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Document(s)

Death to the Death Penalty/ La peine de mort est condamnée à disparaître/Muerte a la Pena de Muerte.

By Amnesty International / YouTube, on 1 January 2010


2010

Working with...


More details See the document

This video is part of the campaign run by Amnesty International titled “Death to the Death Penalty”, in the video wax figures ressembling forms of execution melt away leaving only the Amnesty International candle burning/Ce video, réalisé par Amnesty International pour la campagne intitulé “La peine de mort est condamnée à disparaître”/Muerte a la Pena de Muerte.

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

Document(s)

Report of the General Secretary of the United Nations 2013

By United Nations, on 1 January 2013


2013

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

The report contains information on the question of the death penalty, and reports that the international community as a whole is moving towards the abolition of the death penalty in law or in practice. Nevertheless, a small number of States have continued to use the death penalty and in many instances, int ernational standards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty were not fully respected. Thereport also discusses the continued difficulties in gaining access to reliable information regarding executions, and issues related to the hum an rights of children of parents sentenced to the death penalty or executed.

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: The death penalty – inhumane and Ineffective

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Viet Nam

fres
More details See the document

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(s)

Respect for Minimum Standards? Report on the Death Penalty in China

on 1 January 2020


2020

NGO report

China


More details See the document
  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list China

Document(s)

Documentary: “In The Executioner’s Shadow; a Story of Justice, Injustice and the Death Penalty”

By Maggie Burnette Stogner / Rick Stack / In The Executioner's Shadow, on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content

United States


More details See the document

Video “It is the potential of this documentary to move us toward a more enlightened society that excites me about this work.” Benjamin Jealous, former NAACP PresidentAs wrongful convictions, botched executions, and a broken justice system inch further into the spotlight, we must consider: What is justice? What part should the death penalty play?

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Mental Illness, Innocence, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Murdering Myths: The Story Behind the Death Penalty

By Judith W. Kay / Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., on 1 January 2005


2005

Book

United States


More details See the document

In Murdering Myths: The Story Behind the Death Penalty, Judith Kay goes beyond the hype and statistics to examine Americans’ deep-seated beliefs about crime and punishment. She argues that Americans share a counter-productive idea of justice–that punishment corrects bad behavior, suffering pays for wrong deeds, and victims’ desire for revenge is natural and inevitable. Drawing on interviews with both victims and inmates, Kay shows how this belief harms perpetrators, victims, and society and calls for a new narrative that recognizes the humanity in all of us.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area

By Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), on 1 January 2014


2014

International law - Regional body


More details See the document

This publication covers the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 and offers a concise update that highlights only those changes in the status of the death penalty made since the last Background Paper.

  • Document type International law - Regional body

Document(s)

Resolution 75/183 – Moratorium on the use of the death penalty

By United Nations General Assembly, on 12 January 2021


2021

International law - United Nations

Moratorium

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United Nations General Assembly Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 16 December 2020 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/75/478/Add.2, para. 89) 75/183. Moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Document(s)

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

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


2012

Book

United States


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While shedding important new light on the U.S. Constitution’s “cruel and unusual punishments” clause, Bessler explores the influence of Cesare Beccaria’s essay, on Crimes and Punishments, on the Founders’ views, and the transformative properties of the Fourteenth Amendment, which made the Bill of Rights applicable to the states.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States

Document(s)

Seven Winters in Teheran

By Steffi Niederzoll, on 24 March 2023


2023

Multimedia content

Gender

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Women

fr
More details See the document

In the summer of 2007, an older man approaches Reyhaneh Jabbari and asks the architecture student who has a side job as an interior decorator for her help in the design of offices. During the site inspection, he tries to rape her. Reyhaneh stabs him in self-defence. She is arrested for murder and sentenced to death. Reyhaneh was to spend the next seven years in prison while her family hired lawyers and made the public aware of the case. However, in spite of the efforts of national and international politicians and human rights organisations, the Iranian judiciary continued to cite the “right of blood-revenge”. This meant that, as long as Reyhaneh did not withdraw her accusations against the man, his family could demand her death. Reyhaneh stuck to her testimony and was hanged at the age of 26.
In her moving and shockingly topical documentary debut, director Steffi Niederzoll uses among other things original audio and visual material that was smuggled out of Iran. This film, in which Holy Spider actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi lends Reyhaneh her voice, makes visible the injustice in Iranian society and portrays an involuntary heroine who gave her life in the fight for women’s rights.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  • Themes list Gender / Women
  • Available languages Sept hivers à Téhéran

Document(s)

Equality of the Damned: The Execution of Women on the Cusp of the 21st Century

By Elizabeth Rapaport / Ohio Northern Law Review 26(3), 581-600, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article explores why women are rarely executed and examines the execution of four women in the Post-Furman Era, focusing on the execution of Karla Faye Tucker. The execution of Karla Faye Tucker in 1998, the second of the four women to be executed, occured in hte midst of relentless publicity. The Tucker execution revived interest in gender equity in the administration of capital punishment.

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

Document(s)

IHR: Papers and Discussions on Death Penalty

By Institute of Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2018


2018

Book

Philippines


More details See the document

Collection of articles and speeches on the death penalty presented in two UP IHR organized academic fora by academics, government officials and civil society.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list Philippines
  • Themes list Public opinion, Public debate, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Writing Wrongs: How to Shift Public Opinion on the Death Penalty with Letters to the Editor

By Nancy Oliviera, on 1 January 2009


2009

Working with...


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Botswana: Hasty and Secretive Hangings – International Fact Finding Mission

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Botswana


More details See the document

This report determined that the death penalty remains a sensitive and secretive issue in Botswana. The authorities are reluctant to encourage public debate about the death penalty and its possible abolition. There is a total lack of transparency in the actual execution process of the death sentence. The hasty way in which most recent hangings have been carried out, further cast doubt upon the willingness of the Government of Botswana to seriously address this issue.

