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Official secrecy surrounds the death penalty in Tajikistan. The picture that Amnesty International has been able to build is incomplete, yet alarming. With random and relentless cruelty, prisoners are executed in secret after unfair trials, with no warning to their families. According to the evidence gathered by Amnesty International, none of the prisoners sentenced to death in Tajikistan received a fair trial. Most, if not all, were tortured. Several different prisoners have given detailed accounts naming the same investigator, but no action has apparently been taken to investigate the truth of these allegations. Testimony extracted under torture has been admitted as evidence and used to condemn prisoners to death.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Tajikistan
• Themes list Transparency, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages ТАДЖИКИСТАН: СМЕРТЕЛЬНЫЕ ТАЙНЫ

Amnesty International is alarmed by the recent dramatic rise in the reported imposition of the death penalty in Viet Nam, particularly for drugs-related offences and other economic crimes. It believes that the continuing use of the death penalty in Viet Nam is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and a breach of the right to life and that the conditions surrounding its imposition in Viet Nam are in contravention of international human rights standards. In this report Amnesty is calling on the Vietnamese Government to immediately establish a moratorium on all executions, while taking steps towards total abolition of the death penalty in accordance with international standards and United Nations recommendations.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Viet Nam
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages République Socialiste Du Viêt-Nam : La peine de port - inhumaine et inefficaceRepública Socialista de Vietnam: La pena de muerte - inhumana e ineficaz

Belarus is the last country in Europe and in the former Soviet Union that is still carrying out executions. Since gaining its independence from the USSR in 1991 Belarus has taken some significant steps towards ending the use of the death penalty. The information in this report has been gathered over more than two decades of work monitoring the practice of the death penalty in Belarus.

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

The attached report analyses the use of the death penalty in China in 2000 and examines sentencing patterns and the legislation behind the death penalty in China.

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

This briefing follows the first executions in Indonesia in more than three years. Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey, an Indian national convicted of drug-trafficking in 1994, was executed by firing squad. Two Thai nationals, Saelow Prasert (m) and Namsong Sirilak (f), who had been sentenced to death in the same case, were executed on 1 October 2004. A total of at least 54 people are currently believed to be under sentence of death in Indonesia, 30 of them for drug-related offences. Amnesty International is concerned that these recent developments reflect an increasing willingness by the authorities to use the death penalty to address crime, in particular drug-trafficking. The organization is also concerned about calls to expand the number of crimes for which the death penalty may be imposed.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Indonesian : Indonesia: Urusan tentang pidana mati

This report analyses the use of the death penalty in China and examines sentencing patterns and the legislation behind the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list China
• Themes list Networks, Statistics,
• Available languages République Populaire de Chine: La peine de mort en 1999

This document provides a summary of the report “Uzbekistan: “Justice only in heaven” – the death penalty in Uzbekistan” (EUR 62/011/2003).

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Uzbekistan
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages OUZBÉKISTAN : Procès iniques et exécutions tenues secrètesUzbekistán: Juicios sin garantías y ejecuciones secretas : Este documento es un resumen del informe de Amnistía Internacional titulado “Justice only in heaven” - the death penalty in Uzbekistan

In the context of the “war on terror”, US officials have authorized and condoned interrogation techniques and detention conditions that violate the international prohibition on torture. Yet officials have at the same time claimed to be committed to treating detainees humanely. Amnesty International now urges President Bush, in addition to reconsideration of his administration’s approach to the treatment of detainees in US custody at home and abroad, to reconsider his support for the death penalty.

