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The U.N. Moratorium on Executions : On December 18, 2007, with 104 votes in favour, 54 votes against and 29 abstentions, the United Nations 62nd General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a Resolution that calls upon all States that still maintain the death penalty to “Establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : SINTESI DEI FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2007 (e dei primi sei mesi del 2008)

The Worldwide Situation to Date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2008 and the first six months of 2009. There are currently 151 countries and territories that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 96 are totally abolitionist; 8 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 42 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : SINTESI DEI FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2008 (e dei primi sei mesi del 2009)

THE SITUATION TODAY The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2009 and the first six months of 2010. There are currently 154 countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 96 are totally abolitionist; 8 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 6 have a moratorium on executions in place and 44 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2009 (E DEI PRIMI SEI MESI DEL 2010)

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

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

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,

The essence of the death penalty is the eradication of life for the condemned. Death penalty was a common practice in ancient heavenly religions, especially in times dominated by the idea of religious revenge. Additionally, it was implemented in a brutal and cruel way accompanied by terrible methods of torture. The death penalty has not been controversial in the old legislation; it has been recognized by scholars without attempting to justify it, as governors and legislators apply it without resistance from thinkers and philosophers. In the modern era, controversy has arisen about the feasibility and legality of the death penalty as a form of social reaction to the offender. The eighteenth century is marked by philosophical ideas which attacked the prevailing penal systems, as studies and research have appeared on the social and anthropological causes of crime. Thus, two intellectual trends have appeared on the horizon: those in favor of retaining the death penalty, and those demanding its abolishment. Each trend has its reasons and pretexts supporting their thoughts concerning the death penalty. Hence, the study analyses and examines “The Death Penalty in the Arab World” through a series of distinctive research methods, addressing the death penalty in ten Arab countries. The following is presented according to a signal research plan that includes: crimes punishable by death, and procedural guarantees on the death penalty and its adequacy, as well as putting forward many proposals and recommendations on the abolishment of the death penalty. This study includes the death penalty in ten Arab countries: Bahrain – Egypt – Jordan – Iraq – Lebanon- Morocco- Palestine – Saudi Arabia – Syria- Yemen. —- Go to first document in English.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages عقوبة الإعدام فى الوطن العربى: دراسة حول عقوبة الإعدام فى بعض الدول العربية

Article 4. Right to Life1. Every person has the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law and, in general, from the moment of conception. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law, Right to life,
• Available languages CONVENCION AMERICANA SOBRE DERECHOS HUMANOS "PACTO DE SAN JOSE DE COSTARICA"

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,

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

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

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

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

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,

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,

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 ,

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,

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,

One gets the strong sense that Professor White believed that the key to changing or abolishing the death penalty in the United States was to educate policymakers and the public about its practical operation. This, of course, was Justice Thurgood Marshall’s hypothesis in Furman v. Georgia: that the widespread support that the death penalty enjoys in the country is a product of mass ignorance about how it is applied. Professor White did not simply posit the theory, he dedicated much of his life to the mission of educating the public about the inequities of the American death penalty. This final book does that in an extraordinarily effective way by combing together studies of illustrative cases, analysis of the lawyers’ roles and dilemmas, and cogent explanations of the state of the law.

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

When the Supreme Court is deciding death, how much does law matter? Scholars long have lamented the majoritarian nature of the Court’s Eighth Amendment “evolving standards of decency” doctrine, but their criticism misses the mark. Majoritarian doctrine does not drive the Court’s decisions in this area; majoritarian forces elsewhere do. To make my point, I first examine three sets of “evolving standards” death penalty decisions in which the Court implicitly or explicitly reversed itself, attacking the legal justification for the Court’s change of position and offering an extralegal explanation for why those cases came out the way they did. I then use political science models of Supreme Court decisionmaking to explain how broader social and political forces push the Court toward majoritarian death penalty rulings for reasons wholly independent of majoritarian death penalty doctrine. Finally, I bring the analysis full [*pg 2] circle, showing how broader sociopolitical forces even led to the development of the “evolving standards” doctrine. In the realm of death penalty decisionmaking, problematic doctrine is not to blame for majoritarian influences; rather, majoritarian influences are to blame for problematic doctrine. The real obstacle to countermajoritarian decisionmaking is not doctrine, but the inherently majoritarian tendencies of the Supreme Court itself.

