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Document(s)
The death penalty worldwide: 2012 report
By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2012
2012
NGO report
More details See the document
Hands Off Cain’s 2012 Report, edited by Reality Book, presents the most important facts regarding the practice of the death penalty in 2011 and in the first six months of 2012. Data shows that China, Iran and Saudi Arabia were the top three “Executioner-Countries” in the world in 2011, while also demonstrating a positive evolution towards the abolition of the death penalty which has been developing worldwide during recent years.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Death Penalty Lessons from Asia
By David T. Johnson / Franklin E. Zimring / Asia-Pacific Journal, on 1 January 2009
2009
Article
China
More details See the document
Part one of this article summarizes death penalty policy and practice in the region that accounts for 60 percent of the world’s population and more than 90 percent of the world’s executions. The lessons from Asia are then organized into three parts. Part two describes features of death penalty policy in Asia that are consistent with the experiences recorded in Europe and with the theories developed to explain Western changes. Part three identifies some of the most significant diversities within the Asian region – in rates of execution, trends over time, and patterns of change – that contrast with the recent history of capital punishment in non-Asian locations and therefore challenge conventional interpretations of death penalty policy and change. Part four discusses three ways that the politics of capital punishment in Asia are distinctive: the limited role of international standards and transnational influences in most Asian jurisdictions; the presence of single-party domination in several Asian political systems; and the persistence of communist versions of capital punishment in the Asia region.
- Document type Article
- Countries list China
- Themes list Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2016: The Year in Review
By Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2016
2016
NGO report
More details See the document
TCADP reviews the death penalty situation in Texas in 2016: The State of Texas executed seven people in 2016, the lowest number of executions in two decades. Seven other individuals with execution dates received reprieves from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. It was only the second time since the resumption of executions in 1982 that no African-Americans were put to death in Texas.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Discrimination, Intellectual Disability, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Cut This: The Death Penalty
By ABC7 / YouTube, on 1 January 2010
2010
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
An anti death penalty video which advocates the abolition of the death penalty. The personalities in the video suggest using the money which is currently used on the death penalty for improving the community.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Iraq: The Death Penalty, Executions, and “Prison Cleansing”
By Human Rights Watch, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
Iraq
More details See the document
This briefing paper examines Iraq’s arbitrary and widespread use of the death penalty and extrajudicial executions. For more than three decades, the government of President Saddam Hussein has sanctioned the use of the death penalty and extrajudicial executions as a tool of political repression, both in order to eliminate real or suspected political opponents and to maintain a reign of terror over the population at large. The executions that have taken place over this period constitute an integral part of more systematic repression – characterized by widespread arbitrary arrests, indefinite detention without trial, death in custody under torture, and large-scale “disappearances” – through which the government has sustained its rule.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Iraq
- Themes list Due Process ,
Document(s)
Report : Third World Congress Against the Death Penalty
By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), on 1 January 2008
2008
NGO report
frMore details See the document
Participants in the Third World Congress Against the Death Penaltyin Paris have repeated again and again that the universal abo-lition of the death penalty is underway. The work carried outin Paris 2007 has clearly shown it: an irreversible downwardtrend in the number of death sentences and executions is vis-ible worldwide. Above all an increasing number of nations haveabandoned this useless and cruel practice.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
- Available languages Actes : 3e Congrès mondial contre la peine de mort
Document(s)
The Death Penalty and Intellectual Disability: A Guide
By Edward Polloway / AAIDD- American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, on 8 September 2020
2020
Book
United States
More details See the document
In the 2002 landmark decision Atkins v. Virginia 536 U.S. 304, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that executing a person with intellectual disability is a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment,” but left states to determine their own criteria for intellectual disability. AAIDD has always advocated against the death penalty for people with intellectual disability and has long provided amicus curiae briefs in Supreme Court cases. Thus, in this comprehensive new book published by AAIDD, notable authors in the field of intellectual disability discuss all aspects of the issues, with a particular focus on foundational considerations, assessment factors and issues, and professional concerns in Atkins assessments.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability,
Document(s)
The Death Penalty in the U.S. in 2015: infographic
By Death Penalty Information Center, on 1 January 2015
2015
Multimedia content
United States
More details See the document
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Indian Movie on the Death Penalty: Dhananjoy
By Book My Show, on 8 September 2020
2020
Multimedia content
India
More details See the document
The story is based on the conviction Dhananjoy, accused for the gruesome murder of Hetal Parekh, which took place in the year 1990. On the basis of circumstantial evidence and on the basis of the deceased mother’s statement, Dhananjoy Chatterjee- a security guard, was executed and hanged to death on the early hours of 15th August 2004, after serving imprisonment for 14 long years and after having appealed to all levels of court in the country; and finally, to the President of India.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list India
- Themes list Public opinion, Innocence, Death Row Conditions, Discrimination, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
RESOLUTION 1097 (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 Parliamentary Assembly recalls its Resolution 1044 (1994) on the abolition of capital punishment. It welcomes the complete abolition of capital punishment in Italy, Spain, Moldova and Belgium during the last two years, which provide an excellent example for other countries to follow.
