Your search “Keep the Death Penalty Abolished fin the philippines %20e ”
Document(s)
Outliers and Outcomes: How 9 of 10 Death Cases End with a Life Sentence & Why That Matters
By Ohioans to Stop Executions, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
United States
More details See the document
OTSE is a coalition of individuals and organizations working to reduce use of and ultimately end capital punishment in Ohio. The purpose of the report is to provide information and analysis to the media, members of the general public, legislators and state leaders.The death penalty in Ohio has become increasingly rare and is relegated to just a few high-use,outlier counties.Indeed, although Ohio has set an execution schedule unmatched by any state in the country up to the year 2023, it seems doubtful, based on its history of litigation and execution drug shortages, that Ohio will execute all those individuals.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
How to answer the deterrence argument
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2015
2015
Arguments against the death penalty
frMore details Download [ pdf - 1642 Ko ]
It was created to help all abolitionists answer the deterrent argument. It gives a definition of the deterrent theory, concrete reasons why academic studies have failed to prove the deterrent effect of the death penalty and compares figures about criminal rates in relation to abolition. It does not provide simple and easy answers, but explain, step by step, what to answer to those who believe that the death penalty has a deterrent effect.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Deterrence ,
- Available languages Comment répondre à l'argument de l'effet dissuasif
Document(s)
The Last Defense
By Death Penalty Information Center / Viola Davis / Julius Tennon, on 1 January 2018
2018
Working with...
More details See the document
The Last Defense is a new documentary series premiering for the first time at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival on April 27. The seven-episode documentary series exposes flaws in the U.S. justice system through the personal narratives of death row prisoners Darlie Routier and Julius Jones, both whom maintain their innocence.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Innocence, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Japanese : The Chaplain
By Japan Society Film, on 8 September 2020
2020
Multimedia content
Japan
More details See the document
The late, great Ren Osugi (Hana-bi) stars as a prison chaplain working on death row in this thought-provoking chamber drama—his final film as an actor and first as a producer. Visiting with a regular roster of inmates who await their final sentence—including a converted ex-yakuza and a philosophy-spouting mass murderer—the newly appointed clergyman gradually learns of their circumstances and is forced to confront his own understanding of life, death and salvation. Featuring unforgettable characters and a restrained visual style, Dai Sako’s searching film takes on the rarely-addressed topic of Japan’s death penalty in order to question the state of the country’s soul.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Japan
- Themes list Retribution, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
International Affairs Forum. Capital Punishment Around the World
By Center for International Relations, on 1 January 2015
2015
International law - Regional body
More details See the document
The summer issue of International Foreign Affaires focuses on the topic of capital punishment around the world. It collects articles and interviews dealing with the issues of death penalty, the path towards abolition, and the situation of capital punishment in the world.
- Document type International law - Regional body
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
The Condemned
By The Intercept, on 1 January 2019
2019
International law - Regional body
More details See the document
Forty-three years after the Supreme Court reversed course and reinstated the death penalty, reliable data on the individuals sent to death row is maddeningly difficult to obtain. The Intercept set out to compile a comprehensive dataset on everyone sentenced to die in active death penalty jurisdictions since 1976. The findings show that capital punishment remains as “arbitrary and capricious” as ever.
- Document type International law - Regional body
- Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Human Rights and Democracy: The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report
By United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
Afghanistan
More details See the document
The report covers the period from January to December 2010, though some key events in early 2011 have also been included. It highlights the important progressbeing made, serious concerns that we have, and what we are doing to promote our values around the world. It will rightly be studied closely by Parliament, NGOs and the wider public. There is a chapter dedicated to the death penalty, as well as 2010 figures on the death penalty in target countries.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Afghanistan
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
The cultural lives of capital punishment: comparative perspectives
By Sangmin Bae / David T. Johnson / Virgil K.Y. Ho / Evi Girling / Agata Fijalkowski / Julia Eckert / Christian Boulanger / Austin Sarat / Stanford University Press / Botagoz Kassymbekova / Shai Lavi / Jürgen Martschukat, on 1 January 2005
2005
Book
China
More details See the document
They undertake this “cultural voyage” comparatively—examining the dynamics of the death penalty in Mexico, the United States, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, India, Israel, Palestine, Japan, China, Singapore, and South Korea—arguing that we need to look beyond the United States to see how capital punishment “lives” or “dies” in the rest of the world, how images of state killing are produced and consumed elsewhere, and how they are reflected, back and forth, in the emerging international judicial and political discourse on the penalty of death and its abolition.
- Document type Book
- Countries list China
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Addressing Capital Punishment Through Statutory Reform
By Douglas A. Berman / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002
2002
Article
United States
More details See the document
State legislatures principally have been responsible for the acceptance and evolution (and even sometimes the abandonment) of capital punishment in the American criminal justice system from the colonial and founding eras, through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and now into the twenty-first century. A number of colonial legislative enactments, though influenced by England’s embrace of the punishment of death, uniquely defined and often significantly confined which crimes were to be subject to capital punishment.[1] State legislatures further narrowed the reach of the death penalty through the early nineteenth century as states, prodded often by vocal abolitionists and led by developments in Pennsylvania, divided the offense of murder into degrees and provided that only the most aggravated murderers would be subject to the punishment of death. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also saw states, as the product of legislative enactments, move away from mandating death as the punishment for certain crimes by giving juries discretion to choose which defendants would be sentenced to die. Throughout all these periods, statutory enactments have also played a fundamental role in the evolution of where and how executions are carried out.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Outlook: The release of Sierra Leone’s longest serving female death row prisoner.
By BBC, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
Sierra Leone
More details See the document
The release of Sierra Leone’s longest serving female death row prisoner.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list Sierra Leone
- Themes list Innocence,
Gender Matters Women on death row in the united states
on 17 May 2024
Gender Matters Women on death row in the united states
2024
Document(s)
USA: The execution of mentally ill offenders
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2006
2006
NGO report
More details See the document
More than 1,000 men and women have been put to death in the USA since executions resumed there in 1977. Dozens of these people had histories of mental impairment, either from before the crimes for which they were sentenced, or at the time of their execution. The report discusses many cases and includes an illustrative list of 100 people. It does not attempt to answer the complex question of precisely which defendants should be exempt from the death penalty on the grounds of mental illness at the time of the crime.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
Document(s)
Stuck in the Dark Ages: Supreme Court Decision Making and Legal Developments
By James R.P. Ogloff / Psychology, Public Policy and Law / Sonia R. Chopra, on 1 January 2004
2004
Article
United States
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
The ‘Mumia Exception’
By Free Mumia Abul Jamal Coalition (NYC), on 1 January 2009
2009
Legal Representation
More details See the document
In 1981, Mumia worked as a cab driver at night to supplement his income. On December 9th he was driving his cab through the red light district of downtown Philadelphia at around 4 a.m. Mumia testifies that he let off a fare and parked near the corner of 13th and Locust Streets. Upon hearing gunshots, he turned and saw his brother, William Cook, staggering in the street. Mumia exited the cab and ran to the scene, where he was shot by a uniformed police officer and fell to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness. Within minutes, police arrived on the scene to find Officer Faulkner and Mumia shot; Faulkner died. Mumia was arrested, savagely beaten, thrown into a paddy wagon and driven to a hospital a few blocks away (suspiciously, it took over 30 minutes to arrive at the hospital). The trial began in 1982 with Judge Sabo (who sent more people to death row than any other judge) presiding. Mumia wished to represent himself and have John Africa as his legal advisor, but before jury selection had finished, this right was revoked and an attorney was forcibly appointed for him. Throughout the trial, Mumia was accused of disrupting court proceedings and was not allowed to attend most of his own trial.