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

This report gives details of the national picture of the execution of juveniles, looking particularly at how two key decisions of the US Supreme Court have widened the gap between the USA and most other countries on this issue. The report examines the arguments used by those who oppose the execution of juvenile offenders and provides an overview of the international situation on the use of the death penalty against child offenders.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles,

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.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Beheading,
• Available languages صفعة في وجه العدالة:عقوبة الإعدام في المملكة العربية السعودية

در دوراني که حرکت به سوي لغو مجازات اعدام در سراسر جهان رو به گسترش است، تمايز جمهوري اسلامي ايران در تعداد زياد اعدام هايي است که در شرايطي آشکارا ناقض�? موازين بين المللي حقوق بشر انجام مي پذيرد. محاکمه های ناعادلانه، اعدام نوجوانان، هد�? گیری اقلیت های قومی و مذهبی… مجازات اعدام در نقض آشکار تعهدات ایران بر اساس قانون بین المللی حقوق بشر انجام می پذیرد.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Minorities, Fair Trial, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Iran/death penalty: A state terror policy

The present report shows that, although the formal judicial process which leads to the imposition of the death penalty is theoretically in accordance with the international legal standards, serious miscarriages of justice can result in condemnations to the capital punishment. By lasting up to 84 days, the long police custody creates conditions that favour possible cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments. The difficult access to legal aid, both during police custody and the trial process, does not provide sufficient safeguards that the rights of the defence are fully respected. The conditions of detention in prisons, and notably the fact that death row inmates are chained 24 hours a day, may amount to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

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

This report is the outcome of a fact-finding mission conducted by FIDH in July 2008, in order to assess the measures taken by the Japanese government to implement the recommendations made by a previous investigation, conducted in 2003.The conclusions of the report are appalling. According to Florence Bellivier, General Secretary of FIDH “Japan continues to condemn criminals to death, and incarcerate them up for decades, in prisons where secrecy and isolation are commonplace, in total disregard of the world opinion”. In addition, the rhythm of the executions has accelerated over the recent years. “2008 has been a record year, with more executions this year than in any other of the last fifteen years. We are witnessing a real step backwards” added Dan Van Raemdonck, Vice-President of FIDH. Thirteen persons have been executed since the beginning of the year, and 102 are currently on death row. There has not been a single retrial of a death penalty case since 1986, and no convicted prisoner has been pardoned since 1975.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Japan
• Themes list Transparency, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages La peine de mort au Japon: la loi du silence - À contre-courant de la tendance internationale

Pakistan ranks among the countries in the world which issue the most death sentences: currently, over 7,400 prisoners are lingering on death row. In recent years, Pakistan has witnessed a significant increase in charges carrying capital punishment, in convictions to death, as well as in executions. The HRCP and FIDH find that the application of death penalty in Pakistan falls far below international standards. In particular, they find that, given the very serious defects of the law itself, of the administration of justice, of the police service, the chronic corruption and the cultural prejudices affecting women and religious minorities, capital punishment in Pakistan is discriminatory and unjust, and allows for a high probability of miscarriages of justice, which is wholly unacceptable in any civilised society, but even more so when the punishment is irreversible. At every step, from arrest to trial to execution, the safeguards against miscarriage of justice are weak or non-existent, and the possibility that innocents have been or will be executed remains frighteningly high.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process , Discrimination,

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

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

Violations of due process in the case of prisoners condemned to death. There are known cases of torture carried out by agents of the State and there is no legal provision that allows the Executive branch to grant a pardon and, subsequently, to commute a death sentence. The Guatemalan State has executed various individuals despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had petitioned for precautionary measures; this constitutes a flagrant and recurrent violation of Guatemala’s international human rights commitments.The Guatemalan State, in addition to not having adequate public policies for prisons, also has no laws regulating prisons and conditions of detention, in spite of the fact that various UN instruments are devoted to that question.

