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Document(s)

Parliamentarians and the abolition of the death penalty – a resource

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Francis H. Warburton, on 1 January 2014


2014

Working with...

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 667 Ko ]

This resource is for parliamentarians around the globe, currently working or thinking of working for the abolition of the death penalty. It is intended to provide some of the key arguments for abolition based on a series of case studies, showing how abolition has been achieved and is being achieved around the world. The resource also sets out the mini steps that can be taken toward abolition and some information on the development of parliamentary networks and there are a list of contacts where parliamentarians can find information and support.

Document(s)

The Debate Over the Death Penalty in Today’s China

By Zhang Ning / China perpectives, on 1 January 2005


2005

Article

China


More details See the document

Despite the sensitivity of the subject, the death penalty is currently a topic of public discussion among Chinese legal experts who are now openly wondering about its possible abolition. This debate is of interest on three counts. First, it goes hand-in-hand with a retrospective reading of the Chinese penal tradition, highlighting the succession of attempts at modernising criminal law for over a century. It also shows the ever present weight of the Maoist legacy and the contradictions of the present policy, caught between a concern for legality and continuing recourse to exceptional measures. Lastly, legal professionals and theorists alike are engaging in a review—based on specific cases—of the particular features of contemporary Chinese society and culture.

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

Document(s)

The High Cost of the Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Focus, on 8 September 2020


2020

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty in the US

By Death Penalty Information Center / Mark Warren, on 1 January 2013


2013

Article

United States


More details See the document

New information on foreign nationals facing the death penalty in the U.S. is now available through Mark Warren of Human Rights Research. This DPIC page includes information on 143 foreign citizens from 37 countries on state and federal death rows.

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

Document(s)

Dead Innocent: The Death Penalty Abolitionist Search for a Wrongful Execution.

By Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier / Tulsa Law Review, on 1 January 2006


2006

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article examines the debate about whether or not an innocent person has been executed in the United States. The article begins by discussing several famous historical claims of wrongful execution, including Sacco & Vanzetti, the Rosenbergs, and Bruno Hauptmann. Then, the article addresses some recent claims of wrongful executions, including the case of Larry Griffin and the impact of a 2006 DNA test in the Roger Coleman case. The article evaluates why some innocence claims attract more attention than others. By recognizing two obstacles in wrongful execution claims and by establishing five lessons for gaining media attention, the article uses its historical analysis to extract strategy lessons for death penalty abolitionists. Finally, the article weighs arguments regarding the pros and cons of an abolitionist strategy that focuses on proving the innocence of executed individuals. The article concludes that wrongful execution claims provide an important argument for abolitionists, but such claims should not be presented as the main or only problem with the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2019: The Year in Review

By Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty / Kristin Houlé / Grace Rudser, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document

The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) – a statewide advocacy organization based in Austin, Texas – publishes this annual report to inform the public and elected officials about issues associated with the death penalty over the past year. The report includes illustrative charts and graphs, and cites the death penalty developments in Texas (USA).

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2016

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2017


2017

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

The 9th annual report by Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2016 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The report sets out the number of executions in 2016, the trend compared to previous years, charges, geographic distribution and a monthly breakdown of executions

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the Arab World 2011

By Alejandro Tagarro Cervantes / Amman Center for Human Rights Studies, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

This annual report drafted by ACHRS aims to proportionate an analytical studio of the situation of the death penalty and capital punishment in the Arab World in 2011, and includes detailed information about the 21 countries which constitute the Arab World. It also contains tables and a conclusive reflection on the current state of capital punishment.

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

Document(s)

THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2014: YEAR END REPORT

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2014


2014

NGO report


More details See the document

With 35 executions this year, 2014 marks the fewest people put to death since 1994, according to this report by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). The 72 new death sentences in 2014 is the lowest number in the modern era of the death penalty, dating back to 1974. Executions and sentences have steadily decreased, as Americans have grown more skeptical of capital punishment. The states’ problems with lethal injections also contributed to the drop in executions this year.Death sentences—a more current barometer than executions—have declined by 77% since 1996, when there were 315. There were 79 death sentences last year. This is the fourth year in a row that there have been fewer than 100 death sentences.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Mental Illness, Innocence, Intellectual Disability, Lethal Injection, Statistics,

Document(s)

Uzbekistan: ‘Justice only in heaven’ – the death penalty in Uzbekistan

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Uzbekistan


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Singapore: in Decline but Still Too Soon for Optimism

By National University of Singapore, on 1 January 2016


2016

Article

Singapore


More details See the document

A survey on Singaporeans’ opinion on the death penalty, which was led by Assoc Prof Chan Wing Cheong from the NUS Faculty of Law, found that most Singaporeans are in favour of the death penalty but less so for certain cases. Fewer support the death penalty for drug trafficking and firearms in cases where no one dies or is injured and there is also less support for the mandatory death penalty. The survey polled 1,500 Singapore citizens aged 18 to 74 between April and May 2016.For a free summary of the study: http://news.nus.edu.sg/highlights/11231-death-penalty-support-not-clear-cut

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Singapore
  • Themes list Public opinion, Public debate, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA – The Death Penalty in 2000

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

China


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2015: The Year in Review

By Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

This year, jurors in Texas imposed the fewest new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state’s revised capital punishment statute in 1976. According to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (TCADP) report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2015: The Year in Review, juries newly condemned three individuals to death. They rejected the death penalty in four other trials. The first death sentence of the year was not imposed until October 7, 2015.