- Document type Legal Representation
- Themes list Networks,
Article(s)
The World Coalition’s AGM in pictures
on 30 June 2009
Representatives from the World Coalition’s member organisations gathered in Rome on June 13, 2009 for their annual meeting.
2009
Document(s)
Executing the Insane: The Story of Scott Panetti
By The Texas Defender Service / Google videos, on 1 January 2007
2007
Legal Representation
More details See the document
Scott Panetti was accused of killing his parents in law and convicted. Scott suffered from severe mental illness for many years, Schizophrenia. He dismissed his legal counsel and represented himself at trial wearing a cow boy suit and asking irrelavent questions. This video tells the story of Scott Panetti’s case and questions whether he was mentally stable to attend trial and represent himself.
- Document type Legal Representation
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society
By United Nations, on 1 January 2008
2008
Working with...
rufrzh-hantesMore details See the document
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
Document(s)
The Prejudicial Nature of Victim Impact Statements: Implications for Capital Sentencing Policy
By Edith Greene / Bryan Myers / Psychology, Public Policy and Law, on 1 January 2004
2004
Article
United States
More details See the document
Victim impact evidence is presented during sentencing hearings to convey the harm experienced by victims and victims’ relatives as a result of a crime. Its use in capital cases is highly controversial. Some argue that the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the admission of victim impact statements (VIS) during capital sentencing proceedings (Payne v. Tennessee, 1991) invites prejudice and judgments based on emotion rather than reason. Others reason that it provides an important voice for survivors and affords the jury an opportunity to learn about the victim. The authors outline the chief psychological issues that arise in the context of VIS, including their relevance to jurors’ judgments of blameworthiness, concerns that the social worth of the victim will influence jurors’ sentencing decisions, and issues related to the emotional appeal of VIS. Psycholegal research on the influence of VIS on mock jurors is reviewed, and implications of this work for capital sentencing policy and suggested directions for future research are discussed.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Fair Trial, Murder Victims' Families,
Document(s)
Death Penalty Mitigation A Handbook for Mitigation Specialists, Investigators, Social Scientists, and Lawyers
By Oxford University Press / Jose B. Ashford / Melissa Kupferberg, on 1 January 2013
2013
Book
More details See the document
This book provides an introduction to socio-legal forms of mitigation in capital sentencing. It helps mitigation specialists, defense investigators, social scientists, and lawyers in developing socio-cultural themes of mitigation. It examines scientific formulations, concepts, and frameworks for structuring social history investigations and assessments of moral culpability. A fundamental aim of this handbook was to provide mitigation professionals not only with an understanding of the context of mitigation in criminal justice thinking, but also ways of contextualizing issues of blame and culpability.
- Document type Book
- Themes list Due Process ,
Document(s)
Poster World Day 2004
By World Coalition against the death penalty , on 10 October 2004
2004
Campaigning
Trend Towards Abolition
esfrMore details Download [ pdf - 17 Ko ]
Poster world day against the death penalty 2004
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
- Available languages Poster Spanish 2004Affiche journée mondiale 2004
Document(s)
Detailed Fact Sheet: Progress Made in 10 years and Challenges Ahead
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Detailed Fact Sheet, on 1 January 2012
2012
Campaigning
More details Download [ pdf - 251 Ko ]
This Fact Sheet details the progress made in the past 10 years and challenges ahead, stressing the fact that Death Sentences and Executions Have Decreased, there is a Growing Use of a Moratorium, a Growing Restrictions on the Scope of the Death Penalty: Elimination of Mandatory Death Sentences, Growing Restrictions on the Scope of the Death Penalty, Growing Support for the UN General Assembly Resolutions Calling for a Moratorium, Increasing Ratifications of the Protocols to Abolish the Death Penalty, Growing International Statements and a Growing Abolitionist Movement.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
Document(s)
Death Sentences and executions in 2012
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2013
2013
NGO report
enMore details See the document
The report covers the judicial use of death penalty for the period January to December 2012.It summarises Amnesty International’s global research on the death penalty. Information was gathered from various sources including official statistics (where available), non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, human rights defenders, the media and interviews with survivors of human rights violations
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,
- Available languages أحكام الإعدام وما نُفذ منها في عام 2012
Document(s)
Death sentences and executions in 2015
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2016
2016
NGO report
rufresMore details See the document
This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2015. As in previous years, information is collected from a variety of sources, including: official figures; information from individuals sentenced to death and their families and representatives; reporting by other civil society organizations; and media reports. Amnesty International reports only on executions, death sentences and other aspects of the use of the death penalty, such as commutations and exonerations, where there is reasonable confirmation.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages СМЕРТНЫЕ ПРИГОВОРЫ И КАЗНИ 2015Condamnations à mort et exécutions en 2015Condenas a muerte y ejecuciones 2015
Document(s)
Death sentences and executions 2014
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2015
2015
NGO report
rufresMore details See the document
This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2014. As in previous years, information is collected from a variety of sources, including: official figures; information from individuals sentenced to death and their families and representatives; reporting by other civil society organizations; and media reports. Amnesty International reports only on executions, death sentences and other aspects of the use of the death penalty, such as commutations and exonerations, where there is reasonable confirmation.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages СМЕРТНЫЕ ПРИГОВОРЫ И КАЗНИ 2014Condamnations à mort et exécutions en 2014Condenas a muerte y ejecuciones 2014
Document(s)
Write a Letter to the Editor
By National Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Wisconsin Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2007
2007
Working with...
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Sentenced to oblivion. Fact-finding mission on death row. Cameroon
By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Nestor Toko / Carole Berrih, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
frMore details See the document
The report “Sentenced to oblivion. Fact-finding mission on death row. Cameroon”, which was officially launched on 21 June at the Delegation of the European Union from Yaoundé to Cameroon, is the result of an unprecedented fact-finding mission, conducted from May to October 2018 in five Cameroonian prisons by the Cameroonian Lawyers’ Network against the Death Penalty (Racopem) and the association ECPM (Ensemble contre la peine de mort).
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages Condamnés à l'oubli. Mission d'enquête dans les couloirs de la mort. Cameroun
Document(s)
The Final Request
By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2012
2012
Multimedia content
More details See the document
This 2012 animation “The Final Request” was produced under the EU funded project ‘Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty and Alternatives that Respect International Human Rights Standards’. The three-minute animation provides a basic overview of the application of the death penalty in the Middle East and North African region.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,
Document(s)
How to Work with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
frMore details Download [ pdf - 592 Ko ]
The World Coalition has developed and published a training manual on working with the African Union’s human rights organ, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). This how-to guide was created specifically for civil society to help encourage successful interaction with the ACHPR, a growing and influential human rights mechanism on the continent.
- Document type Academic report
- Themes list Public debate, Member organizations, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
- Available languages Comment travailler avec la Commission africaine des droits de l'Homme et des Peuples pour l'abolition de la peine de mort?