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

Document(s)

Uganda: Challenging the Death Penalty

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Thomas Lemaire / Eric Mirguet / Mary Okosun, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report


More details See the document

The general feeling of NGOs and abolitionists in Uganda is that the most pressing issue is the situation of ordinary prisoners, while the death penalty as administered by the military should be addressed at a second stage. The questions relating to the military are sensitive issues in Uganda, which might also explain that position. The focus of the present report is consequently mainly on the death sentences pronounced by ordinary criminal courts.

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

Document(s)

How States Abolish the Death Penalty

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


2013

International law - Regional body

rufres
More details See the document

This document reviews the processes towards abolition of capital punishment through studying the experiences of 13 States. Drawing on these lessons and experiences, the document provides guidance to States on how to abolish the Death penalty.

Document(s)

Gendering the Death Penalty: Countering Sex Bias in a Masculine Sanctuary

By Victor L. Streib / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

American death penalty laws and procedures persistently minimize cases involving female capital offenders. Recognizing some benign explanations for this disparate impact, Professor Streib nonetheless sees the dearth of female death penalty trials, death sentences, and actual executions as signaling sex bias throughout the death penalty system. In this article, he provides data concerning death sentencing and execution patterns and then suggests both substantive and procedural means to address the apparent sex bias. Much more significant, however, is the unique lens for examining the death penalty that is provided by a sex bias analysis. Professor Streib concludes that this perspective unmasks the system’s crime-fighting rhetoric to reveal a macho refuge that masculinizes all who enter therein.

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

Document(s)

ON REDUCING WHITE SUPPORT FOR THE DEATH PENALTY: A PESSIMISTIC APPRAISAL

By Steven F. Cohn / Steven E. Barkan / Criminology and Public Policy, on 1 January 2005


2005

Article

United States


More details See the document

As Soss et al. (2003) point out, whites are the most influential racial groupand support the death penalty much more than blacks do. In the 2002GSS, 69.8% of whites favored the death penalty, compared with only42.1% of blacks. If white support for the death penalty was as low as blacksupport, it would be much more difficult for the Supreme Court to believethat “evolving standards of decency” had not evolved against capitalpunishment.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty Worldwide – Developments in 2003

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

This document covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2003. Subjects covered in this document include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against the innocent; reductions and expansions in the scope of the death penalty; moratoria on executions and commutations of death sentences

Document(s)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No return to execution – The US death penalty as a barrier to extradition

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

United States

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This document examines the issue of extradition and the death penalty in the United States. It looks at the emergence of death penalty clauses in extradition treaties and laws and gives examples of specific cases in the US where extradition has either prevented the application of the death penalty or been circumvented to allow individuals to be sentenced to death.

Document(s)

A Crisis of Confidence: Americans’ Doubts About the Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Information Center / Richard C. Dieter, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

United States


More details See the document

According to a national public opinion poll conducted in 2007, the public is losing confidence in the death penalty. People are deeply concerned about the risk of executing the innocent, about the fairness of the process, and about the inability of capital punishment to accomplish its basic purposes. Most Americans believe that innocent people have already been executed, that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime, and that a moratorium should be placed on all executions.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Public opinion,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2010

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


2010

NGO report


More details See the document

The report is the first detailed country by country overview of the death penalty for drugs, monitoring both national legislation and state practice of enforcement. Of the states worldwide that retain the death penalty, 32 jurisdictions maintain laws that prescribe the death penalty for drug offences. The study also found that in some states, drug offenders make up a significant portion – if not the outright majority – of those sentenced to death and/or executed each year.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

Moving away from the death penalty

By Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) , on 1 January 2015


2015

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

The present publication provides an extensive review of global trends in death penalty matters, a summary of the applicable international legal standards, and the current status of legislative reform related to the death penalty in South-East Asia. As a product of the OHCHR Regional Office for South-East Asia, this publication is intended to be a resource for further discussions in the region toward the abolition of the death penalty.

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

STOP CHILD EXECUTIONS! Ending the death penalty for child offenders

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2004


2004

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

International law prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by people younger than 18, yet some countries continue to execute child offenders or sentence them to death. Although executions of child offenders are few compared to the total number of executions in the world, they represent a complete disregard by the executing states of their commitments under international law, and an affront to all notions of morality and decency when it comes to the protection of children – one of the most vulnerable groups in society. This document describes the use of the death penalty against child offenders worldwide and its prohibition under international law.

Document(s)

Singapore: The death penalty – A hidden toll of executions

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Singapore

fr
More details See the document

More than 400 prisoners have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, giving the small city-state possibly the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population of just over four million people. This report examines the use of the death penalty for drug offences, murder and firearms offences. It emphasizes the cruel and arbitrary nature of the death penalty and shows how it has been imposed on the most marginalized or vulnerable members of society including drug addicts, the poorly educated, the impoverished or unemployed, and migrant workers.

Document(s)

Uzbekistan: Unfair trials and secret executions: Summary of the report “‘Justice only in heaven’ – the death penalty in Uzbekistan”

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

Uzbekistan

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

Document(s)

Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2015

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report

fa
More details See the document

The 8th annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty provides an in-depth assessment of how the capital punishment was implemented in 2015 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In addition to providing the number of executions that were conducted, the report also looks at the trends compared to previous years, the methods of execution, geographical distribution, the charges that were used by authorities to justify the executions and the articles in the penal law that were used to issue the death sentences.

Document(s)

How to Work with National Human Rights Institutions to Abolish the Death Penalty – A Practical Guide

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 17 November 2022


2022

Working with...

