black, Asian, or Hispanic. From 1976 to 2002, the proportion of white-victim cases among all murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases has ranged between 51% and 56%. However, 81% of executed defendants had white victims. Polling data indicate that the general public perceives only one form of race discrimination in the use of the death penalty – race-of-defendant discrimination – and that the public and elected officials may see racial discrimination as inevitable in the criminal justice system. Race of victim discrimination is a pervasive problem in the death penalty system. However, race discrimination is not inevitable. If serious controls were enacted to address this problem (such as those imposed in a few states) a fairer system could result.

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

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)

Social survey: public attitudes in Kazakhstan to the death penalty for terrorist offences

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2014


2014

NGO report


More details See the document

This survey polled public opinion in Kazakhstan towards the use of the death penalty for terrorist offences resulting in death, and also for especially grave crimes committed inwartime.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public opinion,

Document(s)

Zambia: Time to abolish the death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2001


2001

NGO report


More details See the document

This report aims at focusing attention on the country’s use of the death penalty, particularly as Zambia does not apply international standards for fair trials in its use of the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty in the US Quiz

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2009


2009

Campaigning


More details See the document

Test your knowledge of human rights and the death penalty in the U.S. with our downloadable quiz.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Human Rights Association - logo

Member(s)

Human Rights Association

on 2 May 2023

The Human Rights Association (İnsan Hakları Derneği) is a non-governmental, independent, and voluntary body. The association, which was founded in 1986 by 98 human rights defenders, today has 27 branches, 7 representative offices, and ~8,000 members. İHD is the oldest and largest human rights organization in Turkey and its “sole and specific goal is to […]

2023

Turkey

Document(s)

China: The death penalty in China: breaking records, breaking rules

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 1997


1997

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

In China last year, approximately 17 people were sentenced to death each day, every day of the year. This report examines the record versus the rhetoric in 1996. It examines the death penalty in practice during this year’s “Strike Hard Anti-Crime Campaign” which highlights legal inadequacies and institutionalized abuses long discussed by domestic critics.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty Resource Guide

By Amnesty International - USA, on 1 January 2011


2011

Campaigning


More details See the document

Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executions could resume after a four year moratorium, more than 1,050 people have been executed in the United States. Approximately 3,370 men and women remain on death row throughoutthe United States. This is a teaching guide on the death penalty in the United States after 1976.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Unequal, Unfair and Irreversible: The Death Penalty in Virginia

By Laura LaFay / American Civil Liberties Union / Virgina, on 1 January 2000


2000

NGO report


More details See the document

This report examines four key aspects of the administration of capital punishment in Virginia: prosecutorial discretion in the charging of capital crimes, quality of legal representation for the accused at trial, appellate review of trials resulting in the death penalty and race. During its preparation, another issue became apparent: the state’s record keeping.

  • Document type NGO report

Document(s)

Mental Illness and the Death Penalty

By American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report


More details See the document

This overview discusses the intersection of the law and the challenges faced by mentally ill capital defendants at every stage from trial through appeals and execution. It provides examples of some of the more famous cases of the execution of the mentally ill. Lastly, it describes current legislative efforts to exempt those who suffer from a serious mental illness from execution and the importance of such efforts.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Mental Illness,

Document(s)

The Professional Obligation to Raise Frivolous Issues in Death Penalty Cases

By Monroe H. Freedman / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

Lawyers are generally familiar with the ethical rule forbidding frivolous arguments, principally because of sanctions imposed under rules of civil procedure for making such arguments. Not all lawyers are aware, however, of two ways in which the prohibitions of frivolous arguments are restricted in both the rules themselves and in their enforcement. First, the ethical rules have express limitations with respect to arguments made on behalf of criminal defendants, and courts are generally loath to sanction criminal defense lawyers. Second, the term “frivolous” is narrowed, even in civil cases, by the way it is defined and explained in the ethical rules and in court decisions.