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

Document(s)

Initiating Constructive Debate: A Critical Reflection on the Death Penalty in Africa

By Lilian Chenwi / Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, on 1 January 2005


2005

Article


More details See the document

This article aims to show that there is a need for constructive debate on the death penalty in Africa. Considering that the African Commission is encouraging such a debate, the article begins with an examination of its stance on the subject. This is followed by a brief evaluation of the use of the death penalty in Africa, highlighting some areas of concern. The death penalty is then considered from a human rights perspective, focusing mainly on the possibility of relying on constitutional provisions on the right to life and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment to challenge the death penalty.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Right to life, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Mandatory Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The death penalty in China today: Kill fewer, kill cautiously

By Susan Trevaskes / Asian Survey, on 1 January 2008


2008

Article

China


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Cruel and Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders’ Eighth Amendment

By John D. Bessler / Northeastern University Press, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book

United States


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2016

By Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), on 1 January 2016


2016

International law - Regional body


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Killing McVeigh: The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure

By Jody Lyneé Madeira / New York University (NYU), on 1 January 2012


2012

Book


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Question of the death penalty: Report of the Secretary-General

By United Nations, on 1 January 2008


2008

International law - United Nations

frarruzh-hantes
More details See the document

The present report contains information on the question of the death penalty covering the period from June 2009 to July 2010, and draws attention to a number of phenomena, including the continuing trend towards abolition and the ongoing difficulties experienced in gaining access to reliable information on executions.

Document(s)

Question of the death penalty : Report of the Secretary-General

By United Nations, on 8 September 2020


2020

United Nations report

arruzh-hantesfr
More details See the document

The present report contains information covering the period from June 2008 to July 2009, and draws attention to a number of phenomena, including the continuing trend towards abolition, the practice of engaging in a national debate on the death penalty, and the ongoing difficulties in gaining access to reliable information on executions.

Document(s)

A-53: SIGNATORIES AND RATIFICATION OF THE PROTOCOL TO THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

By Organization of American States / Department of International Law, on 1 January 2011


2011

Regional body report

es
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

When Legislatures Delegate Death: The Troubling Paradox Behind State Uses of Electrocution and Lethal Injection and What It Says About Us

By Deborah W. Denno / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article discusses the paradoxical motivations and problems behind legislative changes from one method of execution to the next, and particularly moves from electrocution to lethal injection. Legislatures and courts insist that the primary reason states switch execution methods is to ensure greater humaneness for death row inmates. History shows, however, that such moves were prompted primarily because the death penalty itself became constitutionally jeopardized due to a state’s particular method. The result has been a warped legal “philosophy” of punishment, at times peculiarly aligning both friends and foes of the death penalty alike and wrongly enabling legislatures to delegate death to unknowledgeable prison personnel. This article first examines the constitutionality of electrocution, contending that a modern Eighth Amendment analysis of a range of factors, such as legislative trends toward lethal injection, indicates that electrocution is cruel and unusual. It then provides an Eighth Amendment review of lethal injection, demonstrating that injection also involves unnecessary pain, the risk of such pain, and a loss of dignity. These failures seem to be attributed to vague lethal injection statutes, uninformed prison personnel, and skeletal or inaccurate lethal injection protocols. The article next presents the author’s study of the most current protocols for lethal injection in all thirty-six states where anesthesia is used for a state execution. The study focuses on a number of criteria contained in many protocols that are key to applying an injection, including: the types and amounts of chemicals that are injected; the selection, training, preparation, and qualifications of the lethal injection team; the involvement of medical personnel; the presence of general witnesses and media witnesses; as well as details on how the procedure is conducted and how much of it witnesses can see. The study emphasizes that the criteria in many protocols are far too vague to assess adequately. When the protocols do offer details, such as the amount and type of chemicals that executioners inject, they oftentimes reveal striking errors and ignorance about the procedure. Suchinaccurate or missing information heightens the likelihood that a lethal injection will be botched and suggests that states are not capable of executing an inmate constitutionally. Even though executions have become increasingly hidden from the public, and therefore more politically palatable, they have not become more humane, only more difficult to monitor.

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

Document(s)

Responsible Business Engagement on the Death Penalty. A Practical Guide

By Responsible Business Initiative on the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2019


2019

Working with...

fr
More details See the document

Business engagement in the death penalty is critical because of the impact it can have. Putsimply: the power is in your hands. If your business is looking for a human rights issue whereit can achieve measurable change, advocacy on the death penalty must be considered.Global support for the death penalty is declining. Meanwhile, competition for investment isfierce. Governments and the public at large care more about job creation and a healthy economythan a system of executions. Therefore, the voices of businesses and business leaders havea huge role to play in shaping public dialogue about whether to keep – or end – the use ofcapital punishment.

Document(s)

Discrimination and Instructional Comprehension: Guided Discretion, Racial Bias, and the Death Penalty

By Craig Haney / Mona Lynch / Law and Human Behavior, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article

United States


More details See the document

This study links two previously unrelated lines of research: The lack of comprehension of capital penalty-phase jury instructions and discriminatory death sentencing. Jury-eligible subjects were randomly assigned to view one of four versions of a simulated capital penalty trial in which the race of defendant (Black or White) and the race of victim (Black or White) were varied orthogonally. Dependent measures included a sentencing verdict (life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty), ratings of penalty phase evidence, and a test of instructional comprehension. Results indicated that instructional comprehension was poor overall and that, although Black defendants were treated only slightly more punitively than White defendants in general, discriminatory effects were concentrated among participants whose comprehension was poorest. In addition, the use of penalty phase evidence differed as a function of race of defendant and whether the participant sentenced the defendant to life or death. The study suggest that racially biased and capricious death sentencing may be in part caused or exacerbated by the inability to comprehend penalty phase instructions.