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

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

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

Article 1The States Parties to this Protocol shall not apply the death penalty in their territory to any person subject to their jurisdiction.

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages PROTOCOLO A LA CONVENCIÓN AMERICANA SOBRE DERECHOS HUMANOS RELATIVO A LA ABOLICIÓN DE LA PENA DE MUERTE

This project examines the role of defence councils in Chinese criminal proceedings that can end up with the imposition of the death penalty. It aims to review the problems defence lawyers face in such proceedings, the defence strategies they apply and to examine whether the assignment of a defence lawyer makes a difference in the outcome of a criminal trial. Moreover, the project explores what can and should be done to empower defence councils to effectively represent suspects and accused in death penalty eligible cases.The objective of the study is to shed light on the problems experienced by criminal defence councils when defending capital crime cases and to generate information on how death penalty cases are processed through the Chinese system of justice as well as the determinants of the outcomes death penalty eligible criminal cases.

• Document type Article
• Countries list China
• Themes list Legal Representation,

Part one of this article summarizes death penalty policy and practice in the region that accounts for 60 percent of the world’s population and more than 90 percent of the world’s executions. The lessons from Asia are then organized into three parts. Part two describes features of death penalty policy in Asia that are consistent with the experiences recorded in Europe and with the theories developed to explain Western changes. Part three identifies some of the most significant diversities within the Asian region – in rates of execution, trends over time, and patterns of change – that contrast with the recent history of capital punishment in non-Asian locations and therefore challenge conventional interpretations of death penalty policy and change. Part four discusses three ways that the politics of capital punishment in Asia are distinctive: the limited role of international standards and transnational influences in most Asian jurisdictions; the presence of single-party domination in several Asian political systems; and the persistence of communist versions of capital punishment in the Asia region.

• Document type Article
• Countries list China
• Themes list Death Penalty,

A number of papers have recently appeared claiming to show that in the United States executions deter serious crime. There are many statistical problems with the data analyses reported. This paper addresses the problem of “influence,” which occurs when a very small and atypical fraction of the data dominate the statistical results.

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

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

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

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

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

There are two puzzles that confront observers of American capital punishment at the start of the 21st century. One concerns the legal and administrative arrangements through which it is enacted, which strike many commentators as irrational, or at least poorly adapted to the traditional ends of criminal justice. The other concerns the persistence of capital punishment in the USA in a period when comparable nations have decisively abandoned its use. In this essay, I will address both of these two questions, beginning with the first and offering conclusions that bear upon the second.The historical struggles around issues of capital punishment, structured as they have been by the American polity with its distinctive mix of federalism, sectionalism, and democratic populism, form the necessary basis for understanding the American present and for comparing America’s current practices with those of other western nations. Any explanation of American capital punishment ought to begin by focusing attention on these structures and these struggles.

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

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

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

An in-depth analysis of the international law ramifications of applying the death penalty for drug offences. It reviews the the ‘most serious crimes’ threshold for the lawful application of capital punishment as established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It then explores the question of whether drug offences meet this threshold by examining the issue through the lenses of international human rights law, the domestic legislation in retentionist states, international narcotics control law, international refugee law and international criminal law. The article concludes that drug offences do not constitute ‘most serious crimes’, and that executions of people for drug offences violates international human rights law.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Drug Offences, Most Serious Crimes,

ARTICLE 4Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.ARTICLE 5Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man, particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages Charte Africaine des Droits de l'Homme et des Peuples

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

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Innocence,

This article reviews several cases where the families of victim’s speak out against the death penalty.

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

A press release on the DPIC Year End Report 2016: Use of the death penalty fell to historic lows across the United States in 2016. States imposed the fewest death sentences in the modern era of capital punishment, since states began re-enacting death penalty statutes in 1973. New death sentences are predicted to be down 39% from 2015’s 40-year low. Executions declined more than 25% to their lowest level in 25 years, and public opinion polls also measured support for capital punishment at a four-decade low.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

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

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

DPIC’s 2014 Year-End Report. Death sentences were at a 40-year low and executions were at a 20-year low. Texas, Missouri, and Florida accounted for 80% of all the executions in the United States. There were 7 exonerations this year and it took an average of 30 years to discover their innocence.