World Coalition

Trend Towards Abolition

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 2375 Ko ]

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) role as influential human rights actors is paramount, and as such their contributions to abolition of the death penalty should not be underestimated when developing an anti-death penalty strategy. Expertly written by the President of the of the Beninese Commission on Human Rights, this guide’s content has been bolstered by examples and advice coming from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the field. Working with NHRIs can seem like a daunting task, especially for civil society organizations that do not have previous experience working with them. As such, this guide has been specifically designed for abolitionist civil society groups around the world, both beginners and advanced activists, with a focus on the African continent.

Document(s)

SHAMS Center issues a report on the status of death penalty in the Palestinian territories: in 2017

By Human Rights & Democracy Media Center (SHAMS), on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

State of Palestine

ar
More details See the document

In this report, SHAMS emphasizes that in Palestine they apply inconsistent legal combination of laws that punish with death penalty, which are not Palestinian laws basically.The problem is that capital punishment violates against an essential human right, and it is irreversible once executed. It doesn’t represent a public deterrent so; it is nothing but a form of violence not a solution for it.

Document(s)

Islam and the Death Penalty

By William A. Schabas / William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 9(1), 223-236, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article

Bangladesh


More details See the document

Capital punishment is not practiced by a majority of the world’s states. Anti-capital punishment domestic policies have led to an international law of human rights that emphatically prohibits cruel and inhuman punishment. International concern for the abolition of capital punishment has prompted Islamic states that still endorse and practice the death penalty to respond with equally compelling concerns based on the tenets of Islamic law. Professor William A. Schabas suggests that Islamic states view capital punishment according to the principles embodied in the Koran. Islamic law functions on the belief that all people have a right to life unless the administration of Islamic law determines otherwise. Professor Schabas emphasizes that capital punishment exists in the domestic law of all Islamic states, but the ways by which these states employ capital punishment are varied and inconsistent. Although Professor Schabas acknowledges that Islamic states correctly argue that capital punishment is an element of Islamic law, he maintains that Islamic states do not recognize the more limited role of the death penalty articulated by the Islamic religion.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Bangladesh
  • Themes list Religion ,

Document(s)

The Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law

By William A. Schabas / Cambridge University Press, on 1 January 2002


2002

Book


More details See the document

This extensively revised third edition covers developments since publication of the second edition in 1997. It includes consideration of the UN human rights system, international humanitarian law, European human rights law and Inter-American human rights law. New chapters address capital punishment in African human rights law and international criminal law. An extensive list of appendices contains many of the essential documents for the study of capital punishment in international law.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

A ‘Commonsense’ Theory of Deterrence and the ‘Ideology’ of Science: The New York State Death Penalty Debate

By John F. Galliher / James M. Galliher / Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, on 1 January 2001


2001

Article

United States


More details See the document

This research will consider the principal claims and counterclaims made by death penalty supporters and opponents, as well as document the manner in which these claims were advanced or refuted. The nineteen-year debate provides a natural laboratory that can assist our understanding of why the United States is the only Western industrialized democracy to retain capital punishment.

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

Document(s)

The Forgotten Population: A Look at Death Row in the United States Through the Experiences of Women

By American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2004


2004

NGO report


More details See the document

This report — the first-ever national survey of women currently on Death Row — found that women who have been sentenced to death are often subjected to harsh living conditions, including being forced to live in virtual isolation, and many are sentenced for crimes that don’t result in a death sentence for men.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Women,

Document(s)

AEDPA Repeal

By Brandon L. Garrett & Kaitlin Phillips, on 1 September 2022


2022

Academic report

Terrorism

United States


More details See the document

Given how pressing the problem has become, and the real interest in reforms to promote access to justice, this article takes a different tack than prior habeas reform work: to restore habeas corpus to its pre-AEDPA and pre-Rehnquist court state, in which a federal court can review claims and reach their merits. The approach would preserve flexibility at the district court level and remove the many layers of procedural complexity that the Supreme Court and then Congress have erected. We believe that deep changes are needed, and in that, we agree with judges and scholars that have for some time proposed such changes in the writ. As we describe, AEDPA was enacted as a culmination of more than two decades of complex Supreme Court law that had already limited access to federal habeas corpus. While AEDPA incorporated some of those procedural rulings, the concern would be that should AEDPA be repealed, even in part, those court-made restrictions could be interpreted to supplant AEDPA restrictions. Clear statutory language will be needed to ensure that the Court does not frustrate Congress, as it has in the past, by supplementing statutory text in order to limit constitutional remedies. We do not mean to suggest that the various proposals set out here are exhaustive. Our goal is to promote careful considerations of alternatives to the present-day set of federal habeas corpus statutes and accompanying judicial interpretation.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Terrorism

Document(s)

Life, Death and the Crime of Crimes: Supreme Penalties and the ICC Statute

By William A. Schabas / Punishment and Society, on 1 January 2000


2000

Article


More details See the document

The attitude of international law and practice to supreme penalties has evolved enormously over the past half-century. At Nuremberg, in 1946, capital punishment was imposed upon Nazi war criminals. But at the Rome Conference in 1998, when the international community provided for the establishment of the International Criminal Court, not only was capital punishment excluded, the text also limited the scope of life imprisonment. These changes were driven principally by evolving norms of international human rights law. The first changes became apparent in the early work of the International Law Commission on the Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind, during the 1950s. When criminal prosecution returned to the international agenda, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was widespread agreement to exclude capital punishment. But at the Rome Conference, a relatively small and geographically isolated group of States made an aggressive attempt to defend capital punishment. Ultimately unsuccessful, their efforts only drew attention to a growing rejection of both capital punishment and life imprisonment in international and national legal systems

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Capital Punishment in the Philippines

By Arlie Tagayuna / Southeast Asian Studies, on 1 January 2004


2004

Article

Philippines


More details See the document

While an examination of the social and political currents of each country would perhaps be the best way to answer the question “Why is there strong support for capital punishment in Southeast Asia?”, this paper will begin this effort by looking specifically at the Philippines, a society that has received more exposure to democratic tenets and human rights advocacy than other Southeast Asian countries (Blitz, 2000).