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

Document(s)

Pathways to Justice: Implementing a Fair and Effective Remedy following Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty in Kenya

By The Death Penalty Project, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document

This report draws on experiences in other jurisdictions where capital sentencing laws have been struck down or abolished, thereby generating the need for prisoners already unlawfully sentenced to death to be given substitute sentences. It delineates the ways in which other common law jurisdictions have addressed the practical and procedural challenges of resentencing following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty – navigating potential human rights infringements and ensuring that satisfactory requirements of due process are met. Resentencing procedures must also be scalable and practically accessible to the large number of individuals (thousands in the case of Kenya) entitled to relief.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty: Myths and Realities

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

The Penal Reform International’s Report “Myths and Realities” provides ‘quick answers to common questions’ about the death penalty.The ‘myths’ covered include: ‘The death penalty keeps societies safer’, ‘the death penalty is applied fairly’, ‘there is nothing in international law to stop countries using the death penalty’, and ‘victims and relatives are in favour’. The booklet is a useful guide for activists and advocates of abolition, giving them the arguments they need to tackle common pre- and misconceptions.

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

Document(s)

Dignity Denied: The Experience of Murder Victims’ Family Members Who Oppose the Death Penalty

By Robert Renny Cushing / Susannah Sheffer / Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

This report, which includes policy recommendations, is the culmination of a long effort to identify and document the bias on the part of some prosecutors, judges, and members of the victims’ services community against victims’ family members who oppose the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Fighting for clients’ lives: the impact of the death penalty on defence lawyers

By Susannah Sheffer / Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2014


2014

Working with...


More details See the document

How are lawyers affected by defending death penalty cases, where failure means execution? And how do they respond when their clients are killed?This briefing paper, written by Susannah Sheffer and drawing on her book Fighting for their lives, showcases the voices of the lawyers themselves to demonstrate the profound and long-lasting impacts that the death penalty can have on those indirectly affected by it.

  • Document type Working with...
  • Themes list Legal Representation,

Document(s)

: Time to Abolish the Death Penalty in Zimbabwe: Exploring the Views of its Opinion Leaders

By Death Penalty Project, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Zimbabwe


More details See the document

This report draws on in-depth interviews with 42 opinion leaders on the death penalty, their knowledge of the criminal justice system, the likelihood of abolition and how that could be achieved. They represent the fields of politics, public service, law, religion, civil society, academia, and defence.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Zimbabwe
  • Themes list Public opinion,

Document(s)

Life after death: What replaces the death penalty?

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Criminological analysis on deterrent power of death penalty

By Yuanhuang Zhang / Frontiers of law in China, on 1 January 2009


2009

Article

China

zh-hant
More details See the document

Death penalty is the most effective deterrence to grave crimes, which has been the key basis for the State to retain death penalty. In fact, either in legislation or in execution, death penalty can not produce the special deterrent effect as expected. With respect to this issue, people tend to conduct normative exploration from the perspective of ordinary legal principles or the principle of human rights, which is more speculative than convincing. Correct interpretation based on the existing positive analysis and differentiation based on human nature which sifts the true from the false will not only help end the simple, repetitive and meaningless arguments regarding the basis for the existence of death penalty, but also help understand the rational nature of both the elimination and the preservation of death penalty, so as to define the basic direction towards which the State should make efforts in controlling death penalty in the context of promoting social civilization.

Document(s)

The Persistent Problem of Racial Disparities in The Federal Death Penalty

By American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2007


2007

NGO report


More details See the document

This paper details the profoundly troubling evidence that racial disparities continue to plague the modern federal death penalty. Of the next six federal inmates scheduled for execution, all are African-American defendants. Defendants of color make up the majority of federal death row and the majority of modern federal executions.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Minorities, Discrimination,

Document(s)

Effective advocacy towards abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa

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


2018

Lobbying

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 840 Ko ]

This manual has been written by the World Coalition against the death penalty (WCADP) in partnership with FIACAT.This tool is a guide for the advocacy towards abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa. It became a capitalisation tool of the joint project between FIACAT and WCADP “Contributing to the abolition of the Death Penalty in sub-Saharan Africa”

Document(s)

Lightening the Load of the Parental Death Penalty on Children

By Oliver Robertson / Quaker United Nations Office, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report

enarfafres
More details See the document

This paper begins by providing some basic information about children of parents sentenced to death, issues that persist through the whole of a parent’sinteraction with the criminal justice system. Next, it looks at issues that aresimilar to those faced by other children of prisoners, but focuses on the ways inwhich children of parents sentenced to death are different. For a more detailedaccount of the situation of children of prisoners worldwide, including recommendations and examples of good practice, read QUNO’s 2012 paperCollateral Convicts. Thirdly, the fundamentally different issues are considered, thoseonly children of parents sentenced to death experience. There are a limitednumber of recommendations included throughout: these are not intended to becomprehensive, instead only covering those areas where there is already clarity about a positive way forward.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in China and the World

By Amnesty International UK, on 8 September 2020


2020

Campaigning


More details See the document

In this lesson students aged 11-16 work collectively to use their mathematical skill and appropriate technology to examine and analyse information about the changing use of the death penalty in China and the world. They look for the most effective ways of presenting information using charts, graphs and maps, and comment on the reliability and validity of the data that they have collected.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

USA: Blind faith: An appeal to President George W. Bush to admit that the USA’s 30-year experiment with the death penalty has failed

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

United States


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

China Against the Death Penalty Report 2012

By China Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report

zh-hant
More details Download [ pdf - 170 Ko ]