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

‘Filling The Void’ is a brutal record of Bill Leonard’s troubled childhood and youth.The memoir provides a shocking insight into the neglect and abuse that he suffered as a child at the hands of his parents and stepfather and gives a frank account of the murders that led to his incarceration. It reveals the horrendous conditions in which Bill is held in Ely State Prison, Nevada and gives a graphic description of the barbarous treatment that he has received at the hands of his prison guards. It also details and examines the flawed process that earned him the death penalty and describes his struggle for self-rehabilitation through a process called neuroplasticity. This is the life story of a man who has suffered a great deal, who has passions that aren’t always under control. A man who loves order and truth but hasn’t always been able to engage in them. Someone who is hugely motivated to learn and develop his abilities. Someone who ought to be alive for a long time. This is Bill Leonard – and this is his story.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,

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

The present report is submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to its resolution 67/176. It discusses trends towardsthe abolition of the death penalty andthe establishment of moratoriums on executions. The report also reflects on the application of international standards relating to the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty and discusses various international and regional initiativesfor the implementation of resolution67/176.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list International law, Moratorium , Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages تقرير 2014 - وقف العمل بعقوبة الإعدامДоклад 2014 - Мораторий на при менение смертной казниRapport 2014 - Moratoire sur l’application de la peine de mort2014报告 - 暂停使用死刑Informe 2014 - Moratoria del uso de la pena de muerte

Pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 18/117, the present report is submittedin order to update previous reports on the question of the death penalty. The reportconfirms that the trend towards the universal abolition of the death penalty is continuing.However, numerous concerns remain with regard to the lack of respect for internationalhuman rights norms and standards in States that still impose the death penalty. Asrequested in Human Rights Council resolution 22/11, the report also includes informationon the human rights of children of parents sentenced to the death penalty or executed

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages Question de la peine de mort: Rapport du Secrétaire général 2014La cuestión de la pena capital: Informe del Secretario General 2014مسألةعقوبةالإعدامتقريرالأمينالعام2014Вопрос о смертной казни: Доклад Генерального секретаря 2014死刑问题 秘书长的报告 2014

The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than fifteen years, was again confirmed in 2013 and the first six months of 2014.There are currently 161 countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 100 are totally abolitionist; 7 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 6 have a moratorium on executions in place and 48 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. Countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).Countries retaining the death penalty worldwide declined to 37 (as of 30 June 2014), compared to 40 in 2012. Retentionist countries have gradually declined over the last few years: there were 43 in 2011, 42 in 2010, 45 in 2009, 48 in 2008, 49 in 2007, 51 in 2006 and 54 in 2005.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,

The 2014 Background Paper covers the period from 1 July 2013 to 30 June2014. It highlights changes in the status of the death penalty in the OSCE areathat have taken place since the publication of the 2013 Background Paper.8As inprevious years, the background paper provides information on two participatingStates – Belarus and the United States of America – that continue to impose thedeath penalty, and on four participating States – Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia andTajikistan – that are de facto abolitionist, but retain the death penalty in law. It alsoprovides an overview of relevant developments in some of the 51 OSCE participatingStates that have an abolitionist status.

• Document type International law - Regional body
• Themes list Statistics,

Some defendants who commit murder are automatically excluded from the death penalty in the U.S., such as juveniles and the intellectually disabled. Others with similar deficits are regularly executed. A new study by Robert Smith (l.), Sophie Cull, and Zoe Robinson examined the mitigating evidence present in 100 recent cases resulting in execution, testing whether the offenders possessed mitigating qualities similar to those spared from execution. This infographic presents some of their findings.

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

Through A Matter of Life and Death lessons, assembly and films, students aged 14+ can explore the issues surrounding the use of the death penalty, one of Amnesty’s oldest and most established campaigns.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Public opinion,

Listing of women executed worldwide reported per year, between 2000 and 2015. The majority have been hanged or beheaded, whilst others have been shot or executed by lethal injection. Two have suffered electrocution in America and at least five have been stoned to death in Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Women,

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

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Foreign Nationals,

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

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

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

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Available languages قرار ٦٧/١٧٦ - وقف العمل بعقوبة الإعدامResolución 67/176 - Moratoria del uso de la pena de muerte.Résolution 67/176 - Moratoire sur l'application de la peine de mortРезолюция 67/176 - Мораторий на применение смертной казни大会决议67/176 - 暂停使用死刑