Document(s)
Arab Charter on Human Rights
By League of Arab States, on 1 January 2004
2004
Regional body report
arfrMore details See the document
Article 51. Every human being has the inherent right to life.2. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.Article 6Sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes inaccordance with the laws in force at the time of commission of the crime and pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence.Article 71. Sentence of death shall not be imposed on persons under 18 years of age, unlessotherwise stipulated in the laws in force at the time of the commission of the crime.2. The death penalty shall not be inflicted on a pregnant woman prior to her deliveryor on a nursing mother within two years from the date of her delivery; in all cases, the best interests of the infant shall be the primary consideration.
- Document type Regional body report
- Themes list International law, Right to life, Most Serious Crimes,
- Available languages الميثاق العربي لحقوق الإنسانCHARTE ARABE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME
Document(s)
The Punishment
By Andres Segura, on 1 January 2018
2018
Multimedia content
United States
More details See the document
“The Punishment” is a short film that takes place in 1978 at a Texas State Penitentiary. The story follows inmate Randle Kohler’s last hours on Death Row leading up to his execution. The only human being he’s able to communicate with is the Prison Guard assigned to bring him his last meal. As their conversation develops we begin to see more and more layers of Kohler’s past and the events that led him to the prison cell.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Electrocution, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
What Caused The Crime Decline?
By Brennan Center for Justice / Oliver Roeder / Lauren-Brooke Eisen / Julia Bowling, on 1 January 2015
2015
Article
United States
More details See the document
A new study by the Brennan Center for Justice examined several possible explanations for the dramatic drop in crime in the U.S. in the 1990s and 2000s. Among the theories studied was use of the death penalty, which the report found had no effect on the decline in crime.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Deterrence ,
Document(s)
The Innocence Protection Act of 2001
By Senator Patrick Leahy / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
The goal of our bill is simple, but profoundly important: to reduce the risk of mistaken executions. The Innocence Protection Act proposes basic, common-sense reforms to our criminal justice system that are designed to protect the innocent and to ensure that if the death penalty is imposed, it is the result of informed and reasoned deliberation, not politics, luck, bias, or guesswork. We have listened to a lot of good advice and made some refinements to the bill since the last Congress, but it is still structured around two principal reforms: improving the availability of DNA testing, and ensuring reasonable minimum standards and funding for court-appointed counsel.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
Exonerations in the United States 1989 Through 2003
By Daniel J. Matheson / Kristin Jacoby / Samuel R. Gross / Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology / Nicholas Montgomery / Sujata Patil, on 1 January 2005
2005
Article
United States
More details See the document
In this paper we use reported exonerations as a window on false convictions generally. We can’t come close to estimating the number of false convictions that occur in the United States, but the accumulating mass of exonerations gives us a glimpse of what we’re missing. We located 340 individual exonerations from 1989 through 2003, not counting at least 135 innocent defendants in at least two mass exonerations, and not counting more than 70 defendants convicted in a series of childcare sex abuse prosecutions, most of whom were probably innocent. Almost all the individual exonerations that we know about are clustered in the two most serious common felonies: rape and murder. They are surrounded by widening circles of categories of cases that include false convictions that are rarely detected, if ever: rape convictions that have not been reexamined with DNA evidence; robberies, for which DNA identification is useless; murder cases that are ignored because the defendants were not sentenced to death; assault and drug convictions that are forgotten entirely; misdemeanor convictions that aren’t even part of the picture. Judging from our data, any plausible guess at the total number of miscarriages of justice in America in the last fifteen years must run to the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, in felony cases alone. We can, however, see some clear patterns in those false convictions that have come to light.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
Innocence Unmodified
By Emily Hughes / North Carolina Law Review , on 1 January 2010
2010
Article
United States
More details See the document
The Article proceeds in three parts. Part I explains the pivotal role that “actual” innocence has played in the Innocence Movement. It shows that even though the Innocence Movement has begun to broaden its DNA-based focus to include non-DNA-based claims, its goal has remained constant: achieving justice for “actually” innocent people. Part I then shows how the Innocence Movement has prioritized the cases of “actually” innocent people who were convicted through trial over “actually” innocent people who pleaded guilty. The prioritization of wrongful convictions derived from trials over wrongful convictions from pleas underscores how the Innocence Movement has overlooked the claims of people who have pleaded guilty and are not “actually” innocent, but who may still have strong wrongful conviction claims based on fundamental constitutional violations. Part II examines innocence unmodified in the context of trials and postconviction appeals. It asserts that one reason to protect innocence unmodified is because under the Court‟s existing jurisprudence, “actual” innocence alone is not enough to reverse a wrongful conviction. This is because the Supreme Court has not yet decided whether the Constitution forbids the execution of an “actually” innocent person who was convicted through a “full and fair” trial. Because the Court has not recognized a freestanding “actual” innocence claim, the “actual” innocence of a wrongly convicted person only matters as a door through which to allow a court to reach underlying constitutional claims. Part II uses the example of a recent Supreme Court decision, In Re Troy Davis, to highlight how an isolated prioritization of “actual” innocence does not achieve justice for wrongly convicted people. Part III examines innocence unmodified in the context of pleas. It reveals the degree to which the Court has itself polarized innocence in the context of pleas—prioritizing “actual” innocence over fundamental constitutional protections for all people.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
Up the River Without a Procedure: Innocent Prisoners and Newly Discovered Non-DNA Evidence in State Courts.
By Daniel Medwed / Arizona Law Review, on 1 January 2005
2005
Article
United States
More details See the document
This Article aims to provide an examination: An analysis of the state procedures that prisoners may employ after trial to litigate innocence claims grounded on newly discovered non-DNA evidence. Ultimately, the result of this examination is far from sanguine. Little-altered in decades beyond the trend toward recognizing the benefits of DNA testing, the structure of most state procedures means that a prisoner’s quest for justice may turn on the fortuity that a biological sample was left at the crime scene and preserved over time. The fact that DNA testing provides a modicum of certainty to an innocence claim does not imply that claims lacking the possibility of such certainty are spurious; on the contrary, DNA has unearthed holes in the criminal justice system, holes that are likely also prevalent in cases without biological evidence.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence, Networks,
Document(s)
THE STATE OF AFRICAN REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES AND MECHANISMS 2018-2019
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
frMore details See the document
The report presents a comprehensive review of the current state and performance of the African regional human rights system in the period between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2019. It appraises the functioning, working methods, outputs and impact of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR); the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC); and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR) during the reporting period.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list International law,
- Available languages LA SITUATION DES ORGANES ET MÉCANISMES RÉGIONAUX DE PROTECTION DES DROITS HUMAINS EN AFRIQUE
Document(s)
Compensating the Wrongfully Convicted
By The Innocence Project, on 1 January 2012
2012
Working with...