The original report in Chinese was in three parts. Part I, translated here, outlines the legal system and its application in relation to the death penalty. Part II introduces the use of the death penalty review system following the Supreme People’s Court’s resumption of its power to review death sentences on January 1st, 2007. Part II also analyses the influence of the death penalty review system on the new criminal procedure law that will come into effect in 2013. Part III introduces a number of death penalty cases.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty and Victims

By United Nations, on 1 January 2016


2016

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

This publication includes perspectives from a broad range of victims. While some of them are family members of crime victims, others are victims of human rights violations in application of the death penalty, of its brutality and traumatic effects. Victims’ perspectives, taken holistically, make a compelling case against the death penalty. When it comes to the death penalty, almost everyone loses. The perspectives of the victims on the death penalty as reflected in this book are likely to provoke tough discussions. This may be a welcome challenge. The publication was launched at a high-level event on 21st September at the UN in New York.The full recording of the event and the programme is available at: texte

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list Innocence, Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The death penalty in China

By Bin Lu, Hong Liang / Columbia University Press, on 1 January 2015


2015

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

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(s)

Death Dissent and Diplomacy: The U.S. Death Penalty as an Obstacle to Foreign relations

By Mark Warren / William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, on 1 January 2004


2004

Article

United States


More details See the document

Widely believed to be the innocent victims of an unfair trial, two foreign nationals facing execution in the United States had captured the attention of theworld. Rallies in their support attracted huge crowds in London and Paris, in Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Bombay and Tokyo. Petitions for mercy flooded the governor’s office, signed by half a million people worldwide. The Italian head of state, former Nobel prize winners, and the Vatican joined in the global appealfor clemency, all to no avail. The world watched as the final days ticked away, transfixed by the last-minute battle to obtain a new trial amid a mounting storm ofdomestic and international protest. Citing procedural default and deference to state law, the appellate courts refused to intervene.

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

Document(s)

The death penalty and poverty: Promoting access to justice for the poor in Nigeria

By Adaobi Egboka, on 1 January 2017


2017

Multimedia content

Botswana


More details Download [ pdf - 575 Ko ]

Presentation of Adaobi Egboka, from Legal Defense and Assistance Project for the plenary session on poverty and the death penalty which took place during the 2017 General Assembly of the World Coalition.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Botswana
  • Themes list Fair Trial, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 2012

By Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), on 1 January 2012


2012

International law - Regional body


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Resolution 65/206 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 8 September 2020


2020

International law - United Nations

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [on the report of the Third Committee (A/65/456/Add.2 (Part II))] 65/206. Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

Document(s)

The Politics of the Death Penalty in Countries in Transition

By Routledge / Madoka Futamura, on 1 January 2014


2014

Book


More details See the document

Covering a diverse range of transitional processes in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East, The Politics of the Death Penalty in Countries in Transition offers a broad evaluation of countries whose death penalty policies have rarely been studied. The book would be useful to human rights researchers and international lawyers, in demonstrating how transition and transformation, ‘provide the catalyst for several of interrelated developments of which one is the reduction and elimination of capital punishment’.

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

Document(s)

Turkey: The Risk of Reinstatment of the Death Penalty

By World Caolition againt the Death Penalty, Anne Souléliac, Rusen Aytac - Barreau de Paris, on 10 August 2021


2021

Campaigning

Public Opinion 

Turkey

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 312 Ko ]

Findings from a preliminary study on the situation of human rights defenders in Turkey and the potential of a return to capital punishment.

Document(s)

Parlamentarians and the Abolition of the Death Penalty – A Resource –

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Francis H. Warburton, on 8 September 2020


2020

Book


More details Download [ pdf - 667 Ko ]

This resource is for parlamentarians around the globe, currently working or thinking of working for the abolition of the death penalty. It is intended to provide some of the key arguments for abolition based on a series of case studies, showing how abolition has been achieved around the world. It is provided with an arguments section as well as with specific case studies based on countries that have either achieved abolition or have managed to achieve one of the intermediate steps toward abolition.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

The Politics of Fear and Death: Successive Problems in Capital Federal Habeas Corpus.”

By Bryan A. Stevenson / New York University (NYU), on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996 was drafted, enacted, and signed in an atmosphere of anger and fear. The legislation, which includes substantial cutbacks in the federal habeas corpus remedy, was Congress’s response to the tragedy of the Oklahoma City bombing. During the congressional hearings on the bills that culminated in AEDPA, the proponents of the legislation claimed that its habeas corpus restrictions and other provisions were necessary to fight domestic terrorism. The Senate bill was approved by the House on April 18, 1996, the day before the one-year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. President Bill Clinton invoked the bombing in a statement he issued at the time of the Senate’s passage of the legislation and again when he signed the legislation into law. Even at the time of the debates, some courageous legislators were willing to denounce the fallacious connection that the bill’s proponents drew between the bombing and the broader issues of the scope and availability of habeas corpus review. Many of the habeas corpus restrictions ultimately built into AEDPA had been under consideration by Congress since 1990, though none had been adopted. The congressional proponents of these restrictions seized upon the Oklahoma City tragedy as a means of accomplishing their longstanding goal to scale back federal habeas corpus review.

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

Document(s)

Application form – Call for Actions in the Philippines (18th World Day)

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


2020

Multimedia content

Philippines


More details Download [ vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document - 49 Ko ]

Call for actions in the Philippines

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Philippines
  • Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

International Network of Academics Against the Death Penalty

By International Academic Network for the abolition of capital punishment, on 8 September 2020


Working with...


More details See the document

It is of the utmost importance, in the short and medium-term, to develop an intense work of academically nature both of study and disclosure of the problems of the abolition of the death penalty in the international scenario, to complement and help the work of the diplomatic action and non-governmental organizations. To this effect it is proposed to keep REPECAP as an ever – growing scientific world network comprising academic law scholars, human rights centers, institutions of public law and Ngos, with expertise and skill in the problems of death penalty and interests in the field of international criminal justice, as well as young researchers who have been dealing with these topics or wish to get involved with the subject, regardless of nationality or locations.