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

Member(s)

HURILAWS

on 30 April 2020

HURILAWS began operations in 1997 as a specialist provider of human rights legal services and a purveyor of skills in the legal aspects of transition management. Today HURILAWS is also a public policy think tank working towards attainment of development, human rights and good governance. In particular, HURILAWS is the driver of the Multi-Sector Law […]

2020

Nigeria

Document(s)

Death In Decline ’09: Los Angeles Holds California Back as Nation Shifts to Permanent Imprisonment

By American Civil Liberties Union / Northern California, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

The tide is turning in the United States from death sentences to permanent imprisonment. A growing number of states are choosing permanent imprisonment over the death penalty, fueled by growing concerns about the wrongful conviction of innocent people and the high costs of the death penalty in comparison to permanent imprisonment. In 2009, the number of new death sentences nationwide reached the lowest level since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. California lags behind in this national trend. The Golden State sent more people to death row last year than in the seven preceding years. By the close of 2009, California’s death row was the largest and most costly in the United States.

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

Document(s)

Public support for the death penalty ticks up

By Pew Research Center / J. Baxter Oliphant, on 1 January 2018


2018

Article

United States


More details See the document

Public support for the death penalty, which reached a four-decade low in 2016, has increased somewhat since then. Today, 54% of Americans favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while 39% are opposed, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April and May.

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

Document(s)

Early Supreme Court Cases on the Death Penalty

By Robert Bohm / Carolina Academic Press, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book

United States


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Central African Republic : Seventeenth Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2014


2014

Multimedia content

Central African Republic


More details See the document

This submission addresses the Central African Republic’s compliance with its humanrights obligations with regard to its use of the death penalty. This submission concludesthat although the Central African Republic (CAR) should be given great credit for takingimportant steps towards abolition of the death penalty, including supporting the 2012U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, manyhurdles remain in terms of ensuring that the citizens of CAR are afforded adequatedomestic and international guarantees against the arbitrary deprivation of life.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Central African Republic
  • Themes list Due Process , Trend Towards Abolition, Arbitrariness,

Document(s)

A Perverse and Ominous Enterprise: The Death Penalty and Illegal Executions in Saudi Arabia

By Helena Kennedy, on 1 January 2019


2019

International law - Regional body


More details See the document

The evidence reviewed demonstrates frequent and heavy-handed recourse to the death penalty by Saudi Arabia in recent months. At least 149 people were executed in 2018, with at minimum 46 remaining on death row at the end of the year. A significant proportion of those executed were political dissidents, and a number were children at the time of their alleged offending. Each of these features connotes a grave violation of international human rights norms.

  • Document type International law - Regional body

Document(s)

Sources of Variation in Pro-Death Penalty Attitudes in China: An Exploratory Study of Chinese Students at Home and Abroad

By Lening Zhang / Terance D. Miethe / Hong Lu / Bin Liang / British Journal of Criminology, on 1 January 2006


2006

Article

China


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Oregon’s death penalty disproportionately used against persons with significant mental impairments

By Fair Punishment Project, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

Although,by all functional measures, Oregonians have abandoned the death penalty, 35 condemned inmates remain on Oregon’s death row.What do we know about those people, and about the quality of justice that resulted in their death sentences? This report examines the cases of the condemned men and women in Oregon to see how they ended up there, and what patterns emerged.Here’s what we found: In Oregon, two-thirds of death row inmates possess signs of serious mental illness or intellectual impairment, endured devastatingly severe childhood trauma, or were not old enough to legally purchase alcohol at the time the offense occurred.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Mental Illness, Death Row Phenomenon, Intellectual Disability, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

By Human Rights Council, on 1 January 2012


2012

Working with...


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Joint Letter Calling on the HRC to Renew the Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran

By Human Rights Watch / Impact Iran , on 1 January 2018


2018

Multimedia content

Iran (Islamic Republic of)


More details See the document

In this joint letter many Iranian and international human rights organizations, urge the governments they called to support the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, during the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

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

Document(s)

ENHANCING EU ACTION ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN ASIA

By Roger Hood / European Parliament / DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES OF THE UNION, on 1 January 2012


2012

Article


More details See the document

This paper has three objectives. First, it provides an analysis of the state-of-play regarding the death penalty in Asia. Second it reports on EU human rights dialogues. Third, it suggests policies that might help to support initiatives in Asian countries aimed both at restraining the use of the death penalty and securing its complete abolition.