More details See the document
Those proven to have been wrongfully convicted through postconviction DNA testing spend, on average, 12 years behind bars. The agony of prison life and the complete loss of freedom are only compounded by the feelings of what might have been, but for the wrongful conviction. Deprived for years of family and friends and the ability to establish oneself professionally, the nightmare does not end upon release. With no money, housing, transportation, health services or insurance, and a criminal record that is rarely cleared despite innocence, the punishment lingers long after innocence has been proven. States have a responsibility to restore the lives of the wrongfully convicted to the best of their abilities. This document describes how a state can try to recompensate an exonerated person.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Oral Statement: 56th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights
By FIACAT, on 8 September 2020
2020
Article
More details See the document
During the 56th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul, Gambia, 21 April – 7 May 2015, the FIACAT made an oral statement as they would like to would like to congratulate on the actions taken by the Committee for the prevention of torture in Africa since the 55th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR. Nevertheless, FIACAT remains greatly concerned by the number of cases of torture documented by its members (ACATs) and the impunity which torturers enjoy.
- Document type Article
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,
poster-21st-world-day-against-death-penalty
on 12 June 2023
poster-21st-world-day-against-death-penalty
2023
Document(s)
ULUSLARARASI AF ÖRGÜTÜ KÜRESEL RAPORU ÖLÜM CEZALARI VE İNFAZLAR 2022
By ULUSLARARASI AF ÖRGÜTÜ, on 16 May 2023
2023
NGO report
More details See the document
Bu rapor, Ocak-Aralık 2022 dönemi için ölüm cezasının adli kullanımını kapsamaktadır. Uluslararası Af Örgütü yalnızca infazlar, ölüm cezaları ve ölüm cezasının kullanımına ilişkin diğer hususlar (cezanın hafifletilmesi ve beraat gibi) hakkında makul teyitlerin olduğu durumlarda raporlama yapmaktadır. Birçok ülkede hükümetler ölüm cezasının kullanımına ilişkin bilgi yayınlamamaktadır.
- Document type NGO report
Document(s)
2015 World Day Report
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2016
2016
NGO report
frMore details Download [ pdf - 2276 Ko ]
On 10 October 2015, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty along with abolitionist activists worldwide marked the 13th World Day against the Death Penalty by drawing attention to the death penalty for drug crimes. This report presents the activities organised for the 13th world day and the media coverage it received.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Terrorism,
- Available languages Rapport Journée Mondiale 2015
Member(s)
ACAT Deutschland
on 30 April 2020
The objective of Aktion der Christen für die Abschaffung der Folter (ACAT Deutschland) is to fight against torture and the death penalty. They issue: urgent Appeals, petitions and caimpaign for raising awarness on human rights issues (schools, forums…).
2020
Germany
Document(s)
Death Row U.S.A. Fall 2010
By National Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2010
2010
NGO report
More details See the document
A quarterly report by the Criminal Justice Project of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, on the situation of the death penalty in the USA
- Document type NGO report
Document(s)
Japan : 111 th Session of the Human Rights Committee
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / The Advocates for Human Rights / Center for Prisoners' Rights / Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), on 1 January 2014
2014
Multimedia content
Japan
More details See the document
This report examinesprison conditionsandthe imposition of the death penalty in Japan in light of international human rights standards.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Japan
- Themes list Due Process , International law, Death Row Conditions,
Document(s)
DEATH ROW PHENOMENON VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS
By Human Rights Advocates, on 1 January 2012
2012
NGO report
More details See the document
Conditions surrounding the death penalty and its application necessitate examination and recognition of the tortuous experience endured by death row inmates, as it culminates in the onset of the death row phenomenon
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Row Phenomenon,
Document(s)
Sentenced to Death: A Report on Washington Supreme Court Rulings In Capital Cases
By American Civil Liberties Union / Washington, on 1 January 2001
2001
NGO report
More details See the document
The ACLU conducted an analysis of court rulings in the 25 Washington cases in which the death sentence has been imposed since 1981, when the current death penalty statute took effect. That analysis of almost two decades of death sentences and executions makes it clear that the system by which we impose and review death sentences in Washington is fundamentally flawed.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Documentaire: femmes dans la couloir de la mort
By Investigations et Enquêtes , on 17 January 2024
2024
Multimedia content
Death Row Conditions
Gender
United States
Women
More details See the document
Un regard déchirant sur la vie des femmes condamnées et les failles du système judiciaire américain. Aux Etats-Unis, 54 femmes « attendent » l’exécution de leur peine. Linda Carty et Melissa Lucio sont emprisonnées au Texas, Shawna Forde en Arizona. Elles se livrent. Parmi les prisonnières, certaines espèrent la révision de leur procès.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions / Gender / Women
Document(s)
Don’t Take His Eye, Don’t Take His Tooth, and Don’t Cast the First Stone: Limiting Religious Arguments in Capital Cases
By John Blume / Sheri Lynn Johnson / William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, on 1 January 2000
2000
Article
United States
More details See the document
Religious arguments in the course of particular capital sentencing proceedings are very common. This may be in part because capital punishment jurisprudence, unlike the jurisprudence of reproductive rights or segregation, has itself mandated individualized decision-making. Public discussion of whether religious principles or authority compel (or preclude) the imposition of the death penalty for all police killings (or, more broadly, all killings) has been largely mooted by the Supreme Court’s determination that mandatory death penalty statutes violate the Eighth Amendment.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Religion ,
Document(s)
Ethical Responsibilities of Physicians: Capital Punishment in the 21st Century
By Karen B. Rosenbaum / William Connor Darby / Robert Weinstock / Psychiatric Annals, on 1 January 2015
2015
Article
United States
More details See the document
The American Medical Association is among many medical professional organizations that prohibit the participation of physicians in the physical act of execution. Despite these clear guidelines, debate remains regarding physician involvement in various aspects of death penalty cases. This article outlines different positions that physicians and specifically forensic psychiatrists have taken on this issue. Our position is that given the overwhelming secondary duty related to their physician role—specifically to do no harm—forensic psychiatrists should not use their expertise if they believe their involvement will be used for the primary purpose of obtaining a death penalty.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Intellectual Disability,
Document(s)
Myanmar: The Administration Of Justice – Grave And Abiding Concerns
By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
Myanmar
More details See the document
This report discusses Amnesty International’s concern about political imprisonments in Myanmar. Arbitrary arrests; torture and ill-treatment during incommunicado detention; unfair trials; and laws which greatly curtail the rights to freedom of expression and assembly continue as major obstacles to the improvement in the State Peace and Development Council’s human rights record. The section dedicated to the death penalty talks about the death penalty system in relation to specific cases.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Myanmar
- Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
The International Library of Essays on Capital Punishment, Volume 1 : Justice and Legal Issues
By Peter Hodgkinson / Ashgate Publishing, on 8 September 2020
Book
More details See the document
This volume provides up-to-date and nuanced analysis across a wide spectrum of capital punishment issues. The essays move beyond the conventional legal approach and propose fresh perspectives, including a unique critique of the abolition sector. Written by a range of leading experts with diverse geographical, methodological and conceptual approaches, the essays in this volume challenge received wisdom and embrace a holistic understanding of capital punishment based on practical experience and empirical data. This collection is indispensable reading for anyone seeking a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the complexity of the death penalty discourse.