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

Document(s)

The death penalty – Abolition in Europe

By Council of Europe / Peter Hodgkinson / Roger Hood / Michel Forst / Stefan Trechsel / Caroline Ravaud / Hans-Christian Kruger / Philippe Toussaint / Serguei Kovalev / Eric Prokosch / Renate Wohlwend / Roberto Toscano / Roberto Fico / Anatoly Pristavkin / Sergiy Holovatiy, on 8 September 1999


1999

Book

Czech Republic


More details See the document

Europe is the first continent in which the death penalty has been almost completely abolished. The Council of Europe has been Europe’s major defender of abolition and presently requires all countries seeking membership in its ranks to place a moratorium on the death penalty. This collection of texts by major European abolitionists includes voices from countries which have enjoyed abolition for many years, as well as from those where abolition has been a struggle against public opinion. Contributors from governments, universities and NGOs add their voices to that of the Council of Europe, explaining the achievements and the ground still to be covered in attaining total abolition in Europe. An introduction by a world expert on abolition, Roger Hood and a conclusion by Russia’s leading abolitionist Sergey Kovalev makes this volume a moving testament to the battle for abolition of the death penalty, which is already so well advanced in Europe. This collection also contains a detailed explanation of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals specifically with abolition of the death penalty, as well as reports on various eastern European countries which have yet to attain complete abolitionist status.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list Czech Republic
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

RECOMMENDATION 1302 (1996) on the abolition of the death penalty in Europe

By Council of Europe / Parlamentary Assembly, on 1 January 1996


1996

Regional body report


More details See the document

The Assembly recalls Recommendation 1246 (1994) on the abolition of capital punishment. It welcomes the decision of the Committee of Ministers of 16 January 1996 to encourage member states which have not abolished the death penalty to operate, de facto or de jure, a moratorium on the execution of death sentences.

  • Document type Regional body report
  • Themes list International law,

Document(s)

Judged for More than Her Crime: a Global Overview of Women Facing the Death Penalty

By Cornwell Death Penalty Project / Delphine Lourtau, on 1 January 2018


2018

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

This groundbreaking report aims to bridge critical gaps in understanding of how states apply capital punishment from a gender perspective. This study is the first to examine how and when women receive death sentences and the conditions under which they are detained on death row, with a particular focus on India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Pakistan and the United States. The conclusions are that gender discrimination is pervasive at all stages of capital cases, but that its operation is complex. Report published by Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide with the support of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Conditions of Detention on Death Row

By Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Conditions of Detention on Death Row

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences, Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The death penalty in Thailand

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Julie Morizet / Sinapan Samidoray / Siobhan Ni Chulachain, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Japan: A Practice Unworthy of a Democracy

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Sharon Hom / Etienne Jaudel / Richard Wild, on 1 January 2003


2003

NGO report

enfr
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

Crime and Justice. Abolishing the Death Penalty

By IPS, on 1 January 2007


2007

Book


More details See the document

The IPS ‘Death Penalty Abolition Project’, supported bythe European Union, has recorded the voices of many of those who have played a key role in the recently fast-moving journey towards a death-penalty-free world. In doing so, IPS has been guided by the purposes and principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.Collected here are some 100 reports from dozens ofcountries and every continent. The voices of those who have spoken out here – many hundreds in number – include activists,academics, lawyers and, of course, those waiting for that dreaded last knock on their cell door.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Moratorium , Trend Towards Abolition, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Struck by Lightning: The Continuing Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty Thirty-Five Years After Its Re-instatement in 1976

By Death Penalty Information Center / Richard C. Dieter, on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

This report examenes how, after three and a half decades of experience under the revised statutes on death penalty, the randomness of the system continues.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Arbitrariness,

Document(s)

Most Deserving of Death? An Analysis of the Supreme Court’s Death Penalty Jurisprudence

By Kenneth Williams / Ashgate Publishing, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book

United States


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Uses and Abuses of Empirical Evidence in the Death Penalty Debate

By John J. Donohue / Stanford Law Review / Justin Wolfers, on 1 January 2005


2005

Article

United States


More details See the document

Over much of the last half-century, the legal and political history of the death penalty in the United States has closely paralleled the debate within social science about its efficacy as a deterrent. The injection of Ehrlich’s conclusions into the legal and public policy arenas, coupled with the academic debate over Ehrlich’s methods, led the National Academy of Sciences to issue a 1978 report which argued that the existing evidence in support of a deterrent effect of capital punishment was unpersuasive. Over the next two decades, as a series of academic papers continued to debate the deterrence question, the number of executions gradually increased, albeit to levels much lower than those seen in the first half of the twentieth century

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

Document(s)

: The Right Way: More Republican lawmakers championing death penalty repeal

By Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

At a press conference in Washington, DC, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty released a new report that shows the surge in the number of Republican lawmakers who sponsored death penalty repeal legislation at the state level. The report – called The Right Way – looked at all death penalty repeal bills filed since 2000, using the increase in sponsorships as a measure for growing Republican leadership on the issue.

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

Document(s)

Question of the death penalty. Report of the Secretary-General.

By United Nations, on 1 January 2011


2011

International law - United Nations

ruzh-hantes
More details See the document

The present report contains information covering the period from July 2010 to June 2011, and draws attention to a number of phenomena, including the continuing trend towards abolition, the ongoing difficulties in gaining access to reliable information on executions, and various international efforts towards the universal abolition of the death penalty.