- Document type Regional body report
- Themes list International law,
Document(s)
Fact Finding Report of LFHRI of the Sentencing of 17 Indians to Death by the Shariat Court of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
By Lawyers for Human Rights International, on 1 January 2010
2010
Legal Representation
More details See the document
Lawyers For Human Rights International an Organisation of Lawyers having its base in Punjab, India, being part of an International movement against Death Penalty, decided to visit Sharjah jail in UAE to meet the 17 prisoners who have been sentenced to Death for killing a Pakistani youth. Two member team comprising of Navkiran Singh a Human Rights Lawyer & Activist from Panjab, practicing in the High Court at Chandigarh and who is the General Secretary of LFHRI along with another Lawyer Gagan Aggarwal, visited Dubai and Sharjah on 13th and 14th of April 2010 and met the Lawyers who have been hired to defend these 17 Indians by the Indian Consulate of UAE and also visited Sharjah jail and met all the prisoners. This report presents their findings.
- Document type Legal Representation
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
The Problem of False Confessions in the Post – DNA World
By Steven A. Drizen / Richard A. Leo / North Carolina Law Review 82(3), 894-1009, on 1 January 2004
2004
Article
United States
More details See the document
In recent years, numerous individuals who confessed to and were convicted of serious felony crimes have been released from prison— some after many years of incarceration—and declared factually innocent, often as a result of DNA tests that were not possible at the time of arrest, prosecution, and conviction. DNA testing has also exonerated numerous individuals who confessed to serious crimes before their cases went to trial. Numerous others have been released from prison and declared factually innocent in cases that did not involve DNA tests, but instead may have occurred because authorities discovered that the crime never occurred or that it was physically impossible for the (wrongly) convicted defendant to have committed the crime, or because the true perpetrator of the crime was identified, apprehended, and convicted. In this Article, we analyze 125 recent cases of proven interrogation-induced false confessions (i.e., cases in which indisputably innocent individuals confessed to crimes they did not commit) and how these cases were treated by officials in the criminal justice system.This Article has three goals. First, we provide and analyze basic demographic, legal, and case-specific descriptive data from these 125 cases. This is significant because this is the largest cohort of interrogation-induced false confession cases ever identified and studied in the research literature. Second, we analyze the role that (false) confession evidence played in these cases and how the defendants in these cases were treated by the criminal justice system. In particular, this Article focuses on how criminal justice officials and triers-of-fact respond to confession evidence, whether it biases their evaluations and overwhelms other evidence (particularly evidence of innocence), and how likely false confessions are to lead to the wrongful arrest, prosecution, conviction, and incarceration of the innocent. Analysis of the aforementioned questions leads to the conclusion that the problem of interrogationinduced false confession in the American criminal justice system is far more significant than previously supposed. Furthermore, the problem of interrogation-induced false confessions has profound implications for the study of miscarriages of justice as well as the proper administration of justice. Third, and finally, this Article suggests that several promising policy reforms, particularly mandatory electronic recording of police interrogations, will minimize the number of false confessions and thereby inject a much needed dose of justice into the American criminal justice system.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Due Process , Networks,
Document(s)
The ‘Shocking Truth’ About the Electric Chair: An Analysis of the Unconstitutionality of Electrocution
By Dawn Macready / Ohio Northern University Law Review, on 1 January 2000
2000
Article
United States
More details See the document
Cruel and unusual punishment, as prohibited by the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, encompasses punishment that amounts to torture and barbarity, cruel and degrading punishment not known to the common law, and punishment so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community. Thus, contained in the Eighth Amendment is a fundamental respect for humanity. For the imposition of a death sentence, the trier is constitutionally mandated to take into account the character and record of the individual offender and the circumstances of the particular offense. What constitutes cruel and unusual punishment?