- Document type Book
- Themes list Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Counting the Condemned
By Justice Project Pakistan, on 1 January 2018
2018
NGO report
More details See the document
Counting the Condemned contains some shocking revelations. There has been almost a 35 percent reduction in Pakistan’s death row population, but we still account for 26 percent of the world’s death row. Every 8th person executed in the world is a Pakistani. And convictions are often so wrongful, an appellate bench of the Supreme Court has overturned a whopping 85 percent of death sentences since 2014.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,
Document(s)
The Unusualness of Capital Punishment
By Louis D. Bilionis / Ohio Northern University Law Review, on 1 January 2000
2000
Article
United States
More details See the document
The order struck during the regulatory years following Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v. Georgia has been inverted. Executions once were rarities of newsworthy moment; now, they are nearly twice-a-week occurrences that often pass with nary a notice. Skeptical scrutiny of death penalty cases once was the professed and practiced mission of the federal judiciary; now, words like weariness, ennui, and resentment seem better choices to capture the spirit of the federal courts when confronted with complaints from death row. As we will see, the various lines of objection join to form a sophisticated and comprehensive critique.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
COMPETENT CAPITAL REPRESENTATION: THE NECESSITY OF KNOWING AND HEEDING WHAT JURORS TELL US ABOUT MITIGATION
By John H. Blume / Sheri Lynn Johnson / Scott E. Sundby / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2008
2008
Article
United States
More details See the document
While there are antecedent factual determinations jurors must make, including the existence of a statutory aggravating circumstance, the final decision the jurors must make is not factual in nature. As the courts have noted, this is an “awesome responsibility,” and the jury must make a “reasoned moral” decision whether life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or the death penalty is the appropriate punishment.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
EU Guidelines: Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
By Council of the European Union / European Union, on 1 January 2009
2009
Working with...
frMore details See the document
An integral part of our Human Rights Policy is a series of Guidelines on issues of importance to the Union. These Guidelines are practical tools to help EU representations in the field better advance our policy. The first Guideline, on the Death Penalty, was elaborated in 1998. It was followed by six others focussed on Torture, Dialogues with Third Countries, Children Affected by Armed Conflict, Human Rights Defenders, the Rights of the Child and Violence Against Women. The first five Guidelines were published as a brochure four years ago; this new edition adds those Guidelines adopted since then. In preparation for publishing this booklet, all of the older Guidelines underwent a review and renovation to reflect changes both in the Union and the external environment that have taken place since 2005. There is one other innovation in the edition you hold in your hands: for the first time, we have included a guideline developed in 2005 by Member State legal experts on the topic of International Humanitarian Law. Because of the explosive growth of operations and missions conducted under the European Security and Defence Policy and as a result of our conviction that counterterrorism be conducted within the framework of international law, the Guideline on IHL is growing in importance.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Networks,
- Available languages EU Lignes Directrices: Droits de l'Homme et le Droit International Humanitaire
Document(s)
The International Library of Essays on Capital Punishment, Volume 2 : Abolition and Alternatives to Capital Punishment
By Peter Hodgkinson / Ashgate Publishing, on 8 September 2020
2020
Book
More details See the document
The essays selected for this volume develop conventional abolition discourse and explore the conceptual framework through which abolition is understood and posited. Of particular interest is the attention given to an integral but often forgotten element of the abolition debate: alternatives to capital punishment. The volume also provides an account of strategies employed by the abolition community which challenges tired methodologies and offers a level of transparency previously unseen. This collection tackles complex but fundamental components of the capital punishment debate using empirical data and expert observations and is essential reading for those wishing to comprehend the fundamental issues which underpin capital punishment discourse.
- Document type Book
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty,
Member(s)
Women’s Information Consultative Center
on 30 April 2020
The main goal of the Women’s Information Consultative Center is to gather, generalise and disseminate information about women’s human rights and initiatives among women inside and outside Ukraine. Another goal of the Center is to create a discussion about gender issues in the political and social life of Ukraine to achieve real equality in society. […]
2020
Ukraine
Document(s)
Irreversible Error: Recommended Reforms for Preventing and Correcting Errors in the Administration of Capital Punishment
By The Constitution Project, on 1 January 2014
2014
NGO report
More details See the document
The Committee also offers a host of other recommendations to prevent and correct wrongfulconvictions. These include recommendations regarding the preservation, testing andpresentation of forensic evidence; the creation of statutory remedies for wrongful convictionsand the implementation of procedures for the systemic review to help avoid future errors; thevideotaping of custodial interrogations – where practical – in order to avoid the documentedproblem of false and otherwise inaccurate confessions; the adoption of best practices foreyewitness identifications; the effective implementation of prosecutors’ constitutionalobligation to disclose exculpatory evidence; and enforcement of the Vienna Convention onConsular Relations.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Innocence,
Page(s)
The World Coalition’s campaign in favour of the international and regional protocols on abolition
on 22 June 2020
2020
Article(s)
La Coalition d’Afrique Centrale contre la Peine de Mort commémore 13 ans sans exécutions en RDC
on 10 January 2016
2016
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Document(s)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
By United Nations, on 1 January 1948
1948
United Nations report
arrufrzh-hantesMore details See the document
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.” Article 3 – Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
- Document type United Nations report
- Themes list International law, Right to life,
- Available languages المتحدة الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسانВсеобщую декларацию прав человекаDéclaration universelle des droits de l'homme世界人权宣言Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos
Document(s)
Convention on the Rights of the Child
By United Nations, on 1 January 1989
1989
United Nations report
arrufrzh-hantesMore details See the document
Article 37States Parties shall ensure that:(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.
- Document type United Nations report
- Themes list Juveniles, International law,
- Available languages اتفاقية حقوق الطفلКонвенция о правах ребенкаConvention relative aux droits de l'enfant儿童权利公约Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño
Member(s)
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
on 30 April 2020
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL’s 12,000-plus direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations […]
2020
United States
Document(s)
Innocents Convicted: An Empirically Justified Factual Wrongful Conviction Rate
By D. Michael Risinger / Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, on 1 January 2007
2007
Article
United States
More details See the document
The news about the astounding accuracy of felony convictions in the United States, delivered by Justice Scalia and Joshua Marquis in the passage set out epigrammatically above, would be cause for rejoicing if it were true. Imagine. Only 27 factually wrong felony convictions out of every 100,000! Unfortunately, it is not true, as the empirical data analyzed in this article demonstrates. To a great extent, those who believe that our criminal justice system rarely convicts the factually innocent and those who believe such miscarriages are rife have generally talked past each other for want of any empirically-justified factual innocence wrongful conviction rate. This article remedies at least a part of this problem by establishing the first such empirically justified wrongful conviction rate ever for a significant universe of real world serious crimes: capital rape-murders in the 1980’s. Using DNA exonerations for capital rape-murders from 1982 through 1989 as a numerator, and a 406-member sample of the 2235 capital sentences imposed during this period, this article shows that 21.45%, or around 479 of those, were cases of capital rape murder. Data supplied by the Innocence Project of Cardozo Law School and newly developed for this article show that only 67% of those cases would be expected to yield usable DNA for analysis. Combining these figures and dividing the numerator by the resulting denominator, a minimum factually wrongful conviction rate for capital rape-murder in the 1980’s emerges: 3.3%. The article goes on to consider the likely ceiling accompanying this 3.3% floor, arriving at a slightly softer number for the maximum factual error rate of around 5%. The article then goes on to analyze the implications of a factual error rate of 3.3%-5% for both those who currently claim errors are extremely rare, and those who claim they are extremely common. Extension of the 3.3%-5% to other capital and non-capital categories of crime is discussed, and standards of moral duty to support system reform in the light of such error rates is considered at length.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
#nodeathpenalty – Signs
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
farufrzh-hantesMore details Download [ pdf - 42 Ko ]
For this 12th World Day Against the Death Penalty the World Coalition has decided to focus on a social media campaign which it hopes will spread the truth about death penalty more widely than ever before. The concept is simple. People will make signs stating why they are against the death penalty and take a photo of themselves holding that sign and upload it onto a social media platform, with the hashtag #nodeathpenalty. With the photo uploaded, the person will nominate at least 3 people to do the same, thus creating an exponential (snowball) effect. Think of it as a cross between the #bringbackourgirls campaign in support for
- Document type Academic report
- Available languages #nodeathpenalty - Signs_Farsi#nodeathpenalty - Signs_Russian#nodeathpenalty - Pancarte#nodeathpenalty - Signs_Chinese#nodeathpenalty - Signs_Spanish
Document(s)
A Guide to Sentencing in Capital Cases
By The Death Penalty Project, on 1 January 2007
2007
Working with...