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

Individuals are regularly sentenced to death in murder cases, but no statistics are published about the number of condemnations. Under the Tanzanian Penal Code, the death sentence remains a mandatory penalty for murder while it can also be applied for treason. As of April 2003, 370 persons (359 males and 11 females) were awaiting execution in the prisons of mainland Tanzania in conditions that might amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. There are a number of dysfunctions in the Tanzanian legal system, which seems to represent a threat to the rule of law, and an obstacle to reform: the unwillingness of the Executive to have its decisions challenged in judicial proceedings, and; the existence of a Penal System essentially based on retaliation towards the offenders rather than rehabilitation ; e.g. corporal punishments can still be applied for numerous offences, in spite of the fact that they clearly violate international and regional human rights instruments. Furthermore, pervasive corruption in the police and the judiciary represents a serious threat to the due process of law, including in death penalty cases.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Transparency, Mandatory Death Penalty,
• Available languages Swahili : Tanzania: Adhabu ya Kifo Imerasimishwa?Tanzanie: La peine de mort institutionnalisée

The report notably points to the great number of crimes which entail the death penalty in Egypt and to the fact that civilians may be tried by military courts, sentenced to death and executed without delay, in violation of the rights of the defence and sometimes in abstentia. The only remedy is the unlikely pardon of the President of the Republic. Confessions obtained under duress are often accepted in court and form the basis of the sentence. The FIDH report recommends to the Egyptian authorities to put an immediate end to the state of emergency which, after 23 years, is no longer justified in Egypt today; the state of emergency is conducive to serious violations of human rights, including administrative detention without any effective judicial control, unfair trials of civilians before military courts, and widespread torture of detainees, including during the pre-trial stage. The Egyptian authorities should inquire into all allegations of torture and bring to justice those responsible.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages عقوبة العدام في مصرLa peine de mort en Egypte

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 type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Tchad, Peine de mort: la levée d'un moratoire, entre opportunisme sécuritaire et règlement de compte

This document looks back at the death penalty in 2007 beginning with the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission releasing its final report recommending abolition and concluding with the UN General Assembly passing a landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium. It includes death by electrocution; abolition; execution, commutation and stay of execution; mental illness; child rape as well as geographical and colour bias.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Networks, Statistics,
• Available languages Estados Unidos: Rompiendo con un hábito letal - Un repaso a la pena de muerte en 2007

Despite the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations’ efforts towards improving the defence system, Japanese prisoners – especially those sentenced to death – do not receive a fair trial.The Daiyo Kangoku practice is one amongst several practices which allows suspects to be detained in police stations for 23 days, contravening the rules of a fair trial. Confessions, which can be obtained through strong pressure, give police the basis for accusation. Furthermore, the conditions on death row themselves amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments: Once the death sentence has been delivered, the prisoner is held in solitary confinement. Detainees have extremely limited contact with families and lawyers and meetings are closely monitored. Above all, prisoners live with the constant fear of never knowing if today will be their last day. The prisoner is informed that the execution will take place on the very same day, and family members are notified the following day.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Japanese : 死刑民主主義国家にあるまじき行為La peine de mort au Japon, une pratique indigne d'une démocratie

Any potential increase in executions or lobbying for the death penalty as a result of the use of lethal injection is of serious concern. The increased pressure on medical professionals to participate in executions also raises serious ethical and human rights issues. This paper reviews developments with respect to lethal injection executions over the past decade.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Lethal Injection, Statistics,
• Available languages Ejecución por inyección letal: Un cuarto de siglo de muertes por envenenamiento a manos del Estado

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 type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages RÉPUBLIQUE POPULAIRE DE CHINE: La peine capitale en Chine : nouveaux records et nouvelles transgressions de la loiREPÚBLICA POPULAR CHINA: La pena de muerte en China: Batir récords abatiendo vidas

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 type NGO report
• Themes list International law, Public opinion,
• Available languages Chine: À l'approche des Jeux olympiques, les réformes concernant la peine capitale et les medias sont occultées par la répression contre les militantsRepública Popular de China:La cuenta atrás para los Juegos Olímpicos: La represión de activistas ensombrece las reformas sobre la pena de muerte y los medios de comunicación

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,

The attached Log gives available details of death sentences and executions occurring in China throughout 1999.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,

This document reports on the use of the death penalty in Uzbekistan. It looks at the scope of the death penalty and the current hurdles to its abolition. The report also examines those factors which commonly lead to judicial error – the use of arbitrary detention and torture, unfair trials and corruption.The latter part of the report looks at the conditions for prisoners on death row and the suffering inflicted by the state on the families of those sentenced to death.