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Electrocution,
Document(s)
Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition
By David Garland / Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, on 8 September 2020
2020
Book
United States
More details See the document
This book offers a fresh perspective on why the death penalty endures in the United States when so many other countries in the Western world have already abolished it. The book seeks to understand the persistence of the death penalty in the U.S. as a social fact, using sociological, historical and legal analyses to explain the unique and peculiar manner in which the death penalty is applied. Garland concludes that the death penalty has survived in the United States because it is deeply connected to the fundamentally American institutions of local autonomy and popular democracy.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Averting Mistaken Executions by Adopting the Model Penal Code’s Exclusion of Death in the Presence of Lingering Doubts
By Margery Malkin Koosed / Northern Illinois Law Review, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
This article considers community views on the risk of mistaken executions and how sentencing juries respond to such risks. It explores the present state of the law surrounding risk-taking regarding lingering or residual doubt, and finds the law in a state of denial. Though the risk may be there, and jurors may see it, this is not something they are directed, or even invited, to consider. Some jurors may deny effect to the risk they see, believing it is not a proper subject of their attention. Others will consider it, yet wonder whether they should. This inconsistent treatment, and dissonance from what the public wants and justifiably expects from its legal system, is largely a product of the United States Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Franklin v. Lynaugh. Arguably misread, and at least misguided, the Court’s decision on considering lingering or residual doubts about guilt as a mitigating factor at the penalty phase has retarded development of meaningful ways to avert mistaken executions.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Double Tragedies: Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness
By Susannah Sheffer / National Alliance on Mental Illness / Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, on 1 January 2009
2009
NGO report
More details See the document
This report asserts that the death penalty is not only inappropriate and unwarranted for persons with severe mental illness but that it also serves as a distraction from problems within the mental health system that contributed or even led directly to tragic violence. Families of murder victims and families of people with mental illness who have committed murder have a cascade of questions and needs. It is to these questions, rather than to the death penalty, that as a society we must turn our attention and our collective energies if we are truly to address the problem of untreated mental illness and the lethal violence that can result.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Mental Illness, Murder Victims' Families,
Document(s)
The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2017
By Harm Reduction International / Gen Sander, on 1 January 2018
2018
NGO report
More details See the document
The year 2017 marks 10 years since Harm Reduction International launched its Death Penalty for Drugs project. This report looks at the death penalty for drugs in law and practice and considers critical developments on the issue.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Drug Offences, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
The Death Penalty Project: 2018 Report
By The Death Penalty Project, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
More details See the document
The Death Penalty Project publishes its 2018 annual report. It provides testimonies, figures and a look on the actions accomplished in favour of the human rights worlwide.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Right to life, Legal Representation, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Investigating Attitudes to the Death Penalty in Indonesia in bahasa Indonesia
By Universitas Indonesia LBH Masyarakat Universitas Oxford The Death Penalty Project, on 10 August 2021
2021
NGO report
Drug Offenses
Indonesia
Public Opinion
More details See the document
Pandangan Para Pembentuk Opini tentang Hukuman Mati di Indonesia
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Indonesia
- Themes list Drug Offenses / Public Opinion
Document(s)
Mass Injustice: Statistical Findings on the Death Penalty in Egypt
By Reprieve, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
More details See the document
This report, Mass Injustice, presents the Egypt Death Penalty Index (“the Index”), a first-of-its-kind website and statisticaldatabase on Egypt’s application of thedeath penalty. The report provides background information on Egypt’s growing unlawful application of the death penalty, and explains how the Index was compiled.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