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
3 questions to Ndume Olatushani, former death row prisoner
By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), on 1 January 2018
2018
Academic report
United States
More details See the document
Ndume, 56 years old, spent 28 years in prison in the US, 20 of which on death row, for a crime he did not commit. Today, he is human rights activist, and fight with us for the abolition of the death penalty. He is also a very gifted painter.
- Document type Academic report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Death Sentencing Database
By Brandon L. Garrett / End of its Rope, on 1 January 2018
Working with...
More details See the document
This resource website displays data concerning death sentencing in the United States from 1990 to present. Research using these data includes a book, “End of its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice” published by Harvard University Press in Fall 2017. This research was conducted by Professor Brandon L. Garrett with the support of the University of Virginia School of Law.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,
Document(s)
Application form – Call for Actions in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States (18th World Day)
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
2020
Multimedia content
More details Download [ vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document - 58 Ko ]
Call for actions on World Day in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Vietnam: From “Vision” to Facts: Human Rights in Vietnam under its Chairmanship of ASEAN
By Vietnam Committee on Human Rights / International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, on 8 September 2020
NGO report
Viet Nam
More details See the document
The use of the death penalty is frequent in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In 2009, the government reduced the number of offences punishable by death from 29 to 22. Capital punishment is applied for crimes including murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, rape, sexual abuse of children, and a range of economic crimes. Execution is by firing squad. A draft law was introduced in November 2009 proposing the use of two methods of execution, either by firing squad or by lethal injection. Statistics on the number of death sentences and executions are not made public. Indeed, following criticisms by international human rights organisations, in January 2004, Vietnam adopted a decree classifying death penalty statistics as “state secrets”. According to the Vietnamese and international press, at least 100 people are executed each year in Vietnam. In 2007, 104 death sentences were pronounced, including 14 women. In 2010, the official legal magazine Phap Luat (Law) reported 11 death sentences for the month of January alone.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Viet Nam
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Firing Squad,
Document(s)
Nobody To Talk To: Barriers to Mental Health Treatment for Family Members of Individuals Sentenced to Death and Executed
By Texas After Violence Project, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
More details See the document
Four decades after the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States, the harmful impact of death sentences and executions on persons other than the individual offender is still not widely recognized – not even among mental health professionals who specialize in responding to individual and community needs in the aftermath of traumatic events.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Mental Illness, Murder Victims' Families,
Document(s)
Shepherds and Butchers
By Oliver Schmitz, on 1 January 2016
2016
Legal Representation
More details See the document
South Africa, 1987. When Leon, a white 19-year-old prison guard commits an inexplicable act of violence, killing seven black men in a hail of bullets, the outcome of the trial – and the court’s sentence – seems a foregone conclusion.Hotshot lawyer John Weber reluctantly takes on the seemingly unwinnable case.A passionate opponent of the death penalty, John discovers that young Leon worked on death row in the nation’s most notorious prison, under traumatic conditions: befriending the inmates over the years while having to assist their eventual execution.As the court hearings progress, the case offers John the opportunity to put the entire system of legally sanctioned murder on trial. How can one man take such a dual role of friend and executioner, becoming both shepherd and butcher?Inspired by true events, this is the story that puts death penalty on trial and changes history.
- Document type Legal Representation
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Row Conditions, Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Executions by County in the United States
By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2011
2011
NGO report
More details See the document
Although counties do not carry out executions, in almost all states the decision to seek the death penalty is made by the county district attorney. A small number of counties are responsible for a disproportionate number of the executions in the United States. Search results can be sorted by county.
- Document type NGO report
Document(s)
Capital Punishment As Human Sacrifice: A Societal Ritual as Depicted in George Elliot’s Adam Bede
By Roberta M. Harding / Buffalo Law Review 48, 175-248, on 1 January 2000
2000
Article
United States
More details See the document
The ritual slaughter of humans for sacrificial purposes has an ancient provenance. Few members of modern society would be inclined to believe that killing humans for sacrificial purposes continues. Of those, most probably envision it only being practiced by individuals who belong to “uncivilized,” or non-“First-World” cultures. Upon closer scrutiny, however, it becomes apparent that this is a misconception because the past and present practice of capital punishment includes a thinly disguised manifestation of the ritualized killing of people, otherwise known as human sacrifice. The purpose of this article is to identify, describe, and analyze the historic and contemporary connection between the practices of capital punishment and human sacrifice. After describing how human sacrifice constitutes an integral component of capital punishment, it will be argued that the institutionalization of this antiquated barbaric ritual, vis-a-vis the use of capital punishment, renders the present use of the death penalty in the United States incompatible with “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society”; and that consequently, this facet of capital punishment renders the penalty at odds with the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against the infliction of “cruel and unusual” punishments.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,
Document(s)
Guided Jury Discretion in Capital Murder Cases: The Role of Declarative and Procedural Knowledge
By Richard L. Wiener / Psychology, Public Policy and Law / Melanie Rogers / Ryan Winter / Linda Hurt / Amy Hackney / Karen Kadela / Hope Seib / Shannon Rauch / Laura Warren / Ben Morasco, on 1 January 2004
2004
Article
United States
More details See the document
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,
Document(s)
Nigeria: Waiting for the Hangman
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2008
2008
NGO report
frMore details See the document
More than 720 men and 11 women are under sentence of death in Nigeria’s prisons. They have one thing in common, beyond not knowing when they will be put to death. They are poor. From their first contact with the police, through the trial process, to seeking pardon, those with the fewest resources are at a serious disadvantage. This text describes the treatment of the death penalty in Nigeria.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Due Process , Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages Nigéria: Pour qui vient le bourreau?
Document(s)
Capital Punishment and the Bible
By Gardner C. Hanks / Herald Press, on 1 January 2002
2002
Book
United States
More details See the document
Capital Punishment and the Bible goes beyond proof-text arguments to examine biblical statements about capital punishment in their historical contexts and for present meaning. Does the use of capital punishment in the USA meet Old Testament standards for fairness? How did Jesus and the early church extend God’s love in restorative justice? Gardner C. Hanks convincingly shows that the use of the death penalty is not consistent with Jesus’ call for love and forgiveness.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Religion ,
Document(s)
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
By University of Pittsburgh Law Review / Christof Heyns , on 1 January 2014
2014
International law - United Nations
arrufresMore details See the document
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of hisactivities and considers four topics relating to the protection of the right to life:(a) the role of regional human rights systems; (b) less lethal and unmanned weaponsinlaw enforcement; (c) resumptions of the death penalty; and (d) the role ofstatistical indicators.