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

This document focuses on the significant developments and events – both negative and positive – in the struggle against the death penalty in 2006. It includes steps towards abolition; horrific state killings; executions after unfair trials, including that of Saddam Hussein; the growing global campaign for abolition, and the political courage needed to rid the world of judicial state killing.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks, Statistics,
• Available languages Halte aux hommicides commis par l'étatPena de muerte: Poner fin al homicidio estatal

This document contains Amnesty International’s written observations to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on legislative or other measures denying judicial or other effective recourse to challenge the death penalty; in the matter of a request by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (article 64(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights) and in the matter of legislative measures concerning the mandatory imposition of the death penalty and related matters.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Right to life, Mandatory Death Penalty,
• Available languages Proteger el derecho a la vida frente a la pena de muerte. Observaciones escritas a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos respecto de las medidas legislativas o de otra índole que niegan un recurso judicial u otro recurso efectivo para impugnar la pena de muerte

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,

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

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

The Arizona Justice Project will use this questionnaire to decide whether your case qualifies for assistance under the DNA testing grant, provided by the National Institute of Justice.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Cusestionario Inicial del Proceso de Revision para subsidio de Casos de ADN

The report describes the federal forensic oversight program; outlines the problems that have plagued the program since its inception (with specific examples): Explains the consequences of the federal government’s inadequate administration of the program; shows how forensic negligence and misconduct lead to wrongful convictions; and gives specific recommendations for what the federal government, states and individuals can do to strengthen forensic oversight.

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

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

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

Are you stressing about finding that perfect speaker for your next event? Worried that the speaker be inspirational, educational, and entertaining all at the same time? Look no further. We are awaiting your call to help you organize an unforgettable and unique experience for your audience.

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

The enduring images of exonerees are of vindicated individuals reunited with family and friends in a moment of happiness and relief, tearful men embraced by supporters who have long fought for their release.We think of these moments as conclusions, but really they’re the start of a new story, one that social science is beginning to tell about how exonerees are greeted by their communities, their homes, and their families, and how they cope with the injustice of their confinement and rebuild their lives on the outside.

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

It’s an accepted principle of fairness in our society to compensate citizens who, through no fault of their own, have suffered losses. When a person’s land has been seized for public use, they receive adequate repayment. Crime victims and their families receive financial compensation in all 50 states. Yet, strangely, the wrongfully imprisoned, who lose property, jobs, freedom, reputation, family, friends and more do not receive compensation in 23 states of the nation. These recommendations for state compensation laws have been developed by the Innocence Project after years of working with exonerees and their families, legislators, social workers and psychologists.

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

Poster for tomorrow is an independent, non-profit international project whose goal is to encourage people, both in and outside the design community, to make posters to stimulate debate on issues that affect us all.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Networks,

Using faith to combat the death penalty: This document has sermons, prayers and services, essays, views on the death penalty, resources for discussion and action, resources for next steps.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

A resource centre for students researching the death penalty. It provides student essays as an example on how to write an essay on the death penalty. It also contains a contact list of – death row inmates, activists, jurists, families of inmates, and others that have agreed to make themselves available to answer students’ questions regarding capital punishment.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

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,

House parties are a great way to educate friends, recruit new supporters, generate action, and raise funds for EJUSA’s work. This activity is perfect for people who like throwing parties anyway – whether large or small. Contact EJUSA for help with planning, materials, or to arrange a speaker or video for your event.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

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

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,

The Guide should be useful to people in all sectors who wish to improve policies and programs through advocacy.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,

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

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

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

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

This file is relevant to the US, giving a list of states where governors can grant clemency, where the governor must have recommendations of clemency and where governors recieve a non-binding recommendation of clemency.