TAJIKISTAN: DEADLY SECRETS – The death penalty in law and practice
By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
Tajikistan
ruMore details See the document
Official secrecy surrounds the death penalty in Tajikistan. The picture that Amnesty International has been able to build is incomplete, yet alarming. With random and relentless cruelty, prisoners are executed in secret after unfair trials, with no warning to their families. According to the evidence gathered by Amnesty International, none of the prisoners sentenced to death in Tajikistan received a fair trial. Most, if not all, were tortured. Several different prisoners have given detailed accounts naming the same investigator, but no action has apparently been taken to investigate the truth of these allegations. Testimony extracted under torture has been admitted as evidence and used to condemn prisoners to death.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list Tajikistan
- Themes list Transparency, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages ТАДЖИКИСТАН: СМЕРТЕЛЬНЫЕ ТАЙНЫ
Document(s)
WHEN THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY IS “CRUEL AND UNUSUAL”
By Michael J. Zydney Mannheimer / The University of Cincinnati Law Review, on 1 January 2006
2006
Article
United States
More details See the document
Recent changes to the way the U.S. Department of Justice decides whether to pursue capital charges have made it more likely that the federal death penalty will be sought in cases in which the criminal conduct occurred within States that do not authorize capital punishment for any crime. As a result, since 2002, five people have been sentenced to death in federal court for conduct that occurred in States that do not authorize the death penalty. This state of affairs is in serious tension with the Eighth Amendment’s proscription against “cruel and unusual punishments.”
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,
Document(s)
Voting record – Draft resolution A/C.3/75/L.41 as amended, Moratorium on the use of the death penalty
By United Nations General Assembly, on 18 November 2020
2020
International law - United Nations
zh-hantMore details See the document
Document(s)
No to the Death Penalty
By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2008
2008
Multimedia content
Kazakhstan
More details See the document
This film is based on the death penalty in Kazakhstan. The death penalty was formerly a common charge for the most obscene crimes, and was at its greatest prominence in 1995, when 101 males on charges of death sentences were executed by the firing squad.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Kazakhstan
- Themes list Most Serious Crimes, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Trial and Errors : The Texas Death Penalty
By Lisa Maxwell / AMITI, on 1 January 2013
2013
Book
United States
More details See the document
TRIAL & ERROR takes a thorough look at the most controversial issues of the Texas Death Penalty that have raised questions of fairness and equality. Read words of inmates on death row in interviews conducted by the Amiti Organization, then judge for yourself whether the Death Penalty is administering justice or injustice.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Poster – 13th Wold Day against the death penalty
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
2020
Multimedia content
enenfaruzh-hantesfrMore details Download [ jpeg - 57 Ko ]
Poster of the 13th Wold Day against the death penalty dedicated to drug crimes: the death penalty doesn’t stop drug crimes
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list Drug Offences, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty,
- Available languages German : Poster - 13° Welttag gegen die TodesstrafeItalian : Poster - 13° Giornata mondialeپوستر - روز جهانی سال 2015плакат - Всемирный день 2015г海報 - 2015 年世界反死刑日Cartel - Día Mundial 2015Affiche Journée Mondiale 2015
Document(s)
Prison guards and the death penalty
By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2015
2015
NGO report
More details See the document
How are prison guards affected by overseeing prisoners on death row or even participating in executions? What effects does it have in the short and the longer term?This short paper draws on research and interviews with prison guards to outline the psychological impact that guards who have worked with prisoners for many years on death row can experience when a prisoner is put to death.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon,
Document(s)
Fatally flawed: Why Malaysia must abolish the death penalty
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
enzh-hantesfrMore details See the document
Malaysia retains the death penalty for 33 offences and held 1,293 people on death row as of September 2019. This report highlights how the burden of the death penalty has largely fallen on those convicted of drug trafficking, who disproportionately include women and foreign nationals. These findings gain an even greater significance in the context of laws and policies that are in contravention of international human rights law and standards and which have added multiple layers of arbitrariness into the use of this punishment.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Women, Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages Malay : Kecacatan yang membawa maut: Mengapa Malaysia harus mansuhkan hukuman mati致命的缺陷 - 为何马来西亚必须废除死刑Defectos mortales - Por qué Malasia debe abolir la pena de muerteDéfaillances mortelles: Pourquoi la Malaisie doit abolir la peine de mort