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

Document(s)

Putting Them There, Keeping Them There, and Killing Them: An Analysis of State-Level Variations in Death Penalty Intensity

By William S. Lofquist / Iowa Law Review, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

The landscape of the American death penalty is diverse. Though death penalty attitudes show a remarkable and increasing degree of homogeneity by region, race, gender, religion, and other factors, the actual practice of the death penalty varies substantially from region to region, and even from state to state. While these variations are widely recognized, they are not widely studied or understood. The lack of attention paid to the actual practice of the death penalty in different states and regions, the patterns that contribute to its use, and the factors associated with these patterns represents a substantial and troubling gap in our knowledge of an issue as widely studied as the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

ICCPR Case Law on Detention, the Prohibition of Cruel Treatment and Some Issues Pertaining to the Death Row Phenomenon

By Eva Rieter / Journal of the Institute of Justice and International Studies, on 1 January 2002


Article


More details See the document

This paper discusses some case law on detention issues by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) that supervises the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as HRC case law on the so-called “death row phenomenon,” which involves forcing a person to live under conditions that spawn intense fear, distress, and the virtual destruction of the personality while awaiting execution.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Phenomenon,

Document(s)

FINAL DECLARATION – 7th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 129 Ko ]

FINAL DECLARATION7TH World Congress Against the Death PenaltyBrussels, 1st March 2019

Document(s)

Siting the Death Penalty Internationally

By Valerie West / David F. Greenberg / Law and Social Inquiry, on 1 January 2008


2008

Article


More details See the document

We examine sources of variation in possession and use of the death penalty using data drawn from 193 nations in order to test theories of punishment. We find the death penalty to be rooted in a country’s legal and political systems, and to be influenced by its religious traditions. A country’s level of economic development, its educational attainment, and its religious composition shape its political institutions and practices, indirectly affecting its use of the death penalty. The article concludes by discussing likely future trends.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Poster – 16th World Day against the Death Penalty

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


2020

Multimedia content


More details Download [ pdf - 2084 Ko ]

Poster of the 16th World Day against the Death Penalty dedicated to living conditions on death row. Dignity For All.

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

Document(s)

A blow to human rights: Taiwan resumes executions: The Death Penalty in Taiwan, 2010

By Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report

zh-hant
More details See the document

This report details the administration of the death penalty in Taiwan. It discusses Taiwans obligations under international law, how executions are carried out, the profile of the condemned, discrimination in the sysem and discusses placing a moratorium on executions in Taiwan.

Document(s)

When the State Kills: Capital Punishment and the American Condition

By Austin Sarat / Princeton University Press, on 1 January 2001


2001

Book

United States


More details See the document

Is capital punishment just? Does it deter people from murder? What is the risk that we will execute innocent people? These are the usual questions at the heart of the increasingly heated debate about capital punishment in America. In this bold and impassioned book, Austin Sarat seeks to change the terms of that debate. Capital punishment must be stopped, Sarat argues, because it undermines our democratic society.Sarat unflinchingly exposes us to the realities of state killing. He examines its foundations in ideas about revenge and retribution. He takes us inside the courtroom of a capital trial, interviews jurors and lawyers who make decisions about life and death, and assesses the arguments swirling around Timothy McVeigh and his trial for the bombing in Oklahoma City. Aided by a series of unsettling color photographs, he traces Americans’ evolving quest for new methods of execution, and explores the place of capital punishment in popular culture by examining such films as Dead Man Walking, The Last Dance, and The Green Mile.Sarat argues that state executions, once used by monarchs as symbolic displays of power, gained acceptance among Americans as a sign of the people’s sovereignty. Yet today when the state kills, it does so in a bureaucratic procedure hidden from view and for which no one in particular takes responsibility. He uncovers the forces that sustain America’s killing culture, including overheated political rhetoric, racial prejudice, and the desire for a world without moral ambiguity. Capital punishment, Sarat shows, ultimately leaves Americans more divided, hostile, indifferent to life’s complexities, and much further from solving the nation’s ills. In short, it leaves us with an impoverished democracy.The book’s powerful and sobering conclusions point to a new abolitionist politics, in which capital punishment should be banned not only on ethical grounds but also for what it does to Americans and what we cherish.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Networks,
Kurdistan without Genocide logo

Member(s)

Kurdistan without Genocide

on 8 September 2023

Kurdistan without Genocide-KWG is non-govermental and non profite orgnisation working for human wright and against the genocide that was established in kurdistan regoing of Iraq in 2013. KWG is working to achive below goals: 1.Getting international recognition for the crimes perpetrated against the Kurdish people. 2.Nationalization of genocide events in Kurdistan to create a human […]

2023

Iraq

Document(s)

Death IS Different: An Editorial Introduction to the Theme Issue.