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Philippines
  • Themes list Public opinion,

Document(s)

Going backwards The death penalty in Southeast Asia

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report


More details See the document

Over the past year, Southeast Asia has witnessed significant setbacks with regard to the abolitionof the death penalty. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have all carried out executions. It isunknown whether any executions were carried out in Vietnam, where statistics on the deathpenalty continue to be classified as ‘state secrets.’ In the name of combating drug trafficking,Indonesian President Joko Widodo is rapidly becoming Southeast Asia’s top executioner. ThePhilippines, which effectively abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2006, is consideringreinstating capital punishment as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s ill-conceived and disastrous‘war on drugs.’

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

Document(s)

Alternatives to the Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Focus / Alternatives to the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2008


2008

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Indonesian – Laporan Global Amnesty International : hukuman mati dan eksekusi 2023

on 29 May 2024


2024

NGO report

Trend Towards Abolition


More details Download [ pdf - 897 Ko ]

Pemantauan yang dilakukan oleh Amnesty Internasional terhadap hukuman mati secara global
mencatat terdapat 1.153 eksekusi hukuman mati pada tahun 2023. Angka tersebut menunjukkan
adanya peningkatan sebanyak 31% dari 883 eksekusi pada tahun 2022. Namun, ada penurunan
yang signifikan pada angka negara yang menerapkan hukuman mati. Dari 20 negara pada 2022
menjadi hanya 16 negara di 2023

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition

Document(s)

2016 World day against the death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report


More details See the document

On 10 October 2016 Amnesty International joins the global abolitionist movement in marking the 14th World Day Against the Death Penalty, whose focus on the use of the death penalty for terrorism-related offences is timely. While armed and other violent attacks are not a new phenomenon, recent years have seen repeated high-profile violent attacks – in many cases against a backdrop of political instability and conflict – that have sent shockwaves throughout the world.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list International law, Deterrence , World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,

Document(s)

How States abolish the death penalty 2nd Edition

By International Commission Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2018


2018

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

This publication briefly describes the experiences of 26 countries and 3 USA states as they moved towards abolition of the death penalty. These Case Studies are drawn from 27 countries from all regions of the world. This publication is an updated and enlarged version of ICDP’s 2013 publication How States Abolish the Death Penalty.

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Sentencing Alternatives, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2002

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2003


2003

NGO report

fres
More details See the document

This paper covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2002. Other subjects covered in this paper include significant judicial decisions; important studies; the use of the death penalty against the innocent; reductions in the scope of the death penalty; moratoria and commutations; and moves to restrict appeals in capital cases.

Document(s)

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: The death penalty – recent developments

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Viet Nam


More details See the document

This document contains information about the recent developments in Vietm Nam regarding the death penalty. Amnesty International welcomes the reduction in the number of offenses punishable by the death penalty. However, the organization remains concerned that there is still a broad range of offenses which are punishable by the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Viet Nam

Document(s)

Joint Statement: The death penalty for drug-related offences

By Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2015


2015

Multimedia content


More details See the document

Joint Statement signed by Amnesty International, Anti Death Penalty Asia Network, Harm Reduction International, International Drug Policy Consortium, Penal Reform International and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to highlight to Member States of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the preparatory Board of the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs the continued use by some countries of the death penalty for drug-related offences despite clear restrictions set out in international law.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

Unjust and unfair: The death penalty in Iraq

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2007


2007

NGO report

arfres
More details See the document

Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in August 2004 more than 270 people have been sentenced to death in Iraq. Iraq now figures among the countries with the highest numbers of executions reported in 2006. Amnesty International is concerned that many of those sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq did not receive a fair trial. Amnesty International calls on the Iraqi government to immediately establish a moratorium on executions with a view to total abolition of the death penalty.

Document(s)

Indonesia: A briefing on the death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2004


2004

NGO report

en
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

PROCEEDINGS – 7th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), on 8 September 2020


2020

Multimedia content


More details See the document

Six months after the 7th World Congress against the Death Penalty, ECPM is proud to announce the publication of the Proceedings of the Brussels Congress. This unpublished, documented and illustrated book reports on the rich debates held during the Congress and discusses the new associative and political dynamics promoted in this context.

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Member organizations, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment

By David McCord / Barry Latzer / Butterworth-Heinemann, on 1 January 2010


2010

Book

United States


More details See the document

This brand new edition of Death Penalty Cases makes the most manageable comprehensive resource on the death penalty even better. It includes the most recent cases, including Kennedy v. Louisiana, prohibiting the death penalty for child rapists, and Baze v. Rees, upholding execution by lethal injection. In addition, all of the cases are now topically organized into five sections: * The Foundational Cases * Death-Eligibility: Which persons/crimes are fit for the death penalty? * The Death Penalty Trial * Post-conviction Review * Execution Issues The introductory essays on the history, administration, and controversies surrounding capital punishment have been thoroughly revised. The statistical appendix has been brought up-to-date, and the statutory appendix has been restructured. For clarity, accuracy, complete impartiality and comprehensiveness, there simply is no better resource on capital punishment available.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: The Impact on Women

By Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2019


2019

NGO report


More details See the document
  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Women, Drug Offences, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Bahrain The 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)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Indecent and internationally illegal: The death penalty against child offenders

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2002


2002

NGO report


More details See the document

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

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Juveniles,

Document(s)

Leaflet World Day Against the Death Penalty 2021 – EN

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 10 June 2021


2021

Campaigning

Women

arfr
More details Download [ pdf - 652 Ko ]

On 10 October 2021, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and abolitionist organizations around the world will celebrate the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

This year the World Day is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced to death, who have received a death sentence, who have been executed, and to those who have had their death sentences commuted, have been exonerated or pardoned.