Document(s)

The Role of Organized Religions in Changing Death Penalty Debates

By Michael L. Radelet / William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article


More details See the document

In his Article, Professor Michael L. Radelet describes a global decline in the use of the death penalty, the United Nation’s progressively stronger stance against executions, and a growing opposition to capital punishment in the United States. This decrease is attributed to both empirical studies casting doubt on the death penalty’s efficacy in promoting its stated underlying goals, and to the increasingly vocal stance of religious leaders morally opposed to capital punishment. Nevertheless, the decline in other justifications for capital punishment has been met with increasing reliance on retribution as the primary argument in its support. Professor Radelet argues that retribution’s moral, rather than empirical, base makes it an issue largely within the purview of religious denominations, the traditional source of a community’s moral authority. Professor Radelet predicts that religious leaders’ increasing opposition to the flawed administration of the death penalty, rather than their lesser support for the abstract concept of capital punishment, will tip the balance toward its abolition in America.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Religion ,

Document(s)

In May 2020, While the World May Be Under a Lockdown, the Death Penalty is Not!

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2020


2020

Multimedia content

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 182 Ko ]

Statement from the World Coalition calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty during the COVID-19 pandemics.

Document(s)

Debating the death penalty: should America have capital punishment? : the experts on both sides make their case

By Hugo Adam Bedau / Stephen B. Bright / Joshua K. Marquis / Bryan Stevenson / Louis P. Pojman / Alex Kozinski / Paul G. Cassell / Oxford University Press / George Ryan, on 1 January 2004


2004

Book

United States


More details See the document

This book contains contributions from judges, attorneys, and academicians on both sides of the death penalty question. The grounds advanced for justification of capital punishment–including deterrence, retribution, and closure for victims’ families–are considered. Whether life imprisonment is adequate to address these concerns is also debated. Other issues include whether racial minorities or indigent defendants are disproportionately executed, whether the penalty is otherwise arbitrarily applied, and what risks exist regarding the execution of an innocent person.

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

Document(s)

Flyer-The Death Penalty in the Context of Public Security: Neither Right, Nor Effective

By Greater Caribbean For Life, on 1 January 2013


2013

Multimedia content

Trinidad and Tobago


More details Download [ pdf - 179 Ko ]

Flyer for the Caribbean Conference – The Death Penalty in the Context of Public Security: Neither Right, Nor Effective organised to celebrate the 11th World Day Against the Death Penalty dedicated to the Greater Caribbean, by local civil society in Trinidad and Tobago on October, 1st. 2013

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Trinidad and Tobago
  • Themes list Deterrence ,

Document(s)

Failings of the Supreme Court, Human Sacrifice, Sentencing and the Death Penalty

By Anup Surendranath / Economic and Political Weekly, on 1 January 2020


2020

Article

India


More details See the document

In the judicial discourse on the relationship between human sacrifice and punishment in criminal law, there are glaring errors. Looking closely at the Supreme Court’s judgment in Ishwari Lal Yadav v State of Chhattisgarh, the deviation from the principle of individualised sentencing and the consequences of ignoring evidence on the complex anthropological and psychological dimensions of human sacrifice are reflected upon.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list India
  • Themes list Hanging,

Document(s)

The political origins of death penalty exceptionalism: Mao Zedong and the practice of capital punishment in contemporary China

By Zhang Ning / Punishment and Society, on 1 January 2008


2008

Article

China


More details See the document

This article focuses on the role played by Mao Zedong in the making of the Chinese communist legal system in general and in the Chinese practice of the death penalty under Mao in particular. It attempts to study this link through an analysis of an event which represented a landmark, namely the campaign of the regression against counterrevolutionaries launched in 1950—2, and through an examination of three specific cases, which enable us to observe the concrete characteristics of these practices, whose effects continue to be felt in today’s China.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty Worldwide – Developments in 2006 (With amendments)

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

arfres
More details See the document

The world continued to move closer to the universal abolition of capital punishment during 2006. By the end of the year 88 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. The death penalty has now been abolished in law or practice by 128 countries. Other subjects covered in this document include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against child offenders; resumptions of executions; and campaigning activities to promote abolition.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty: The Ultimate Punishment

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2008


2008

Campaigning

enfres
More details See the document

Campaigning toolkit published by Amnesty International. A 16-page detailed advocacy document explaining why the abolition of the death penalty is necessary and how the theories behind capital punishment get it wrong.

Document(s)

Mandatory Justice: Eighteen Reforms to the Death Penalty

By The Constitution Project, on 1 January 2001


2001

NGO report


More details See the document

One major goal of these recommendations is to create additional safeguards against the endemic tendency of decision-makers in the criminal justice system to “pass the buck.” The system is far too lax in catching errors and injustices in part because many of those who might catch these errors and injustices do not fully understand their own duty to ensure that a death sentence is the appropriate punishment. Several of these recommendations are addressed to those who occupy critical roles in the capital punishment system, including the defense attorney, the prosecutor, the jury, the trial judge, and the reviewing courts. They emphasize that each, individually, has the responsibility to ensure, to the best of his or her ability, that justice is done.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Moving Away From the Death Penalty: National Experiences

By Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) , on 1 January 2012


2012

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

Why do states retain the death penalty? Any suggestions that the death penalty has a meaningful deterrent effect have been overstated, with little research supporting such an assertion. The OHCHR is organising a series of global panel discussions on the abolition of the death penalty. This publication is based on the first of these discussions, held at the United Nations in New York on 3 July 2012.