- Document type International law - United Nations
- Themes list International law, Statistics,
- Available languages تقريـــر المقـــرِّر الخـــاص المعـــني بحـــالات انعـــداج نـــارا نـــان القـــا ون وو انعداج جرا ات موجزة وو انعداج التعسُّفيДоклад Специального докладчика по вопросу о внесудебных , суммарных или произвольных казняхRapport du Rapporteur spécial sur le s exécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitrairesInforme del Relator Especial sobre las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias
Document(s)
Finality Without Fairness: Why We Are Moving Towards Moratoria on Executions, and the potential Abolition of Capital Punishment
By Ronald J. Tabak / Connecticut Law Review, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
In the past several years, there has been a marked change in the climate with regard to public discourse about the death penalty in the United States. This is partly due to advances in DNA technology. This Article, in Part II, will address the impact that DNA testing has had on public discourse on capital punishment. In Part III, it will discuss the overall context in which public discourse has changed, and its likely impact on judges, prosecutors and governors dealing with capital cases. Finally, in Part IV, it will consider the broader implications of this change in climate, in leading to a moratorium on executions in Illinois, consideration of moratoria elsewhere, and potentially to abolition of capital punishment in this country.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Moratorium ,
Document(s)
Capital Punishment and American Exceptionalism
By Carol S. Steiker / Duke Law School, on 1 January 2002
2002
Article
United States
More details See the document
At the same time, the countries that most vigorously employ the death penalty are generally ones that the United States has the least in common with politically, economically, or socially, and ones that the United States is wont to define itself against, as they are among the least democratic and the worst human rights abusers in the world. In recent years, the top five employers of capital punishment were China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States.3 Moreover, in the past twelve years, only seven countries in the world are known to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of their crimes: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United States.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
The Codemned: Bali 9
By Dateline / SBS, on 1 January 2010
2010
Legal Representation
More details See the document
Two of the Bali Nine have been speaking publicly for the first time… just days ahead of final hearings on whether their death sentences for drug trafficking will be carried out.Dateline reporter Mark Davis gained exclusive access to Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in the ‘death tower’ at Indonesia’s Kerobokan Prison.They talk openly about their lives then and now, what they think of their crimes, and the prospect of facing death by firing squad.Mark also hears first-hand of the heartache for their families back in Australia, as they wait to hear if their pleas for clemency will be granted.
- Document type Legal Representation
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
A Stolen Life: The Debra Milke Story
By Jana Bommersbach, on 1 January 2019
2019
Book
United States
More details See the document
Arizona said Debra Milke was a baby killer. Phoenix Homicide Detective Armando Saldate testified she “confessed” to having her four-year-old son murdered when he thought he was going to see Santa. In 1990, she ended up exactly where most thought she deserved–the only woman on Arizona’s death row. This compelling investigative work by one of Arizona’s most acclaimed journalists takes readers inside the case–inside the prison, inside the evidence, inside the breakdown of justice, inside the legal tenacity, inside the heart and mind of Debra Milke.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Women, Death Row Conditions,
Document(s)
Wrongful Convictions and the Culture of Denial in Japanese Criminal Justice
By David T. Johnson / The Asia-Pacific Journal, on 1 January 2015
2015
Article
Japan
More details See the document
The release of Hakamada Iwao from death row in March 2014 after 48 years of incarceration provides an opportunity to reflect on wrongful convictions in Japanese criminal justice. My approach is comparative because this problem cannot be understood without asking how Japan compares with other countries: to know only one country is to know no country well. Comparison with the United States is especially instructive because there have been many studies of wrongful conviction there and because the U.S. and Japan are the only two developed democracies that retain capital punishment and continue to carry out executions on a regular basis. On the surface, the United States seems to have a more serious problem with wrongful convictions than Japan, but this gap is more apparent than real. To reduce the problem of wrongful convictions in Japanese criminal justice, reformers must confront a culture of denial that makes it difficult for police, prosecutors, and judges to acknowledge their own mistakes.
- Document type Article
- Countries list Japan
- Themes list Fair Trial, Innocence,
Document(s)
Raise the Proof: A Default Rule for Indigent Defense
By Adam M. Gershowitz / Connecticut Law Review, on 1 January 2007
2007
Article
United States
More details See the document
Almost everyone agrees that indigent defense in America is underfunded, but workable solutions have been hard to come by. For the most part, courts have been unwilling to inject themselves into legislative budget decisions. And, when courts have become involved and issued favorable decisions, the benefits have been only temporary because once the pressure of litigation disappears so does a legislature’s desire to appropriate more funding. This Article proposes that if an indigent defense system is under-funded, the state supreme court should impose a default rule raising the standard of proof to “beyond all doubt” to convict indigent defendants. The legislature would then have the opportunity to opt out of this higher standard of proof by providing enough funding to bring defense lawyers’ caseloads within well-recognized standards or by providing funding parity with prosecutors’ offices. Such an approach will create an incentive for legislatures to adequately fund indigent defense without miring courts in detailed supervision of legislative budget decisions. At the same time, because courts can check once per year to determine whether there is funding parity with prosecutors’ offices or compliance with caseload guidelines, there will be constant pressure on legislatures to maintain adequate funding in order to avoid the higher standard of proof.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston
By United Nations / Philip Alston, on 1 January 2007
International law - United Nations
arrufresMore details See the document
The present report details the activities of the Special Rapporteur in 2009 and the first four months of 2010. This is the final report to the Human Rights Council by Philip Alston in his capacity as Special Rapporteur. It analyses the activities and working methods of the mandate over the past six years, and identifies important issues for future research. Detailed addenda to this report address: (a) accountability for killings by police; (b) election-related killings; and (c) targeted killings.
- Document type International law - United Nations
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
- Available languages تقرير المقرر الخاص المعني بحالات الإعدام خارج نطاق القضاءأو بإجراءات موجزة أو تعسفًا، السيد فيليب ألستونДоклад Специального докладчика по вопросу о внесудебных казнях, казнях без надлежащего судебного разбирательства или произвольных казнях, Филипа АлстонаRapport du Rapporteur spécial sur les exécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitraires, M. Philip AlstonInforme del Relator Especial, Philip Alston, sobre las ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias
Document(s)
The Constitution in Crisis Pt 4
By The New School / Fora TV, on 1 January 2007
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
Bryan Stevenson discusses criminal justice in the United States. He discusses the influence of race in the outcome of criminal justice cases and uses social statistics to give the listeners a broader view of why the US state prisons are comprised of more of one race or another. Between chapter 4 and 8 Stevenson discusses the seemingly inherent racial bias to the administration of capital punishment in the United States.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Minorities, Discrimination,
Document(s)
Too Late for Luck: A Comparison of Post-Furman Exonerations and Executions of the Innocent
By Talia Roitberg Harmon / William S. Lofquist / Crime and Delinquency, on 1 January 2005
2005
Article
United States
More details See the document
This study is a quantitative analysis designed to compare two groups of factually innocent capital defendants: Those who were exonerated and those who were executed. There are a total of 97 cases in the sample, including 81 exonerations and 16 executions. The primary objective of the authors is to identify factors that may predict case outcomes among capital defendants with strong claims of factual innocence. Through the use of a logistic regression model, the following variables were significant predictors of case outcome (exoneration vs. execution): allegations of perjury, multiple types of evidence, prior felony record, type of attorney at trial, and race of the defendant. These results point toward significant problems with the administration of capital punishment deriving primarily from the quality of the case record created at trial.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
Showing Remorse: Reflections on the Gap between Expression and Attribution in Cases of Wrongful Conviction
By Richard Weisman / Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, on 1 January 2004
2004
Article
Canada
More details See the document
This paper seeks first to show that persons who are convicted of crimes can be perceived as either remorseful or as lacking in remorse. This division establishes a moral hierarchy that has profound implications for the characterization and disposition of persons who are so designated. Second, using both Canadian and American cases, it looks at how inclusion in the category of the unremorseful affects the characterization and disposition of those who have been wrongfully convicted. Finally, it suggests that remorse is a major site of conflict between persons who are wrongfully convicted and officials within the criminal justice system, conflict that involves the use of institutional pressure to encourage the expression of remorse, on the one hand, and the mobilization of individual resources to resist those expressions.