Their stories are an invisible reality.

Document(s)

Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2019

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2020


2020

NGO report

fafr
More details See the document

On March 31, 2020, the 12th annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2019 was published by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty). It provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2019 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It sets out the number of executions in 2019, the trend compared to previous years, the legislative framework and procedures, charges, geographic distribution and a monthly breakdown of executions. Lists of the female and juvenile offenders executed in 2019 are also included in the tables.

Document(s)

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

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2013


2013

Multimedia content


More details Download [ pdf - 54 Ko ]

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

  • Document type Multimedia content
  • Themes list Juveniles, International law, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Fair Trial Rights and Their Relation to the Death Penalty in Africa

By Lilian Chenwi / International and Comparative Law Quarterly, on 1 January 2006


2006

Article


More details See the document

A fair trial is a basic element of the notion of the rule of law, and the principles of ‘due process’ and ‘the rule of law’ are fundamental to the protection of human rights. At the centre of any legal system, therefore, must be a means by which legal rights are asserted and breaches remedied through the process of a fair trial in court, as the law is useless without effective remedies. The fairness of the legal process has a particular significance in criminal cases, as it protects against human rights abuses. Hence, constitutional due process and elementary justice require that the judicial functions of trial and sentencing be conducted with fundamental fairness, especially where the irreversible sanction of the death penalty is involved.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Fair Trial,

Document(s)

Not to Decide is to Decide: The U.S. Supreme Courts Thirty-Year Struggle With One Case About Competency to Waive Death Penalty Appeals

By Phyllis L. Crocker / Wayne Law Review 49(4), 885-938, on 1 January 2004


2004

Article

United States


More details See the document

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Rees v. Peyton, Rees was a death penalty case in which the petitioner sought to withdraw his petition for writ of certiorari so that he could be executed. The Court stayed the proceedings after Rees was found incompetent to waive his appeal, but the Court did not dismiss the case until after Rees died of natural causes. Rees pended in the Court during the terms of three Chief Justices. Even though the Court underwent major changes in personnel and philosophy during those years, the Court’s treatment of Rees was essentially the same–to hold the case in abeyance. This article chronicles the extraordinary history of Rees in the U.S. Supreme Court for those thirty years.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in the United States: An International Human Rights Perspective

By Anthony N. Bishop / Texas Law Review, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

On December 10, 1998, the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, former President William J. Clinton signed Executive Order No. 13107 stating, “It shall be the policy and practice of the Government of the United States, being committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, fully to respect and implement its obligations.

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

Document(s)

The Court of Life and Death: The Two Tracks of Constitutional Sentencing Law and the Case for Uniformity.

By Rachel E. Barkow / New York University (NYU), on 1 January 2008


2008

Article

United States


More details See the document

This Article argues for the abandonment of the two-track approach to sentencing by the Supreme Court. It finds no support in the Constitution’s text, history, or structure, and the functional arguments given by the Court to support its capital decisions apply with equal force to all other criminal punishments.

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

Document(s)

Note verbale dated 28 July 2015 from the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

By United Nations, on 8 September 2020


2020

United Nations report

Antigua and Barbuda

Bangladesh

Botswana

Brunei Darussalam

China

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Egypt

Ethiopia

Guyana

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Iraq

Jamaica

Kuwait

Libya

Malaysia

Moratorium

Nigeria

Oman

Pakistan

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Sudan

Syrian Arab Republic

Trinidad and Tobago

United Arab Emirates

Yemen

Zimbabwe

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

The permanent missions to the United Nations in New York listed below have the honour to refer to General Assembly resolution 69/186, entitled “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty”, which was adopted by the Third Committee on 21 November 2014 and subsequently by the General Assembly on 18 December 2014 by a recorded vote. The permanent missions wish to place on record that they are in persistent objection to any attempt to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty or its abolition in contravention of existing stipulations under international law, for the following reasons:

Document(s)

The Grass Beneath His Feet: The Charles Victor Thompson Story

By Roger Rodriguez / AuthorHouse, on 1 January 2008


2008

Book

United States

fr
More details See the document

Nothing produced a glow in his eyes like the wonders of nature provoking his every curiosity. Everything about nature appealed to his meticulous character and his childhood was invested at Medina Lake, chasing down fireflies, and fishing. There was nothing he liked better than fried perch and eggs for breakfast. So how does such an innocent boy end up on death row in what most agree is the most relentless state for executing murders? The Grass Beneath His Feet recounts the life of Charles Victor Thompson, who after falling in love; found himself in a disturbing chain of events that would change his life forever. This re-telling of his story is extracted directly from the journals of Charles Victor Thompson himself where his childhood, his true love, and his ultimate escape from death row are revealed. For this first time, readers can enjoy the intimate details of the escape that shocked the entire nation. America?s Most Wanted, CNN, The World News all wanted to know the same question: How did this man manage to escape from the most notorious death row system in the country? The Grass Beneath His Feet also introduces Charles to the people, not as a murderer, but as a man fighting to prove that there were many flaws in his legal process that kept him from proving that he does not meet criteria for capital punishment. Prepare to embark on a journey into a life at death row through the eyes of Charles Victor Thompson and run next to him as a child and an escapee as he took in the beauty of nature and the South Texas sun with the grass beneath his feet.