Resolution adopted by the Economic and Social Council [on the recommendation of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (E/2012/30 and Corr.1 and 2)]

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages Japanese : 联合国关于在刑事司法系统中获得法律援助机会的 原则和准则"مبادئ الأمم المتحدة وتوجيهاا بشأن سبل الحصول على /٢٠١٢ المساعدة القانونية في نظم العدالة الجنائية"Принципы и руководящие положения Организации Объединенных Наций, касающиеся доступа к юридической помощи в системах уголовного правосудияPrincipes et lignes directrices des Nations Unies sur l’accès à l’assistance juridique dans le système de justice pénalePrincipios y directrices de las Naciones Unidas sobre el acceso a la asistencia jurídica en los sistemas de justicia penal

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

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

These guidelines, which focus on human rights education in secondary schools, aim to support systemic and effective human rights learning for all young people.

• Document type Working with...

These guidelines aim to support systemic and effective human rights education for police and other law enforcement personnel. They were prepared on the basis of broad consultations involving police trainers, university lecturers, national human rights institutions and individuals involved in the design and delivery of educational curricula for law enforcement officials.

• Document type Working with...

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

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

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

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

Participants in the Third World Congress Against the Death Penaltyin Paris have repeated again and again that the universal abo-lition of the death penalty is underway. The work carried outin Paris 2007 has clearly shown it: an irreversible downwardtrend in the number of death sentences and executions is vis-ible worldwide. Above all an increasing number of nations haveabandoned this useless and cruel practice.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
• Available languages Actes : 3e Congrès mondial contre la peine de mort

The Iranian authorities use the drug issue to enforce their rule and repress ethnic nationalities and members of opposition groups. Whenever it faces escalating crises, internally or externally, new and harsher laws against drugs and addicts are adopted and public hangings of members of ethnic nationalities increase dramatically. The following periods of hangings and drug laws illustrate this policy.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Drug Offences,
• Available languages ایران: استفاده از مجازات اعدام در جرایم مربوط به موادمخدر بعنوان ابزاری برای کنترل سیاسیt

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

• Document type Book
• Themes list Fair Trial,

The Report of the UN Hugh Commissioner for human Rights provides a summary of the high-level discussion on the question of the death penalty, held on 4 March 2015, at the twenty-fifth session of the Council. The aim of the panel discussion was to exchange views on the question of the death penalty, and to address regional efforts aiming at the abolition of the death penalty and the challenges faced in that regard.

• Document type International law - United Nations
• Themes list Death Penalty,
• Available languages Обсуждение вопроса о смертной казни в рамках дискуссионной группы высокого уровня. Доклад Верховного комиссара Организации Объединенных Наций по правам человекаRéunion-débat de haut niveau sur la question de la peine de mort. Rapport du Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies aux droits de l’homme死刑问题高级别小组讨论会. 联合国人权事务高级专员的报告Mesa redonda de alto nivel sobre la cuestión de la pena de muerte. Informe del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos

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

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

Figures on the application of the death penalty in the US in 2016: Another record decline in death penalty use

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

The background paper provides information on changes and developments withregard to the death penalty in the OSCE area and new developments on the internationallevel. In this year’s edition, there is a specific focus on the relationship betweencapital punishment and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhumanor degrading treatment or punishment.

• Document type International law - Regional body
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

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

Featuring experts from Europe, Australia, Japan, China, and the United States, this collection of essays follows changes in the theory and policy of China’s death penalty from the Mao era (1949–1979) through the Deng era (1980–1997) up to the present day. Using empirical data, such as capital offender and offense profiles, temporal and regional variations in capital punishment, and the impact of social media on public opinion and reform, contributors relay both the character of China’s death penalty practices and the incremental changes that indicate reform. They then compare the Chinese experience to other countries throughout Asia and the world, showing how change can be implemented even within a non-democratic and rigid political system, but also the dangers of promoting policies that society may not be ready to embrace.

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

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Spain
• Themes list Women, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Two decades after Iran ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the authorities continue to show contempt for one of its core principles – the prohibition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders (people younger than 18 at the time of the crime). Indeed, Iran tops the grim global table of executioners of juvenile offenders.The report analyses the Iranian Penal System with regard to juvenile offenders, acknowledges the reforms, presents the recent trends and points out the major shortcomings that still need to be addressed in view of a full compliance of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the international standards.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Iran: Synthèse et les conclusions du rapport sur la peine de mort en Iran.