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

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

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

This article briefly explores the underpinnings of the contemporary capital punishment moratorium movement and examines executive and legislative responses to calls for a halt to executions, including suggestions for studying the death penalty process. Although most investigations focus on select issues like innocence, ineffective counsel, and race bias, this article suggests that a wide-ranging constellation of issues should be investigated in any legitimate attempt to evaluate the administration of the death penalty. The article canvasses this broader sweep of issues, discusses related research evidence, and then considers the policy implications of conducting such a thorough empirical assessment of the administration of capital punishment in this country.

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

In the latter quarter of the 20th century, the United States Supreme Court has generally refused to narrow the procedural and substantive conditions under which adults may be sentenced to death for capital murder. The current status of social science evidence is briefly reviewed to evaluate the Court’s treatment of 3 specific categories of evidence: The death-qualified jury, prejudicial capital sentencing, and juror comprehension of capital-sentencing instructions. The role of perceptions of public opinion in the perseverance of capital punishment statutes is considered. It appears that the Court, in general, does not place much weight on social science evidence. Suggestions are made for future areas of research and practice for social scientists interested in capital punishment.

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

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,

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

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

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

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

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

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

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty

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

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

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

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

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

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

This document briefly goes through the steps involved in a death penalty case, from the point of arrest to judge sentences.

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

This document describes who is elgible for Death Qualification, Jury Selection, and what death qualification entails.

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

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

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

This document provides a list of the members of the Arab League and the origins of the organisation. It also describes its composition and provides contact information.

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

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

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Deterrence ,

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

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Innocence,

Listing of verifiable executions worldwide reported per month.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,

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

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

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

• Document type NGO report

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

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

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,

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

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

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is one of the world’s principal regional human rights bodies.It promotes democratic elections, respect for human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and the rule of law. ODIHR is the human rights institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), an intergovernmental body working for stability, prosperity and democracy in its 56 participating States.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Polish : Czym jest ODIHR?Greek : Τι είναι το ODIHR;German : Was ist das ODIHR?Что такое БДИПЧ?Qu’est-ce que le BIDDH?

Europe faces new threats and challenges. The OSCE, with its multi-faceted approach to security, offers the region a forum for political dialogue and negotiations and a platform for multilateral partnerships that pursue practical work on the ground.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages German : Was ist die OSZE?Italian : COS’È L’OSCE?Что такое ОБСЕ?Qu’est-ce que l’OSCE ?¿QUÉ ES LA OSCE?

The purpose of this Manual for Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities, prepared by the Department of International Affairs, is to clarify the mechanisims through which CSOs can participate in OAS activities and contribute to the formulation of hemispheric policies. In addition, the Manual provides a summary of the structure and work areas of the Organization as well as the guiding principles for CSO participation.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Manual para la Participación de la Sociedad Civil en las Actividades de la OEA

The following form, prepared by the Commission’s Executive Secretariat, is intended to make it easier for victims of violations, their family members, organizations of civil society or other persons to file complaints alleging human rights violations by OAS member States.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Instrucciones: Formulario para Presentar Peticiones sobre Violaciones a los Derechos HumanosInstructions: Formule de Plainte Relative à des Allégations de Violation des Droits de la PersonnePortuguese : Instruções: FORMULÁRIO PARA APRESENTAR PETIÇÃO SOBREVIOLAÇÕES DOS DIREITOS HUMANOS

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

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages German : Einleitung durch die Kontaktgruppe der Europäischen Zivilgesellschaft : Ein Leitfaden für die ZusammenarbeitIntroduction du Groupe de Contact de la Société Civile: Un guide de partenariat

This document provides a quick overview of ASEAN, going through its aims and purposes, fundamental principles, its community and its charter.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Networks,

The League of Arab States is composed of the independent Arab states which have signed this Charter.

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

This document provides state by state information in the United States regarding laws that govern the death penalty.