Document(s)

Religion and the Death Penalty

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 8 September 2020


2020

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

In recent years, a growing number of religious organizations have participated in the nation’s death penalty debate. The purpose of this Web page is to provide access to information regarding the efforts of these faith groups and to highlight recent developments related to religion and the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty In 2018: Year End Report

By Death Penalty Information Center / Death Penalty Information Centre, on 1 January 2018


2018

NGO report


More details See the document

New death sentences and executions remained near historic lows in 2018 and a twentieth state abolished capital punishment, as public opinion polls, election results, legislative actions, and court decisions all reflected the continuing erosion of the death penalty across the country.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Death penalty abolition, Death penalty as inhuman and degrading treatment

By European Court of Human Rights, on 1 January 2012


2012

International law - Regional body


More details See the document

Factsheet regarding cases concerning the Death Penalty

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

Document(s)

No one is spared – The widespread use of the death penalty in Iran

By League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, on 5 November 2020


2020

Drug Offenses

Fair Trial

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Juveniles

Women


More details See the document
  • Document type Array
  • Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
  • Themes list Drug Offenses / Fair Trial / Juveniles / Women

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in 2010: Year End Reports

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report


More details See the document

The death penalty continued to be mired in conflict in 2010, as states grappled with an ongoing controversy over lethal injections, the high cost of capital punishment, and increasing public sentiment in favor of alternative sentences. Executions dropped by 12% compared with 2009, and by more than 50% since 1999. The number of new death sentences was about the same as in 2009, the lowest number in 34 years. —– For other DPIC year end reports (from 1995 – 2009) please visit: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/reports

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

Document(s)

A Thousand People Face the Death Penalty in Iraq

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report

arfres
More details See the document

Iraq now has one of the highest rates of execution in the world. At least 1,000 people are believed to be under sentence of death, 150 of whom have exhausted all legal remedies available to them and are therefore at serious risk of being hanged. This document describes the use of the death penalty in Iraq, including issues of transperancy, crimes punishable by death, unfair trials, the death penalty as used in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and some individual cases are discussed.

Document(s)

Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases

By American Bar Association, on 1 January 2003


2003

Working with...


More details See the document

The objective of these Guidelines is to set forth a national standard of practice for the defense of capital cases in order to ensure high quality legal representation for all persons facing the possible imposition or execution of a death sentence by any jurisdiction. These Guidelines apply from the moment the client is taken into custody and extend to all stages of every case in which the jurisdiction may be entitled to seek the death penalty, including initial and ongoing investigation, pretrial proceedings, trial, post-conviction review, clemency proceedings and any connected litigation.

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

Document(s)

Ending Executions in Europe – Towards Abolition of the Death Penalty in Belarus

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Belarus


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

USA: More about politics than child protection: The death penalty for sex crimes against children

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2006


2006

NGO report

es
More details See the document

On 8 June, the Governor of South Carolina signed a bill allowing the death penalty for a person convicted for a second time of sex crimes against children under the age of 11 and a day later, the Governor of Oklahoma signed a similar bill. Amnesty International urges all legislative, executive and judicial authorities in the United States to meet their human rights obligations by not permitting any expansion of the death penalty to non-lethal crimes such as sexual assault. The organization renews its call for a total moratorium on executions in the United States.

Document(s)

Tanzania: the death sentence institutionnalised

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Eric Mirguet / Arnold Tsunga, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report

enfr
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty in Korea: From Unofficial Moratorium to Abolition?

By Kuk Cho / Asian Journal of Comparative Law, on 1 January 2008


2008

Article

Democratic People's Republic of Korea


More details See the document

This article provides an overview of the legal regime governing the death penalty and the on-going debate on the death penalty in Korea. It begins by briefly reviewing international treaties that call for the abolition of the death penalty, contrasting them with the retentionist trend in most Asian countries. It then reviews the major decisions of the Korean Supreme Court and the Korean Constitutional Court. It also discusses recent moves in the National Assembly and the National Human Rights Commission to abolish the death penalty. It suggests that the Korean death penalty debate has potentially significant implications for its retentionist Asian neighbours grappling with similar issues.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Document(s)

Training Resource: Protecting the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty and Life and Long-Term Imprisonment

on 1 January 2011


2011

Working with...


More details See the document

PRI training resource (1/3): Aimed mainly to mid-level prison officers, this resource’s trains these stakeholders on: due process and fair trial standards, international standards on the treatment of prisoners, vulnerable prisoners, building a rehabilitation-oriented penal culture.

  • Document type Working with...
  • Themes list Fair Trial, Death Row Conditions,

Document(s)

Public Opinion on the Death Penalty

By Cornell Law School, on 1 January 2018


2018

Article


More details See the document

Public officials in retentionist or de facto abolitionist countries often invoke public support for the death penalty as one of the reasons why they do not promote abolition. A closer look at this justification, however, reveals some common flaws. This note offers a critical assessment of public opinion polls on the death penalty and suggests tools to properly gauge the level of public support for the death penalty.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Public opinion, Public debate, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

Singapore: Cooperate or die: Singapore’s flawed reforms to the mandatory death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

Singapore


More details See the document

Singapore has recorded a significant reduction in its use of the death penalty in recent years, with executions dropping from more than 70 per year in the mid-1990s to single figures in the subsequent decade. Despite this progress, the death penalty in the country continues to be used in violation of international law and standards, particularly with respect to its mandatory application and use for drug-related offences.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list Singapore
  • Themes list Mandatory Death Penalty, Member organizations, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

The Contemporary American Struggle with Death Penalty Law: Selected Topics and Cases

By Jerome A. Cohen / New York University (NYU), on 1 January 2013


2013

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

The U.S.-China Death Penalty Reform Project of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) at New York University School of Law is a product of cooperation between USALI and Chinese experts during the recent period of death penalty law reform in China and the U.S. It includes the full text of USALI’s U.S. death penalty law casebook, The Contemporary American Struggle with Death Penalty Law: Selected Topics and Cases, in English and Chinese, and an online forum for discussion and questions.