Missouri has had a surge in executions since 2008. The following data shows just how arbitrary and discriminatory Missouri’s death penalty system is. Such disparities in race, geography, and gender, are causes for concern that this system is broken and applied capriciously.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Discrimination, Country/Regional profiles,

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

The Report examines the possible consequences of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of various human rights, including human dignity, the right to life, the right to freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to a fair trial and the right to equality and non-discrimination. It further examines the human rights consequences of the lack of transparency in the imposition and application of the death penalty.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Fair Trial, Right to life, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,
• Available languages Смертная казнь и осуществление мер, гарантирующих защиту прав лиц, приговоренных к смертной казни. Ежегодное дополнение Генерального секретаря к его пятилетнему докладу по вопросу о смертной казниPeine capitale et application des garanties pour la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort. Supplément annuel au rapport quinquennal du Secrétaire général sur la peine capitale死刑和保护死刑犯权利的保障措施的执行情况 秘书长关于死刑问题的五年一度报告的年度补编La pena capital y la aplicación de las salvaguardias para garantizar la protección de los derechos de los condenados a la pena de muerte. Suplemento anual del Secretario General de su informe quinquenal sobre la pena capital

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

Despite strong protests from local and international human rights organisations, the new Indonesian administration under President Joko Widodo has executed 14 people, including Indonesian and foreign nationals, in 2015. All of them had been convicted of drug trafficking. In other occasions President Widodo also stated publicly that the government would deny any application for clemency made by people sentenced to death for drug-related crimes. This report, which builds on Amnesty International’s past work over three decades documenting the use of death penalty in Indonesia, includes research carried out during a March 2015 visit to the country. The report highlights 12 individual cases of death row prisoners, out of a total of 131 people on death row, which point to systemic problems in Indonesia’s administration of justice that resulted in violations of international human rights law and standards.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial, Drug Offences, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Indonesian : Kaedilan ang Cacat. Peradilan Yang Tidak Adil Dan Hukuman Mati di IndonesiaUne justice déficiente. Procès iniques et recours à la peine de mort en Indonésie

Drug-related offences are still punishable with the death penalty in more than 30 countries despite clear restrictions set out in international law to limit use of the death penalty to the “most serious crimes”. The 2015 World Day Against the Death Penalty (10 October) draws attention to the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences as a human rights violation.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Drug Offences,

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

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Drug Offences,

The 2015 Amnesty International’s Report on Saudi Arabia gravely confirms that Saudi Arabia remains one of the most prolific executioners in the world. Between January 1985, the earliest year from when information on executions is available, and June 2015 it executed at least 2,200 persons, almost half of whom were foreign nationals. Over one third of these executions were carried out for offences that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” for which the death penalty can be imposed under international law. Most of these crimes, such as drug-related offences, are not mandatorily punishable by death according to the authorities’ interpretation of Islamic Shari’a law.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Saudi Arabia
• Themes list Drug Offences, Foreign Nationals, Most Serious Crimes, Death Penalty,

The 2015 HANDS OFF CAIN’s Report analyses the current status of executions around the world, providing detailed regional overviews. The Report confirms the worldwide trend towards abolition, even though the death penalty is still applied for violent and non-violent crimes, as in the contexts of the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror”.

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

PRI has witnessed the death penalty’s abolition in a majority of the world’s nations, but it continues to be used in most Muslim countries. One of the main reasons for this is the justification that it is permitted by the Quran, the Islamic holy book. In many Islamic countries which continue to carry out executions, the death penalty has become a taboo subject. Governments frequently use Sharia to justify why they retain and apply capital punishment, and this can seem to close discussion on the subject. However, Sharia law is not as immutable on the death penalty as many scholars or states say. Among the misconceptions about Sharia law is the belief that there is a clear and unambiguous statement of what the punishments are for particular offences. In fact, there are several different sources referring to punishments, and different schools of Sharia law give different weight to them.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Religion , Methods of Execution,

How are prison guards affected by overseeing prisoners on death row or even participating in executions? What effects does it have in the short and the longer term?This short paper draws on research and interviews with prison guards to outline the psychological impact that guards who have worked with prisoners for many years on death row can experience when a prisoner is put to death.