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

Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights was launched on international human rights day, 2004, by a group of victims’ family members who oppose the death penalty and have extensive speaking and organizing experience in the United States and around the world. Through their statements, testimony, and educational materials, MVFHR members let policymakers and the general public know that it is possible to be both pro-victim and anti-death penalty. The response to one human rights violation should not be another human rights violation. We honor victims by preventing violence, not by perpetuating it.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Familias de Víctimas de Homicidio por los Derechos HumanosFamilles de Victimes de Meurtre pour les Droits de l'Homme BrochureJapanese : 人権のための殺人被害者遺族の会Italian : Famiglie Delle Vittime Di Omicidio Per I Diritti Umani

This is a document which can be used for those petitioning to have DNA evidence re-examined. Specific to Arizona but can be used as a guide in other jurisdictions.

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

A leaflet detailing the facts that law enforcement should be aware of; how the system prolongs suffering of the victim’s family, mistakes that have been made, the uneven application of the death penalty – these amongst other topics are explored to inform law enforcement about the facts of the death penalty.

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

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,

The San Diego chapter of California People of Faith Working Against the DeathPenalty educates and mobilizes faith communities to act to abolish the death penalty in California. We are a nonpartisan, statewide, interfaith organization. As communities of faith, we join together to take responsibility for the killing of our citizens by the State of California. As people of faith, we know that the God/Wisdom of all faiths calls us to something more: a high and often difficult standard of love, forgiveness and justice that is rooted not in retribution but rather in redemption and restoration. The death penalty denies the sacredness of human life. Spiritually, the death penalty diminishes us all. As we invest in vengeance in this society, we divest ourselves of compassion. As we support retribution, we neglect restorative justice. We cannot be a community of compassion and unity if we choose to destroy one another. And we should not allow the State to do it for us.

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

California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CCV) is made up of families, friends, and loved ones of murder victims who support alternatives to the death penalty.

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

The common assumption is that all victims’ family members support the death penalty. We cannot expect to abolish the death penalty without presenting an alternative view. Victims’ voices have a powerful effect – lawmakers have voted against the death penalty as a result of hearing victims’ testify for abolition. Including victims’ stories when working for abolition is strategically wise and is essential to bringing new people into the abolition movement. Here are a few suggestions. We encourage activists to consult with MVFHR for further guidance.

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

Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, or submitting a story to a local blog, is a great way to fight the continued use of the death penalty. This site gives helpful tips on how to write such a letter.

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

This document outlines the functions of the Commission, how to make presentations in front of the Commission, the procedures of examining the communication and the recommendations of the Commission.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Ligne Directrices pour la Commission Africaine des Droits de l'Hommes et des PeuplesProcedure (de la Communication de la Commission Africaine des Droits de l'Homme et Des Peuples)Procedure (Communications Procedure of the African Commission for Human and Peoples rights)

This booklet explains why it is important to write letters to the editor as a platform for distributing information to the public. It provides a guide to good letter writing.

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

What do we do when things go wrong? When our computers break down and annihilate years of hard work? When our emails do not reach the addressees or when we cannot access a website? How do we react to a news story of a virus damaging computers around the world, or to an email purportedly from a friend, asking to open the attached file? Uninformed decisions lead to bad choices, and blind reliance on technology often results in costly mistakes. This book is not aimed at a computer wizard. Its purposes are educating ordinary computer users and providing them with solutions to problems of privacy and security in a modern digital environment.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Viêt Namese : Những biến chuyển về mặt Pháp Lý về sự riêng tư trên Internet và quyền tự do ngôn luận ảnh hưởng đến công việc và sự an toàn của những nhà Đấu Tranh Nhân Quyền toàn cầu.Seguridad y Provicidad Digital para los Defendores de los Derechos Humanos

This booklet provides hints and tips for effective e-activism. It includes chapters about the use of petitions, widgets, email use, letters, social networking sites, blogs, photos and videos as well as becoming an online volunteer.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Outils et Astuces pour un Cybermilitantisme EfficaceHerramientas y Sugerencias pars un Ciberactivismo Eficaz

Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society is addressed to the civil society actors who, every day in every part of the world, contribute to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights. Developed following a survey among users of the first edition of the Handbook—Working with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: A Handbook for NGOs (2006)—this comprehensively updated and revised second edition puts United Nations human rights bodies and mechanisms at its centre. Speaking to all civil society actors, including but not only non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Handbook explains how civil society can engage with various United Nations human rights bodies and mechanisms. It is the hope of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that this Handbook will enable more people to enjoy and make claim to their human rights through these bodies and mechanisms.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Как работать по Программе ООН в области прав человека Справочник для гражданского обществаTravailler avec le Programme des Nations Unies pour les Droits de l’Homme: Un Manuel pour la Société Civile参与联合国人权事务 民间社会手册Trabajando con el Programa de las Naciones Unidas en el ámbito de los Derechos Humanos Un manual para la sociedad civil

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was established by the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Court’s Protocol). The Court’s mission is to complement and reinforce the functions of the Commission in promoting and protecting human and peoples’ rights, freedoms and duties in African Union Member States.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Portuguese : Tribunal Africano dos Direitos Humanos e dos PovosAfricaine Cour des Droits de l'Homme et Des Peuples

This document describes the procedures of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights stating who can apply to the court and what measures they may take.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Ligne Directrices pour la Commission Africaine des Droits de l'Hommes et des PeuplesProcedure (de la Communication de la Commission Africaine des Droits de l'Homme et Des Peuples)Guidelines for Submitting Communications

Despite the interest in the death penalty, no statistical studies have isolated the social and political forces that account for the legality of this punishment. Racial or ethnic threat theories suggest that the death penalty will more likely be legal in jurisdictions with relatively large black or Hispanic populations. Economic threat explanations suggest that this punishment will be present in unequal areas. Jurisdictions with a more conservative public or a stronger law and order Republican party should be more likely to legalize the death penalty as well. After controlling for social disorganization, region, period, and voilent crime, panel analyses suggest that minority presence and economic inequality enhance the likelihood of a legal death penalty. Conservative values and Republican strength in the legislature have equivalent effects; A supplement time-to-event analysis supports these conclusions. The results suggest that a political approach has explanatory power because threat effects expressed through politics and effects that are directly political invariable account for decisions about the legality of capital punishment.

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

Judges, jurors, police officers, and others are sometimes asked to make a variety of decisions based on judgments of dangerousness. Reliance on judgments of dangerousness in a variety of legal contexts has led to considerable debate and has been the focus of numerous publications. However, a substantial portion of the debate has centered on the accuracy and improvement of risk assessments rather than the issues concerning the use of dangerousness as a legal criterion. This article focuses on whether dangerousness judgments can play a useful role in capital sentencing decisions within the framework of “guided discretion” and “individualized assessment” set forth by the Supreme Court of the United States. It examines the relationship between these legal doctrines and contemporary approaches to risk assessment, and it discusses the potential tension between these approaches to risk assessment and these legal doctrines. The analysis suggests that expert testimony has the potential to undermine rather than assist the sentencer’s efforts to make capital sentencing decisions in a manner consistent with Supreme Court doctrine. This analysis includes a discussion of the advances and limitations of current approaches to risk assessment in the context of capital sentencing.

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

The document details cases of child offenders executed since 1990 and cites the relevant international standards. Two tables are appended: a list of cases and a table of the 113 countries which provide for the death penalty but exclude its use of the death penalty against child offenders. There are also appendices giving the text of the resolution on “The death penalty in relation to child offenders” adopted by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in August 2000 and extracts from the resolution on “The question of the death penalty” adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights in April 2002.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles, Statistics,
• Available languages LES MINEURS FACE À LA PEINE DE MORT : Les exécutions recensées dans le monde depuis 1990LOS MENORES Y LA PENA DE MUERTE : Ejecuciones en el mundo desde 1990