  • Document type Arguments against the death penalty
  • Themes list International law,

Document(s)

Q&A: The Death Penalty and Drug Offenses

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


2020

Academic report

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 143 Ko ]

This Q&A was prepared by Harm Reduction International (www.ihra.net), the International Drug PolicyConsortium (www.idpc.net) and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (www.worldcoalition.org) aheadof World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October 2015.

Document(s)

Leaflet 10.10.10: The Death Penalty Casts a Shadow on Democracy

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


2010

Arguments against the death penalty

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 707 Ko ]

Information leaflet about the 2010 World Day on the USA. This leaflet provides information on the death penalty in the USA, 10 arguments to end the death penalty and 10 things you can do to abolish the death penalty.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty Failed Experiment: From Gary Graham to Troy Davis in Context

By Diann Rust-Tierney / McKinney & Associates, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book

United States


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

Death Qualification in Black and White: Racialized Decision Making and Death‐Qualified Juries

By Craig Haney / Mona Lynch / SSRN, on 1 January 2018


2018

Academic report


More details See the document

Death qualification has been shown to have a number of biasing effects that appear to undermine a capital defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a fair jury. Attitudes toward the death penalty have shifted modestly but consistently over the last several decades in ways that may have changed the overall impact of death qualification. Specifically, the very large gap between black and white Americans’ current support for capital punishment raises the question of whether death qualification procedures disproportionately exclude African Americans from capital jury participation. In order to examine this possibility, we conducted two countywide death penalty attitude surveys in the California county that has the highest percentage of African American residents in the state. Results show that death qualification continues to have a number of serious biasing effects—including disproportionately excluding death penalty opponents—which result in the significant underrepresentation of African Americans. This creates a death‐qualified jury pool with the potential to be significantly more likely to ignore and even misuse mitigating factors and to rely more heavily on aggravating factors in their death penalty decision making. The implications of these findings for the fair administration of capital punishment are discussed.

  • Document type Academic report

Document(s)

Exile and Embrace: Contemporary Religious Discourse on the Death Penalty

By Northeastern / Anthony Santoro, on 1 January 2013


2013

Book

United States


More details See the document

With passion and precision, Exile and Embrace examines the key elements of the religious debates over capital punishment and shows how they reflect the values and self-understandings of contemporary Americans. Santoro demonstrates that capital punishment has relatively little to do with the perpetrators and much more to do with those who would impose the punishment. Because of this, he convincingly argues, we should focus our attention not on the perpetrators and victims, as is typically the case in debates pro and con about the death penalty, but on ourselves and on the mechanisms that we use to impose or oppose the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

‘A “Most Serious Crime”? – The Death Penalty for Drug Offences and International Human Rights Law’

By Rick Lines / Amicus Journal, on 1 January 2010


2010

Article


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

PROTOCOL TO THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

By Organization of American States, on 1 January 1990


1990

Regional body report

es
More details See the document

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

Document(s)

Grief, Loss, and Treatment for Death Row Families

By Sandra Joy, on 5 December 2013


2013

Book

Murder Victims' Families


More details See the document

The families of death row inmates are rarely considered in public discourse regarding the death penalty. They have largely been forgotten, and their pain has not been acknowledged by the rest of society. These families experience a unique grief process as they are confronted with the loss of their loved one to death row and brace themselves for the possibility of an execution. Death row families are disenfranchised from their grief by the surrounding community, and their; mental health needs exacerbated as they struggle in isolation with the ambiguous loss that comes with the fear that the state will kill their loved one.

Grief, Loss, and Treatment for Death Row Families describes the grief that families experience from the time of their loved one’s arrest through his or her execution. In each chapter, Sandra Joy guides the reader through the grief process experienced by the families, offering clinical interventions that can be used by mental health professionals who are given the opportunity to work with these families at various stages of their grief. The author conducted over seventy qualitative interviews with family members from Delaware who either currently have a loved one on death row or have survived the execution of their loved one. Delaware was chosen because though it has a relatively small death row, it is ranked third in the nation with its rate of per capita executions. This book provides an in-depth awareness of the grieving process of death row families, as well as ways that professionals can intervene to assist them in healing. With increased awareness and effective clinical treatment, we can ensure that the families of death row inmates are forgotten no more.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Murder Victims' Families

Document(s)

ARBITRARINESS: Getting a Death Sentence May Depend on the Budget of the County

By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2014


2014

NGO report


More details See the document

Whether the death penalty will be sought in a murder may depend more on the budget of the county in which it is committed than on the severity of the crime, according to several prosecutors. A report by the Marshall Project found that the high costs of capital cases prevent some district attorneys from seeking the death penalty.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

HRI makes two submissions on human rights and drug control to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty / Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2018


2018

NGO report


More details See the document

On May 18th HRI submitted information to the OHCHR, feeding into a report that the human rights body will present at the next session of the Human Rights Council, on the implementation of the 2016 UNGASS Outcome Document (entitled “joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem with regard to human rights”).The first contribution, submitted jointly with the World Coalition against the Death Penalty (WCADP), focuses on the death penalty for drug offences, building on our 2017 Global Overview. The second submission, dedicated to harm reduction as a core component of the right to health, analyses global trends related to the availability, accessibility and funding of harm reduction services, also highlighting the specific challenges faced by subjects in detention.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list International law, Death Penalty,

Document(s)

IHR: Rights-Based Policing – Idealizing Human Rights in Law Enforcement in the Philippines

By Institute of Human Rights (IHR), on 8 September 2020


2020

Book

Philippines


More details See the document

This book documents the results of an IHR research project appraising the Philippine National Police’s commitment to human rights-based policing.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list Philippines
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,

Document(s)

Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Arguments, Trends, and Perspectives

By United Nations / Ivan Šimonovic, on 1 January 2014


2014

International law - United Nations


More details See the document

Why yet another book on the death penalty? The answer is simple: Aslong as the death penalty exists, there is a need for advocacy against it.This book provides arguments and analysis, reviews trends and sharesperspectives on moving away from the death penalty.