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,

Document(s)

Report No. 262. The Death Penalty

By The Law Commission of India, on 1 January 2015


2015

Government body report


More details See the document

The Law Commission of India examines the status of the death penalty in the country. Even if Report No. 262 still considers appropriate to maintain the death penalty for terrorism related crimes, it marks an historic shift insofar it recommends India to move towards the abolition of the death penalty. The Law Commission thinks that abolitionism does not constitute a risky experiment anymore, since the Indian socio-economic and cultural environment has greatly changed.

  • Document type Government body report
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Most Serious Crimes, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Japan: “Will this day be my last?” The death penalty in Japan

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Japan

enes
More details See the document

This report examines a number of concerns related to the application of the death penalty in Japan, where approximately 87 prisoners currently remain on death row. These concerns include the fact that a prisoner is notified of the execution on the morning of the day it is to be carried out. In some cases the prisoner is not notified at all. This means that prisoners live with the constant fear of execution, not knowing whether they will be alive the next day. Amnesty International calls on the Japanese government to abolish the death penalty as a matter of urgency.

Document(s)

Oral Statement from Amnesty International during the Panel on Children of Parents Sentenced to the Death Penalty or Executed (Human Rights Council, 24th Session)

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


Campaigning


More details See the document

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

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Juveniles, International law, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2014

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2015


2015

NGO report


More details See the document

The seventh annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty gives an assessmentof how the death penalty was implemented in 2014 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.In addition to providing the number of executions that were conducted, the report alsolooks at the trends compared to previous years, the methods of execution, geographicaldistribution, the charges that were used by authorities to justify the executions and thearticles in the penal law that were used to issue the death sentences. Lists of the womenand juvenile offenders executed in 2014 are also included.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Juveniles, Minorities, Religion , Due Process , Fair Trial, International law, Capital offences, Drug Offences, Hanging, Statistics,

Document(s)

Complicity or Abolition?: The Death Penalty and International Support for Drug Enforcement

By Damon Barrett / Rick Lines / Patrick Gallahue / International Harm Reduction Association, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report


More details See the document

This report exposes the links between the carrying out of executions and the financial contributions from European governments, the European Commission and the UNODC to support drug enforcement operations in countries that use the death penalty such as China, Iran and Viet Nam. The report notes that such operations continue to be funded without appropriate safeguards despite the fact that the abolition of the death penalty is a requirement of entry into the Council of Europe and the European Union and that the United Nations advocates strongly against capital punishment

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in China: Towards the Rule of Law

By Nicola Macbean / Ashgate Publishing, on 1 January 2008


2008

Academic report


More details See the document

In the run up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, intemational criticism of China’s human rights record has highlighted the use of the death penalty. Although global activists may try to intemationalise China’s use ofthe death penalty, capital punishment is a domestic issue.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Public debate, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Training Resource: Advocacy Tools in the Fight Against the Death Penalty and Alternative Sanctions that Respect International Human Rights Standards

on 1 January 2011


2011

NGO report


More details See the document

The aim of this resource is to build and strengthen civil society organisation’s (CSOs) knowledge and awareness of advocacy and what advocacy methods are available for the fight against the death penalty and for alternative sanctions that respect international human rights standards. This resource covers issues related to using the media to influence, and how to build coalitions to strengthen your advocacy work.

  • Document type NGO report

Document(s)

Representing Individuals Facing the Death Penalty: A Best Practices Manual

By Sandra Babcock / Death Penalty Worldwide, on 1 January 2013


2013

Working with...

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1202 Ko ]

This manual was written by Death Penalty Worldwide, a project affiliated with the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University School of Law, and the law firm of Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. The manual aims to provide lawyers with legal arguments and strategic guidance in their representation of individuals facing the death penalty around the world. It sets forth the best practices in the defense of capital cases, based on the experiences of advocates around the world, international human rights principles, and the jurisprudence of both national courts and international tribunals.

Document(s)

The death penalty in Council of Europe member and observer states: a violation of human rights

By Council of Europe / Ms Renate WOHLWEND, on 1 January 2011


2011

International law - Regional body

fr
More details See the document

The Parliamentary Assembly is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. The European experience has shown conclusively that the death penalty is not needed to check violent crime. The United States of America and Japan, as observer states, and Belarus, which aspires to membership of the Council of Europe are invited to join the growing consensus among democratic countries that protect human rights and human dignity by abolishing the death penalty. The report addresses a series of specific recommendations to the United States, Japan and Belarus aimed at promoting a moratorium on executions followed by definitive abolition of the death penalty.

Document(s)

Towards a Universal Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty

By Caroline Sculier / World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 686 Ko ]

This report analyses the various ways in which moratoria is/can be used by a number of countries throughout the world. The countries are placed into one of three groups 1: One step away from Statutory Abolition? 2. Countries which are Abolitionist in Practice but Resist Making their Position Official; and, 3. Countries with an Ambiguous Stance.

Document(s)

THE DEATH PENALTY, EXTRADITION, AND THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM: U.S. RESPONSES TO EUROPEAN OPINION ABOUT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

By Kathryn F. King / Buffalo Human Rights Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article


More details See the document

This article gives insight into the different opinions held by the US and Europe in terms of the death penalty. The interplay between terrorism, the death penalty and extradition is also examined.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Extradition, Terrorism,

Document(s)

Iran: The use of the death penalty for drug-related offences as a tool of political control

By Taimoor Aliassi / IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW, on 1 January 2014


2014

Article

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

fa
More details See the document

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(s)

Leaflet World Day 2011 on the inhumanity of the death penalty

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


2011

Campaigning

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 105 Ko ]

The International Jurisprudence Factsheet is divided in four topics: 1. The Right to Be Free from Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 2. Methods of Executions 3. Death Row Conditions 4. Families of the Persons Sentenced to Death. The relevant international entities have been investigated regarding these topics and their conclusions are presented in this factsheet.