Document(s)
World Day Against the Death Penalty Report 2007
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2007
2007
Campaigning
frMore details Download [ pdf - 2594 Ko ]
World Coalition Report: No to the Death Penalty! The World decides 10 October 2007 World Day against the Death Penalty. The actions of the world coaltion and their iniatives during the World Day 2007 campaign can be found in this report.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Networks,
- Available languages Rapport de la Journée Mondiale Contre la Peine de Mort 2007
Document(s)
The Death Penalty: An American History
By Stuart Banner / Harvard University Press, on 1 January 2003
2003
Book
United States
More details See the document
Law professor Stuart Banner tells the story of how, over four centuries, dramatic changes have taken place in the ways capital punishment has been administered and experienced. Banner moves beyond the debates, to give us an unprecedented understanding of capital punishment’s many meanings. As nearly four thousand inmates are now on death row, and almost one hundred are currently being executed each year, the furious debate is unlikely to diminish. The Death Penalty is invaluable in understanding the American way of the ultimate punishment.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Capital Punishment, the Moratorium Movement, and Empirical Questions: Looking Beyond Innocence Race and Bad Lawyering in Death Penalty Cases
By James R. Acker / Charles A. Lanier / Psychology, Public Policy and Law, on 1 January 2004
2004
Article
United States
More details See the document
This article briefly explores the underpinnings of the contemporary capital punishment moratorium movement and examines executive and legislative responses to calls for a halt to executions, including suggestions for studying the death penalty process. Although most investigations focus on select issues like innocence, ineffective counsel, and race bias, this article suggests that a wide-ranging constellation of issues should be investigated in any legitimate attempt to evaluate the administration of the death penalty. The article canvasses this broader sweep of issues, discusses related research evidence, and then considers the policy implications of conducting such a thorough empirical assessment of the administration of capital punishment in this country.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Moratorium ,
Document(s)
Exoneration and Wrongful Condemnations: Expanding the Zone of Perceived Injustice in Death Penalty Cases
By Craig Haney / Golden Gate University Law Review, on 1 January 2006
2006
Article
United States
More details See the document
In this article I argue that despite the very serious nature and surprisingly large number of these kinds of exonerations revelations about factually innocent death-sentenced prisoners represent only the most dramatic, visible tip of a much larger problem that is submerged throughout our nation’s system of death sentencing. That is, many of the very same flaws and factors that have given rise to these highly publicized wrongful convictions also produce a more common kind of miscarriage of justice in capital cases. I refer to death sentences that are meted out to defendants who, although they may be factually guilty of the crimes for which they were placed on trial, are not “death worthy” or “deserving” of the death penalty. This includes the many who, if their cases had been handled properly by competent counsel at the time of trial and adjudicated in a fairer and more just system, would have been sentenced to life instead.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
Bylaws of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 10 November 2020
2020
World Coalition
frMore details Download [ pdf - 129 Ko ]
- Document type World Coalition
- Available languages Statuts de la Coalition mondiale contre la peine de mort
Document(s)
Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger on the campaign against the Death Penalty
By Council of Europe, on 1 January 2011
2011
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
This podcast is interview with the Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger. She talksabout murder victims’ families, deterrence, a moratorium on executions and the trend towards abolition.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Litigating in the Shadow of Death
By Lawrence C. Marshall / University of Pittsburgh Law Review, on 1 January 2006
2006
Article
United States
More details See the document