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

This report highlights the death penalty situation and executions in Asian countries between 2010 and 2013. It also gives an overview over the legal protection measures for the mentally impaired and intellectually disabled in Asian countries where the death penalty is used. Furthermore, we have listed Asian countries that have acceded to the ICCPR and its Second Optional Protocol. We have also collected excerpts from international human rights documents. By using these documents for mutual reference, death penalty activists in Asia will be able to get a more comprehensive picture of the use of the death penalty and executions in Asian countries.

• Document type Article
• Themes list International law, Public debate, Most Serious Crimes,
• Available languages 亞洲不公平審判報告 II : 死刑並非亞洲的共同價值

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,

The American Bar Association recently published The State of Criminal Justice 2012, an annual report that examines major issues, trends and significant changes in America’s criminal justice system.

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

Ever since California added the death penalty to its penal code in the 1870s, supporters have argued that the threat of executions would make potential murderers think twice before committing heinous crimes.

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

The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 16/9, which establishes the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages Положение в области прав человека в Исламской Республике Иран: Записка Генерального секретаряLa situation des droits de l’homme en République islamique d’Iran: Note du Secrétaire général伊朗伊斯兰共和国的人权状况 秘书长的说明La situación de los derechos humanos en la República Islámica del Irán: Nota del Secretario General

Tool containing all the documents on Cameron Todd’s case.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Innocence, Country/Regional profiles,

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

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

chronicles the compelling story of Philip Workman, who was executed in Tennessee in 2007. The author, a minister of the United Church of Christ who has spent decades working with those on death row, served as Mr. Workman’s pastor and tells the story from his own viewpoint, as well as those of others familiar with the case.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Death Row Conditions,

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

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

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

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

A new book by Clive Stafford Smith, a British lawyer who has defended death row inmates in the U.S., offers an in-depth view of capital punishment in America. In Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America, Stafford Smith examines the case of Kris Maharaj, a British citizen who was sentenced to death in Florida for a double murder, to expose problems in the justice system.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Innocence,

A new electronic book by former journalist Peter Rooney offers an in-depth look at the case of Joseph Burrows, who was exonerated from Illinois’s death row in 1996. In Die Free: A True Story of Murder, Betrayal and Miscarried Justice, Rooney explains how Burrows was sentenced to death for the murder of William Dulin based on snitch testimony.

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

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

• Document type Book
• Themes list Deterrence ,

As part of Amnesty International’s 2012 death penalty campaign the Guardian and animators from Sherbet tell in this short animation fim the extraordinary story of Mohammad Mostafaei, a lawyer who has saved 20 of the 40 juveniles he has defended from execution in Iran. Actor Paul Bettany speaks the lawyer’s words.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Innocence,

Estado de Firmas y Ratificaciones del protocolo a la convention americana sobre derechos humanos relativo a la abolicion de la pena de muerte

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages A-53: ESTADO DE FIRMAS Y RATIFICACIONES, PROTOCOLO A LA CONVENCION AMERICANA SOBRE DERECHOS HUMANOS RELATIVO A LA ABOLICION DE LA PENA DE MUERTE

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

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

THE SITUATION TODAY The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2011 and the first six months of 2012. There are currently 155 Countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 99 are totally abolitionist; 7 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 44 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. Countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or Countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2011 (E DEI PRIMI SEI MESI DEL 2012)

21 people were exonerated by the Innocence Network in 2011. Proving their innocence took years of work by dedicated teams of lawyers and staffers. These 21 represent a small fraction of the thousands of people who are behind bard for crimes they didn’t commit.

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

Hands Off Cain 2011 Report. The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2010 and the first six months of 2011.

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

The release of Sierra Leone’s longest serving female death row prisoner.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list Sierra Leone
• Themes list Innocence,

The moving images could show any group of young women as they go about their daily lives in prison. But just hours – and in some cases minutes – after the pictures were taken, each of the four women were led into a concrete yard and executed.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Death Row Conditions,

Tony Medina was accused of shooting into a crowd of young people with a semi-automatic weapon from a dark colored car. Two children were fatally wounded during the shooting. Nevertheless, he is innocent according to the furnished evidence and the testimony of witnesses.

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

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

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

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

This new database search includes the county of conviction, as well as gender of victim. All results will display in chronological order by default. To sort by other criteria, click on the headings for those fields in the search results.

• Document type NGO report

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

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