Document(s)

The Last Word: Rewriting the American death penalty

By Lawrence O’Donnell / MSNBC, on 1 January 2011


Campaigning


More details See the document

Sept. 22: The execution of Troy Davis drew an unprecedented amount of media attention. But where was the outrage over Derrick Mason who was put to death in Alabama today? MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell has more in the Rewrite.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Fair Trial, Innocence, Arbitrariness,

Document(s)

The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia

By David T. Johnson / Franklin E. Zimring / Oxford University Press, on 1 January 2009


2009

Book

China


More details See the document

Authors David Johnson, an expert on law and society in Asia, and Franklin Zimring, a senior authority on capital punishment, utilize their research to identify the critical factors affecting the future of the death penalty in Asia. They found that when an authoritarian state experienced democratic reform, such as in Taiwan and South Korea, the rate of executions dropped sharply. Johnson and Zimring also found that politics, instead of culture or tradition, is the major obstacle to the end of capital punishment in Asia.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list China

Document(s)

Facts Law Enforcement Should Know About the Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Focus, on 8 September 2020


2020

Working with...


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

The Hidden Death Tax: The Secret Cost of Seeking Execution in California

By Natasha Minsker / American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2008


2008

NGO report


More details See the document

California taxpayers pay at least $117 million each year at the post-conviction level seeking execution of the people currently on death row, or $175,000 per inmate per year. The largest single expense is the extra cost of simply housing people on death row, $90,000 per year per inmate more than housing in the general prison population. Executing all of the people currently on death row or waiting for them to die naturally – which will happen first – will cost California an estimated $4 billion more than if all the people on death row were sentenced to die of disease, injury or old age.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks, Financial cost,

Document(s)

Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty

By United Nations, on 1 January 1984


1984

United Nations report

arrufrzh-hantes
More details See the document

Approved by Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50 of 25 May 19841. In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, capital punishment may be imposed only for the most serious crimes, it being understood that their scope should not go beyond intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences.

Document(s)

The death penalty worldwide developments in 2007

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2008


2008

NGO report

fresar
More details See the document

In 2007 the world continued to move closer to the universal abolition of the capital punishment. A historical landmark is the resolution on a moratorium on executions endorsed by the United Nations. By the end of the 2007, 91 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. The death penalty has now been abolished in law or practice by 135 countries. Other subjects covered in this report include commutations, judicial reviews, use against child offenders; and extradition.

Document(s)

The death penalty wordwide: developments in 2004

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

This document covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2004. Five countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes, bringing to 84 the number of totally abolitionist countries at year end. Scores of death sentences were commuted in Malawi and Zambia, and moratoria or suspensions of executions were being observed in several other countries. Other subjects covered in this document include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against the innocent; resumptions of executions; and campaigning activities to promote abolition.

Document(s)

The Last Holdouts: Ending the Juvenile Death Penalty in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yeman

By Human Rights Watch, on 1 January 2008


2008

NGO report

ar
More details See the document

In this 20-page report, Human Rights Watch documents failures in law and practice that since January 2005 have resulted in 32 executions of juvenile offenders in five countries: Iran (26), Saudi Arabia (2), Sudan (2), Pakistan (1), and Yemen (1). The report also highlights cases of individuals recently executed or facing execution in the five countries, where well over 100 juvenile offenders are currently on death row, awaiting the outcome of a judicial appeal, or in some murder cases, the outcome of negotiations for pardons in exchange for financial compensation

Document(s)

Towards the abolition of the death penalty in Lebanon

By LACR / National Campaign for the Abolition of Death Penalty in Lebanon, on 1 January 2009


2009

Campaigning


More details See the document

Educational booklet compiling testimonies, arguments, legal and historical facts about the path towards abolition in Lebanon.

  • Document type Campaigning
  • Themes list Public opinion, Public debate, Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis

By Death Penalty Information Center / Richard C. Dieter, on 1 January 2009


NGO report


More details See the document

The death penalty in the U.S. is an enormously expensive and wasteful program with no clear benefits. All of the studies on the cost of capital punishment conclude it is much more expensive than a system with life sentences as the maximum penalty. In a time of painful budget cutbacks, states are pouring money into a system that results in a declining number of death sentences and executions that are almost exclusively carried out in just one area of the country. As many states face further deficits, it is an appropriate time to consider whether maintaining the costly death penalty system is being smart on crime.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Financial cost,

Document(s)

Japan: Hanging by a thread: Mental health and the death penalty in Japan

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2009


NGO report


More details See the document

The use of the death penalty is in decline globally. Japan is one of the few industrialized countries to continue to use it, hanging a small number of prisoners each year. This report discusses the legal basis for exempting mentally ill prisoners from the death penalty and documents the situation faced by such prisoners on death row in Japan. It calls on the authorities to ensure that mentally ill prisoners are not executed and to implement a moratorium on the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Mental Illness,

Document(s)

The Bahamas: Death Penalty Joint Stakeholder Report for the United Nations Universal Periodic Review

By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2017


2017

NGO report


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

Document(s)

Concluding Talking Ponts on behalf of Parliamentarians and PGA, Attending the 7th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Parliamentarians for Global Action, on 1 January 2019


2019

Multimedia content

fr
More details See the document

Concluding Talking Ponts on behalf of Parliamentarians and PGA, Atteding the 7th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

Document(s)

A Matter of Life and Death: films, an assembly, lessons and information on the death penalty to inspire students aged 14+

By Amnesty International UK, on 8 September 2020


2020

Campaigning


More details See the document

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,