One gets the strong sense that Professor White believed that the key to changing or abolishing the death penalty in the United States was to educate policymakers and the public about its practical operation. This, of course, was Justice Thurgood Marshall’s hypothesis in Furman v. Georgia: that the widespread support that the death penalty enjoys in the country is a product of mass ignorance about how it is applied. Professor White did not simply posit the theory, he dedicated much of his life to the mission of educating the public about the inequities of the American death penalty. This final book does that in an extraordinarily effective way by combing together studies of illustrative cases, analysis of the lawyers’ roles and dilemmas, and cogent explanations of the state of the law.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
In the Extreme: Women Serving Life Without Parole and Death Sentences in the United States
By The Sentencing Project, National Black Women’s Justice Institute and the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, on 14 January 2022
2022
NGO report
Women
More details See the document
One of every 15 women in prison — amounting to more than 6,600 women — is serving a life sentence and nearly 2,000 of these have no chance for parole. Another 52 women in the U.S. are awaiting execution. Many women serving extreme sentences were victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse long before they committed a crime.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Women
Document(s)
Deterrence and the Death Penalty
By John V. Pepper / Daniel S. Nagin / Committee on Deterrence and the Death Penalty / Committee on Law and Justice / Division on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education / National Research Council , on 1 January 2012
2012
Book
More details See the document
Many studies during the past few decades have sought to determine whether the death penalty has any deterrent effect on homicide rates. Researchers have reached widely varying, even contradictory, conclusions. Some studies have concluded that the threat of capital punishment deters murders, saving large numbers of lives; other studies have concluded that executions actually increase homicides; still others, that executions have no effect on murder rates. Commentary among researchers, advocates, and policymakers on the scientific validity of the findings has sometimes been acrimonious.
- Document type Book
- Themes list Deterrence ,
Document(s)
Not Making Us Safer: Crime, Public Saftey and the Death Penalty
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2013
2013
NGO report
esMore details See the document
Thisdocument aims at providing a generaloverview of how crime and concerns about public safety are often met by government calls forthe death penalty—distracting public attention fromthe much-needed, long-term solutionsthat could more effectively tackle crime and the root causes of crime. It reviews a number ofrecent studies on homicide trends, public perception of safety and the deterrent effect of thedeath penalty. The studies found that, in order toeffectively deter crime, governments shoulduse a multi-faceted approach involving different segments of society and multiple tools—andthat the death penalty is not one of them.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Deterrence ,
- Available languages Así No Hay Mayor Seguridad: Delincuencia, Seguridad Publica y Pena de Muerte
Document(s)
Compounded Violence: Domestic Abuse and the Mandatory Death Penalty in Ghana and Sierra Leone
By Anjuli Peters / University of Oxford, on 1 January 2019
2019
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
This paper applies a gendered perspective to women sentenced to a mandatory death penalty in the West African countries of Ghana and Sierra Leone. At present, there are six women on death row in Ghana and two women on death row in Sierra Leone. All eight women are sentenced to mandatory death for murder. However, interviews with the women on death row suggest that their offenses do not meet the threshold of ‘most serious crimes.’ Instead, many are convicted for acts committed in retaliation following violence against them.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Women,
Document(s)
Compounded Violence: Domestic Abuse and the Mandatory Death Penalty in Ghana and Sierra Leone
By Anjuli Peters / University of Oxford, on 1 January 2019
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
This paper applies a gendered perspective to women sentenced to a mandatory death penalty in the West African countries of Ghana and Sierra Leone. At present, there are six women on death row in Ghana and two women on death row in Sierra Leone. All eight women are sentenced to mandatory death for murder. However, interviews with the women on death row suggest that their offenses do not meet the threshold of ‘most serious crimes.’ Instead, many are convicted for acts committed in retaliation following violence against them.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Women,
Document(s)
Joint Statement on the Death Penalty in Bahrain
By Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, on 1 January 2015
2015
Multimedia content
Bahrain
More details See the document
Joint statement calling on the government to immediately commute all death sentences; to investigate all allegations of torture made by persons sentenced to death, and to dismiss any and all convictions made on the basis of confessions obtained under conditions of torture; to re-impose a moratorium on the death penalty with a view towards abolishing the practice.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Bahrain
- Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2018
By Harm Reduction International / Giada Girelli, on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
More details See the document
Harm Reduction International has monitored use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since its first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007. This eighth report on the subject, continues its work of providing regular updates on legislative and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international human rights law.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Drug Offences, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2018
By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2019
NGO report
More details See the document
This report provides an assessment and analysis of death penalty trends in 2018 in the Is-lamic Republic of Iran. It sets out the number of executions in 2018, the trend compared to previous years, the legislative framework and procedures, charges, geographic distribution and a monthly breakdown of executions.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
The death penalty, terrorism and international law
By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2014
2014
Academic report
More details See the document
The death penalty is retained for terrorism offences in many countries, but how does it conform with international standards? The global community has had much to say about both terrorism and capital punishment; this paper brings together the key arguments to identify the appropriate state responses in the face of terrorism.
- Document type Academic report
- Themes list International law, Terrorism,
Document(s)
The Death penalty for Drug Offences: A Violation of International Human Rights Law
By Rick Lines / Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2007
2007
NGO report
More details See the document
The report calls for an end to the use of the death penalty for drug offences around the world, and concludes that the on-going execution of drug offenders is a violation of international human rights law. The report emphasises how the harms faced by people who use drugs do not only include health harms such as HIV and hepatitis C infections, but also the effects of repressive law enforcement activities.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Drug Offences,
Document(s)
The Harrowing Testimonies of Death Penalty Executioners
By Lucy Tiven / attn, on 1 January 2016
2016
Working with...
More details See the document
The accounts of the “anonymous execution teams” who implement the death penalty are chilling, and rarely reach the public sphere, because their identities are protected by stringent state laws. Rare interviews from retired corrections officers, wardens, and prison chaplains, as well as those included in the 2000 Peabody Award winning radio documentary “Witness to an Execution” give us glimpses of executioners and their experiences.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Methods of Execution, Lethal Injection, Electrocution, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Religious Conservatives and the Death Penalty
By Thomas C. Berg / William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 9(1), 31-60, on 1 January 2000
2000
Article
United States
More details See the document
In this Essay, Professor Thomas C. Berg examines how religious conservatives, especially Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants, have dealt with the recent concerns over the death penalty. Part I of the Essay documents how Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants traditionally approach the death penalty.Part II analyzes the particular theological arguments and practical concerns that will be most effective in persuading religious conservatives to oppose the death penalty.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Religion ,
Document(s)
Victim Gender and the Death Penalty
By John H. Blume / Theodore Eisenberg / Sheri Lynn Johnson / Cornell Law Review / Martin T. Wells / Valerie P. Hans / Amelia Courtney Hritz / Caisa E. Royer, on 1 January 2014
2014
Article
More details See the document
Do the characteristics of the victim determine a murderer’s punishment?Theory and research both suggest that they do. This Article focuses on thegender of the murder victim, in particular, how victim gender influences deathseeking and death penalty sentencing decisions. First, the Article reviews theexisting evidence supporting a “female victim effect” which theorizes that crimesinvolving female victims are punished more harshly than crimes with malevictims. It also presents and assesses various theoretical explanations for thefemale victim effect. Second, the Article analyzes cases from a comprehensivedataset of Delaware capital trials, exploring how cases with male and femalevictims differ. It then considers which of the theoretical explanations for afemale victim effect best explain death penalty decisions in this sample of cases.