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


2004

Article

United States


More details See the document

Capital punishment has once again become the focus of intense national debate in the United States. There is increasingly widespread public concern over the propriety of state-sanctioned executions and the legal processes by which they are accomplished. Even in political arenas, where little more than a decade ago commentators could quip that “the electric chair has replaced the American flag as your all-purpose campaign symbol,” many elected officials are voicing second thoughts about capital punishment. The American Bar Association (ABA), among other prestigious groups, has called for a moratorium on executions until, at least, the procedural flaws in the legal process through which death sentencing takes place — what the ABA analysts characterized as a “haphazard maze of unfair practices” — have been identified and remedied. Recent assessments of the scope and seriousness of the problems that plague this process suggest that the task of reforming the system of capital punishment will prove to be a daunting one. For example, James Liebman and his colleagues have presented a sobering picture of what they termed a “broken system” in which the outcomes of capital trials — if judged by their fates in the appellate courts — are legally wrong more often than they are right. And at least one judge declared the federal death penalty unconstitutional because it failed to provide sufficient procedural protections to capital defendants.

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

Document(s)

International Views on the Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Focus, on 1 January 2011


2011

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Life After the Death Penalty: Implications for Retentionnist States

By American Bar Association / Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2017


2017

Multimedia content

United States


More details See the document
  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Moratorium , Public debate, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) Review 2013

By International Commission Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report


More details See the document

The International Commission against theDeath Penalty (ICDP) undertook anumber of activities in 2013 to reinforce andconsolidate the global trend toward abolition ofcapital punishment. This is a full report on ICDP’s workin 2013 as well as statistics on global trends on capital punishment.

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

Document(s)

America has abandoned the death penalty

By The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice / Harvard Law School, on 1 January 2015


2015

Academic report


More details See the document

In 2015, America had the lowest number of executions in 25 years. Of the 28 people executed, 68% suffered from severe mental disabilities or experienced extreme childhood trauma and abuse according to a new report released by Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice. A significant number of the executed individuals had multiple mental impairments. Two individuals were executed despite doubts about their guilt.

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

Document(s)

Advocacy Toolkit on Abolition of the Death Penalty in West Africa

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2016


2016

Lobbying

fr
More details See the document

This toolkit is for the use of activists who are working on the abolition of the death penalty in West Africa. It is intended to equip activists with some key advocacy tools to effectively influence the institutions and individuals who can make abolition a reality.

Document(s)

Broken Justice: The death penalty in Alabama

By Rachel King / American Civil Liberties Union / Alabama, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report


More details See the document

This report documents unfairness and unreliability that plague the death penalty system in Alabama and makes several recommendations, including a moratorium on executions. The major areas of focus the report examines are: Inadequate Defence, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Judicial Overrides, Execution of the Mentallly Retarded, Racial Discrimination, and Geographic Disparities.

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

Document(s)

Discrimination, Torture, and Execution: A Human Rights Analysis of the Death Penalty in California and Louisiana

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Jessica Lee and Susan Hu, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report


More details See the document

This report focuses itsanalysis on discrimination and torture, cruel inhuman and degrading treatment and foundnumerous human rights violations, including the most basic right – the right to life – in theuse of the death penalty in California and Louisiana.

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

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)

Iraq : Twentieth Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review

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


2014

Multimedia content

Iraq


More details See the document

This submission addresses Iraq’s compliance with its human rights obligations withregard to its use of the death penalty. This submission concludes that Iraq cannotguarantee its citizens adequate domestic and international guarantees against the arbitrarydeprivation of life and therefore should abolish the death penalty.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Iraq
  • Themes list Fair Trial, Arbitrariness,

Document(s)

Advocacy Toolkit: Abolition Of The Death Penalty In Africa

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2019


2019

Lobbying


More details See the document

This advocacy toolkit is for the use of activists working on the abolition of the death penalty in Africa. It is intended to equip them with some key advocacy tools to effectively influence the institutions and individuals who can make abolition a reality in the region.

  • Document type Lobbying

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2011. Shared responsibility and shared consequences.