  • Document type International law - United Nations
  • Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

Document(s)

Is the Death Penalty an Asian Value?

By Sangmin Bae / Asian Affairs, on 1 January 2008


2008

Article


More details See the document

Since World War, a growing number of countries around the world have joinedthe movement to abolish capital punishment. Asia remains the exception and ithas been argued by some Asian leaders that the abolition of capital punishmentis in conflict with “Asian values” and that the abolitionist argument constitutesan illegitimate interference in what is essentially a domestic concern. Thisarticle reviews the death penalty in the context of international human rightsand examines the Asian values argument. Reviewing the teachings of Confuciusand other Asian philosophers, it suggests that the ongoing use of the deathpenalty in Asia is not rooted in intrinsic cultural traditions, but in fact is tiedto internal political decisions. The Asian values argument has been largelyused as a means to maintain political legitimacy, and not anything inherent tocultural factors.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

West Africa: Time to abolish the death penalty

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2003


2003

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

This doument summarizes each of the 16 ECOWAS countries’ legislation on the death penalty, provides information on the most recent executions and convictions and notes the view currently taken by the governments concerned. Two thirds have already abolished the death penalty

Document(s)

Death Penalty in Belarus: Murder on (Un)lawful Grounds

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Viasna Human Rights Center, on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report

ru
More details See the document

In June 2016, FIDH and its member organisation in Belarus, the Human Rights Center ″Viasna″(HRC ″Viasna″), conducted an international fact-finding mission on the issue of the death penaltyin Belarus. The use of the death penalty (execution by shooting) in Belarus is provided for by Art. 24 of theConstitution of the Republic of Belarus as an exceptional measure of punishment for the mostserious crimes.Apart from the very fact of taking a person’s life, which is not only cruel, but also ineffective infighting and preventing crime, the use of the death penalty in Belarus is accompanied by many grosshuman rights violations.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Uzbekistan: Torture and Secrecy

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Christine Martineau / Caroline Giraud / Richard Wild, on 1 January 2005


2005

NGO report

rufr
More details See the document

On August 1, 2005, President Karimov announced, through a presidential decree, that the abolition of the death penalty was planned for January 1, 2008. The report concludes that the Uzbek authorities are responsible of serious and systematic human rights violations in the framework of the administration of criminal justice. The rights of those arrested are systematically violated. They often lack any access to a lawyer during their pre-trial detention, their families are not informed and torture is used in order to extort confessions, which often serve as a basis for their condemnation.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Taiwan: Towards Abolition?

By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Sharon Hom / Penelope Martin / Siobhan Ni Chulachain, on 1 January 2006


2006

NGO report


More details See the document

This report highlights serious concerns regarding the conditions of detention of prisoners in Taiwan. Although there has been some improvement in conditions in recent years, FIDH and TAEDP report severe problems of overcrowding and inadequate medical treatment for prisoners, requiring urgent attention. In addition, the mission found that the use of shackles, in violation of international standards, is widespread. Prisoners, in particular those on death row, regularly have their legs chained together for 24 hours per day, in violation of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Despite recent reforms to the criminal justice system, FIDH and TAEDP found that serious failings continue to lead to miscarriages of justice. The report highlights persistent problems including discrimination, limited access to legal representation, piecemeal and only partially implemented reforms and unsatisfactory appeals procedures. FIDH and TAEDP found that training and supervision for actors within the system, including police, is grossly inadequate, leading to failures in the collection and preservation of evidence, whilst prosecutors and judges are inclined to “rubber stamp” police findings.

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

Document(s)

Missouri’s Death Penalty in 2016: The Year in Review

By Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2016


2016

NGO report


More details See the document

MADP’s 2016 report has compiled the death penalty data for the State of Missouri in 2016 and notices a significant decline of executions (6 in 2015, 1 in 2016). Moreover, no new death sentences were handed down in Missouri in 2016

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Death Row Conditions, Discrimination, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2010: The Year in Review

By Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report


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Death sentences in Texas have dropped more than 70% since 2003, reaching a historic low in 2010. According to data compiled from news sources and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, juries condemned eight new individuals to death in Texas in 2010. This is the lowest number of new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ revised death penalty statute in 1976. For preious annual reports on Texas please visit: http://tcadp.org/get-informed/reports/

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Statistics,

Document(s)

Proceedings 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), on 1 January 2017


2017

Academic report

fr
More details See the document

This publication brings together the contributions of experts and discussions among participants at the 6th World Congress against the Death Penalty held in Oslo, Norway, in June 2016.

Document(s)

Final Declaration 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), on 1 January 2016


2016

Multimedia content

fr
More details See the document

The participants to the 6th World Congress against the death penalty have handed over their final declaration, calling again for the universal abolition of the death penalty.

Document(s)

Annual Report On The Death Penalty In Iran 2017

By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2018


2018

NGO report

fr
More details See the document

The 10th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights (IHR) provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2017 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.The report sets out the number of executions in 2017, the trend compared to previous years, charges, geographic distribution and a monthly breakdown of executions.

Document(s)

The death penalty worldwide: Developments in 2000

By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2001


2001

NGO report

arfres
More details See the document

This paper covers events around the exercise of the death penalty during the year 2000, including such subjects as significant national and international court cases and decisions; important studies; the use of the death penalty against the mentally ill and those with mental retardation; its use against the `innocent’ and against women; medical and religious perspectives and public opinion polls and surveys.