- Document type Article
- Countries list Canada
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Poster World Day 2010
By World Coalition against the death penalty , on 10 October 2010
2010
Campaigning
Trend Towards Abolition
esfrMore details Download [ pdf - 82 Ko ]
Poster World Day against the death penalty 2010
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
- Available languages Poster Spanish 2010Affiche journée mondiale 2010
Member(s)
ACAT, GHANA
on 3 May 2024
To raise awareness about torture and the death penalty among churches and Christian organisations and civil society
2024
Ghana
Document(s)
#nodeathpenalty – Flyer
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
2020
Academic report
frMore details Download [ pdf - 71 Ko ]
For this 12th World Day Against the Death Penalty the World Coalition has decided to focus on a social media campaign which it hopes will spread the truth about death penalty more widely than ever before. The concept is simple. People will make signs stating why they are against the death penalty and take a photo of themselves holding that sign and upload it onto a social media platform, with the hashtag #nodeathpenalty. With the photo uploaded, the person will nominate at least 3 people to do the same, thus creating an exponential (snowball) effect.
- Document type Academic report
- Themes list Public opinion, Trend Towards Abolition,
- Available languages #nodeathpenalty - Flyer
Document(s)
Handbook of Forensic Psychiatric Practice in Capital Cases
By The Death Penalty Project / Nigel Eastman / Richard Latham / Marc Lyall / Sanya Krljes, on 1 January 2018
2018
Working with...
More details See the document
The Death Penalty Project and Forensic Psychiatry Chambers have released two new publications, together providing an authoritative guide on the application of mental health law in capital cases. The resources respond to the knowledge that, in many countries that retain the death penalty, mental health issues are not being sufficiently addressed by the courts, leading to miscarriages of justice and putting vulnerable individuals at risk.This Handbook guides the reader through the role of the forensic psychiatrist in criminal proceedings and key principles of mental health law.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Detailed factsheet on living conditions on death row
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2018
Multimedia content
arfrMore details Download [ pdf - 479 Ko ]
Detailed factsheet on living conditions on death row
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon, Death Penalty,
- Available languages ورقة معلومات مفصلة2018Fiche détaillée sur les conditions de vie dans les couloirs de la mort
Document(s)
3 questions to Arthur Judah, former death row prisoner
By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), on 1 January 2018
Working with...
More details See the document
Sentenced to death in Nigeria for murder, Arthur Judah was finally released in 2000 after 16 years of incarceration. Today, he works as writer and painter, and fight with us for the abolition of the death penalty.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Death Row Stories
By CNN, on 1 January 2020
2020
Multimedia content
United States
More details See the document
This docu-series investigate the fallibility of the death penalty in the United States.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Death Sentences and Executions in 2017
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2018
2018
NGO report
arfarufresMore details See the document
Amnesty International published its international global review of the death penalty on Tuesday, 12th April 2018.At least 993 executions in 23 countries in 2017 were recorded, down by 4% from 2016 (1,032 executions) and 39% from 2015 (when the organization reported 1,634 executions, the highest number since 1989). China remained the world’s top executioner, but excluding China, 84% of all reported executions took place in just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty, Statistics,
- Available languages أحكام الإعدام وما نفذ من أحكام في 2017: التقرير العالمي لمنظمة العفو الدوليةمار احکام مرگ و اعدام در سال 2017Смертные приговоры и казни 2017Condamnations à mort et exécutions en 2017Condenas a muerte y ejecutiones 2017
Document(s)
Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
By United Nations, on 1 January 2012
2012
International law - United Nations
rufrzh-hantesarMore details See the document
In States in which the death penalty continues to be used, international law imposes stringent requirements that must be met for it not to be regarded as unlawful. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur considers the problem of error and the use of military tribunals in the context of fair trial requirements. He also examines the constraint that the death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes: those involving intentional killing. Lastly, he considers the issues of collaboration and complicity, in addition to transparency in respect of the use of the death penalty.
- Document type International law - United Nations
- Themes list Fair Trial, Most Serious Crimes, Statistics,
- Available languages Записка Генерального секретаряExécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitraires法外处决、即决处决或任意处决Exécutions extrajudiciaires, sommaires ou arbitrairesالإعدام خارج القضاء أو بإجراءات موجزة أو تعسفا
Document(s)
Capital Punishment: New Perspectives
By Peter Hodgkinson / Ashgate Publishing, on 1 January 2013
2013
Book
More details See the document
The authors argue that capital litigators should use their skills challenging the abuses not just of process, but of the conditions in which the condemned await their fate, namely prison conditions, education, leisure, visits, medical services, etc. In the aftermath of successful constitutional challenges it is the beneficiaries (arguably those who are considered successes, having been ‘saved’ from the death penalty and now serving living death penalties of one sort or another) who are suffering the cruel and inhumane alternative.Part I of the book offers a selection of diverse, nuanced examinations of death penalty phenomena, scrutinizing complexities frequently omitted from the narrative of academics and activists. It offers a challenging and comprehensive analysis of issues critical to the abolition debate. Part II offers examinations of countries usually absent from academic analysis to provide an understanding of the status of the debate locally, with opportunities for wider application.
- Document type Book
Document(s)
The State of Criminal Justice 2011
By American Bar Association / Ronald Tabak, on 1 January 2011
2011
NGO report
More details See the document
The State of Criminal Justice 2011 contains a chapter on death penalty by Ronald Tabak (Ch. 19). Tabak explores legislative changes, the declining use of the death penalty, important Supreme Court decisions and the adequacy of representation.
- Document type NGO report
Document(s)
Seven Dates With Death
By Mike Holland, on 1 January 2019
2019
Multimedia content
United States
More details See the document
In Louisiana in the late 50s, Moreese Bickham, who was the oldest living survivor of death row, killed two members of the Ku Klux Klan to save his own life. He was sentenced to death and believes he was lucky enough to even have a trial as a black man in the south. Due to mental toughness, a timely supreme court decision, and a lot of hope, Bickham survived his death sentence. Whether he knew it or not, after that day, his life was not going to get any easier
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Minorities, Death Row Conditions, Electrocution,