By Patrick Gallahue / Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

The Global Overview 2011. It provides a country-by-country analysis of the death penalty for drugs, and is intended to inform policy-makers of the potential for change as well as to shed some light on the environments in which the international fight against illicit drugs is pursued.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

America’s Experiment With Capital Punishment: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of the Ultimate Penal Sanction

By Carol S. Steiker / James R. Acker / Jordan M. Steiker / Richard J. Wilson / Robert Blecker / Stephen B. Bright / Charles S. Lanier / Robert M. Bohm / Carolina Academic Press / Ernest van den Haag / Ruth D. Peterson / William C. Bailey / Jon Sorensen / James Marquart / Victor L., on 8 September 2020


2020

Book

United States


More details See the document

The second edition of America’s Experiment with Capital Punishment is an updated and expanded version of the comprehensive first edition. Chapters, authored by the country’s leading legal and social science scholars, have been revised to include a host of important developments since the 1998 edition. Thus, new evidence and information is presented concerning racial disparities in the administration of the death penalty, wrongful convictions, deterrence, the prediction of future dangerousness, jury decision-making, public opinion about the death penalty, the effects of the capital punishment process on murder victims’ and offenders’ relatives, death row incarceration, the costs of capital punishment, execution methods, and many other issues.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in 2019: Year End Report

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document

The US death penalty usage remains near record lows in 2019.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Due Process , Innocence, Statistics,

Document(s)

Chinas Death Penalty: History, Law and Contemporary Practices

By Terance D. Miethe / Hong Lu / Routledge, on 1 January 2007


2007

Book

China


More details See the document

This book examines the death penalty within the changing socio-political context of China. The authors’ treatment of China’s death penalty is legal, historical, and comparative. In particular, they examine; the substantive and procedures laws surrounding capital punishment in different historical periods the purposes and functions of capital punishment in China in various dynasties changes in the method of imposition and relative prevalence of capital punishment over time the socio-demographic profile of the executed and their crimes over the last two decades and comparative practices in other countries. Their analyses of the death penalty in contemporary China focus on both its theory – how it should be done in law – and actual practice – based on available secondary reports/sources.

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

Document(s)

Why Do White Americans Support the Death Penalty?

By Journal of Politics / Alan R. Metelko / Laura Langbein, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in 2016: video summary of DPIC Year End Report.

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report


More details See the document

DPIC’s 2016 Year-End Report: another record decline in death penalty use in the US. A video summary of the report.

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

Document(s)

Does the death penalty give victims closure? Science says no

By Linda Lewis Griffith / San Luis Obispo Tribune, on 1 January 2019


2019

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article deals with one of the main arguments of defenders of the capital sentence: is the death penalty a source of relief for the victims?

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2019

By Harm Reduction International / Giada Girelli, on 1 January 2020


2020

NGO report


More details See the document

Harm Reduction International (HRI) has monitored the use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since our first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007. This report, our ninth on the subject, continues our work of providing regular updates on legislative, policy and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international law.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

Deterrence and the Death Penalty

By The National Academies Press / John V. Pepper, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book


More details See the document

Many studies during the past few decades have sought to determine whether the death penalty has any deterrent effect on homicide rates. Researchers have reached widely varying, even contradictory, conclusions. Some studies have concluded that the threat of capital punishment deters murders, saving large numbers of lives; other studies have concluded that executions actually increase homicides; still others, that executions have no effect on murder rates. Commentary among researchers, advocates, and policymakers on the scientific validity of the findings has sometimes been acrimonious.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Deterrence ,

Document(s)

Not “Waiving” But Drowning: The Anatomy of Death Row Syndrome and Volunteering for Execution

By Amy Smith / Boston University Public Interest Law Journal, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

Within the international community, other countries have recognized the potential for harm caused by our current system, and as a result have refused to extradite back to the United States individuals who might face the death penalty. These countries cite not only the possibility of execution as reason for refusal, but the waiting process which attends that death as a separate, independent violation of human rights. If we remain unpersuaded by the international community, the behavioral trends of those individuals awaiting execution are telling as well. Within one week in 2008, two individuals awaiting death in Texas committed suicide, reflecting the heightened suicide rates on death row, estimated at ten times greater than those in society at large and several times greater than those in a general prison population. In addition, the widely-recognized practice of “volunteering” for execution permits condemned inmates to waive their state and federally mandated rights to appeal in order to speed up the execution process, in essence “volunteering” to be executed.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Death Row Phenomenon, Extradition,

Document(s)

Wounds That Do Not Bind: Victim-based Perspectives on the Death Penalty

By James R. Acker / David R. Karp / Carolina Academic Press, on 1 January 2006


2006

Book

United States


More details See the document

This book examines how family members and advocates for victims address the impact of capital punishment. The book presents the personal stories of victims’ family members and their interactions with the criminal justice system. It also examines the relevant areas of legal research, including the use of victim impact evidence in capital trials, how capital punishment affects victims’ family members, and what is known about addressing the needs of the survivors after a murder.

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

Document(s)

Malay : Poster – 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty (Malay)

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


2020

Multimedia content

enenarfarufrzh-hantes
More details Download [ pdf - 35 Ko ]

Document(s)

Poster – 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty (Black and White)

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


Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 35 Ko ]

17th World Day Against the Death Penalty Poster in black and white

Document(s)

German : Poster – 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty (German)

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


Multimedia content

enenarfarufrzh-hantes
More details Download [ pdf - 34 Ko ]

Document(s)

Fact Sheet – Death Penalty in the Caribbean

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


Academic report

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 437 Ko ]

Detailed information on the death penalty in the Greater Caribbean

Document(s)

UN advocacy: the universal periodic review – Death penalty

By The Advocates for Human Rights / Amy Bergquist / Rosalyn Park / Jennifer Prestholdt, on 8 September 2020


Academic report


More details See the document

PowerPoint presentation used at The Advocates for Human Rights’ training session on death penalty advocacy for the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review of human rights. See also the video of the presentation here.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list International law,

Document(s)

Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures

By Oxford University Press / Beth A. Berkowitz, on 1 January 2006


2006

Book


More details See the document

In this book Beth Berkowitz tells the story of modern scholarship on the ancient rabbinic death penalty and continues the story by offering a fresh perspective using the approaches of ritual studies, cultural criticism, and talmudic source criticism. Against the scholarly consensus, Berkowitz argues that the rabbinic laws of the death penalty were used by the early Rabbis in their efforts to establish themselves in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. The purpose of the laws, she contends, was to create a complex ritual of execution that was controlled by the Rabbis, thus bolstering their claims to authority in the context of Roman imperial domination.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Religion ,

Document(s)

Against Capital Punishment: The Anti-Death Penalty Movement in America, 1972-1994

By Oxford University Press / Herbert H. Haines, on 8 September 1999


1999

Book

United States


More details See the document

While most western democracies have renounced the death penalty, capital punishment enjoys vast and growing support in the United States. A significant and vocal minority, however, continues to oppose it. Against Capital Punishment is the first full account of anti-death penalty activism in America during the years since the ten-year moratorium on executions ended.

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

Document(s)

Failure to Apply the Flynn Correction in Death Penalty Litigation: Standard Practice of Today Maybe, but Certainly Malpractice of Tomorrow

By John E. Wright / John Niland / Cecil R. Reynolds / Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment / Michal Rosenn, on 1 January 2010


2010

Article

United States


More details See the document

The Flynn Effect is a well documented phenomenon demonstrating score increases on IQ measures over time that average about 0.3 points per year. Normative adjustments to scores derived from IQ measures normed more than a year or so prior to the time of testing an individual have become controversial in several settings but especially so in matters of death penalty litigation. Here we make the argument that if the Flynn Effect is real, then a Flynn Correction should be applied to obtained IQs in order to obtain the most accurate estimate of IQ possible. To fail to provide the most accurate estimate possible in matters that are truly life and death decisions seems wholly indefensible.

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

Document(s)

Executing the Innocent: the Next Step in the Marshall Hypotheses

By Eric G. Lambert / Alen W. Clarke / New York University (NYU) / Laurie Anne Whitt, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article

United States


More details See the document

The study results indicate that when test subjects, many of whom are likely retributivists, are presented with information about the problem of innocence, the drop in support for capital punishment spans all points on the Likert scale. Our study suggests that more rigorous testing may demonstrate that an individual’s knowledge of the “innocence problem” can generate more profond changes in attitudes toward the death penalty than indicted by previous studies of the marshall Hypotheses.

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

Article(s)

Sudan Repeals Capital Punishment for Homosexuality

By Louis Linel, on 31 July 2020

Sudan repealed the death penalty for homosexuality and apostasy

2020

Sudan

Document(s)

Death Penalty Can Prolong the Suffering of a Vicitm’s Family

By Death Penalty Focus, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

United States


More details See the document

Many family members who have lost loved ones to murder feel that the death penalty will not heal their wounds nor will it end their pain. This webpage provides resources for those looking to connect with murder victims’ families organisations.

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty and Deterrence

By Amnesty International - USA, on 8 September 2020


Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

An argument against deterrence is made by looking at a survey which found that during the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48 to 101 percent higher than in states without the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

International Law Issues in Death Penalty Defense

By Richard J. Wilson / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

This short article will explore some additional issues regarding the relationship between international law and the death penalty. First, it will discuss some additional aspects of the representation of foreign nationals in capital cases. Second, it will discuss additional instances in which defense counsel can make international law arguments, regardless of the client’s nationality. Third, because international law issues are new to most lawyers in the United States, even those who are seasoned in capital litigation, it will suggest some alternative ways in which international law arguments can be made. The conclusion will put theUnited States experience with the death penalty into the broader context of world practice on the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Barbados: Death Penalty Stakeholder Report for the Universal Periodic Review

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2017


2017

NGO report


More details See the document
  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list International law, Member organizations, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Reporting on the death penalty: training resource for journalists

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

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

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

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)

Training Resource: Reporting on the Death Penalty

on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

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

Document(s)

China: The Olympics Countdown: Repression of activists overshadows death penalty and media reforms

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2007


2007

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

Amnesty International remains deeply concerned that several senior Chinese officials continue to use ‘strike hard’ policies to constrain the legitimate activities of a range of peaceful activists, including journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders. This report updates concerns in these areas, illustrated by the experiences of several individuals who have been detained or imprisoned in violation of their fundamental human rights. The failure of the Chinese authorities to address the legal and institutional weaknesses that allow such violations to flourish continues to hamper efforts to strengthen rule of law in China.

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)

Unjust and Unwanted: Malaysia’s Mandatory Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Project, on 8 September 2020


Multimedia content

Malaysia


More details See the document

Malaysia is one of only a handful of countries around the world that continues to retain a mandatory death penalty. The newly elected Malaysian government has promised to abolish mandatory death sentences and other “oppressive laws”. This short animation sheds light on what the mandatory death penalty is, what the Malaysian public think about it and why it is time to consign this abhorrent punishment to history.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Malaysia
  • Themes list Public opinion, Drug Offences, Mandatory Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Ten myths and facts about the death penalty

By Reprieve / Clive Stafford Smith , on 1 January 2011


2011

Campaigning


More details See the document

Every 3 hours someone is put to death by their government. Is this justice? Watch first-hand testimonies by Reprieve lawyers and clients. Read ten hard facts about the death penalty. Decide for yourself.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Public debate, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Myth #2 – The death penalty reduces crime

By Reprieve / Clive Stafford Smith , on 8 September 2020


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 #3 – The death penalty saves money

By Reprieve / Clive Stafford Smith , on 8 September 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)

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 #10 – The death penalty is not political

By Reprieve / Emmanuelle Purdon , on 8 September 2020


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)

Iran : 20 th Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review

By Iran Human Rights (IHR) / World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / The Advocates for Human Rights / Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran / Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran-Geneva (KMMK-G), on 1 January 2014


2014

Multimedia content

Iran (Islamic Republic of)


More details See the document

Thisreport examines the imposition of the death penalty in Iran in light of international human rightsstandards.This report will also examine and discuss the judicial process applied in casesinvolving punishment by the death penalty.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  • Themes list Due Process , Fair Trial, International law,

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)

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


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)

Making the Last Chance Meaningful: Predecessor Counsel’s Ethical Duty to the Capital Defendant

By Lawrence J. Fox / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

The thesis of this paper is that lawyers who have represented clients in capital murder cases at trial and appeal—not unlike all criminal trial and initial appeal counsel, but more urgently because of the circumstances—continue to owe important obligations to their former clients. These obligations have been just recently included in the latest version of the American Bar Association’s Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death PenaltyCases: In accordance with professional norms, all persons who are or have been members of the defense team have a continuing duty to safeguard the interests of the client and should cooperate fully with successor counsel. This duty includes, but is not limited to: A. maintaining the records of the case in a manner that will inform successor counsel of all significant developments relevant to the litigation; B. providing the client’s files, as well as information regarding all aspects of the representation, to successor counsel; C. sharing potential further areas of legal and factual research with successor counsel; and D. cooperating with such professionally appropriate legal strategies as may be chosen by successor counsel. It is my hope that this article will demonstrate that these Guidelines reflect not just best practice, but actual ethical mandates that trial counsel, like Bryan Saunders, owe their former clients as those clients negotiate the jurisprudential maze known as habeas corpus.

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