- Document type Article
- Themes list Women, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Discrimination, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Flawed Justice: Unfair Trial and the Death Penalty in indonesia
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2015
2015
NGO report
enfrMore details See the document
Despite strong protests from local and international human rights organisations, the new Indonesian administration under President Joko Widodo has executed 14 people, including Indonesian and foreign nationals, in 2015. All of them had been convicted of drug trafficking. In other occasions President Widodo also stated publicly that the government would deny any application for clemency made by people sentenced to death for drug-related crimes. This report, which builds on Amnesty International’s past work over three decades documenting the use of death penalty in Indonesia, includes research carried out during a March 2015 visit to the country. The report highlights 12 individual cases of death row prisoners, out of a total of 131 people on death row, which point to systemic problems in Indonesia’s administration of justice that resulted in violations of international human rights law and standards.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Fair Trial, Drug Offences, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages Indonesian : Kaedilan ang Cacat. Peradilan Yang Tidak Adil Dan Hukuman Mati di IndonesiaUne justice déficiente. Procès iniques et recours à la peine de mort en Indonésie
Document(s)
The Death Penalty in China
By Sky News / YouTube, on 1 January 2015
Arguments against the death penalty
frMore details See the document
This Sky News Report discusses the administration of the death penalty in China; Innocent people who have been put to death, stealing the organs of the executed and the nature of the death penalty in China.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Available languages Peine de mort en Chine
Document(s)
Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty
By Scott Turow / Picador, on 8 September 2020
2020
Book
United States
More details See the document
Turow bases his opinions on his experiences as a prosecutor and, in his post-prosecutorial years, working on behalf of death-row inmates, as well as his two years on Illinois’s Commission on Capital Punishment, charged by the former Gov. George Ryan.Turow presents both sides of the death penalty debate and seems himself to flip sides depending on the argument.Turow’s reflections include: * Thoughts on victims’ rights vs. community rights * Whether execution is a deterrent * The possible execution of an innocent person * If not the death penalty, what to do with the worst offenders
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Beyond the Death Penalty: Reflections on Punishment (Maastricht Series in Human Rights)
By Jacques Claessen / Hans Nelen / Intersentia , on 1 January 2012
2012
Book
More details See the document
This book contains a selection of papers that were presented during the multidisciplinary conference “Beyond the Death Penalty: Reflections on Punishment,” organized by the Maastricht Center for Human Rights. The aim of the conference was to reflect on punishment from a variety of angles and to give some food for thought to the contemporary debate on crime and punishment. After a first cluster of chapters with a strong focus on capital punishment, an intriguing mixture of topics in relation to punishment is presented, including chapters on the populist context of contemporary crime control, reconciliation and rehabilitation, prison life, and efficiency and effectiveness.
- Document type Book
- Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment,
Document(s)
Preventing the Execution of the Innocent: Testimony Before the House Judiciary Committee.
By Peter Neufeld / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
There have been at least sixty-seven postconviction DNA exonerations in the United States. Our Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law has either assisted or been the attorney of record in thirty-nine of those cases, including eight men who served time on death row. For all of these men, existing appellate remedies failed to catch the mistakes and correct the injustice. In one third of the exonerations, bad lawyering contributed to their convictions yet in only one case was ineffective assistance of counsel recognized by an appellate court. Mistaken eyewitness identification was a critical factor in almost 90% of the unjust convictions yet not a single trial or appellate court found the eyewitness testimony to be unreliable.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
Punished for Being Vulnerable. How Pakistan executes the poorest and the most marginalized in society
By Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) / Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), on 1 January 2019
2019
NGO report
More details See the document
The present report aims to provide an update on the 2007 report, bearing in mind the significant changes that have taken place in Pakistan under various governments since then, including the 2008 unofficial moratorium and the resumption of executions in 2014. The mission aimed at exploring specific issues within the theme of the death penalty, including detention conditions on death row, the use of capital punishment for minors, and the impact of the death penalty on families of death row inmates, particularly their children. However, a recurring theme emerged in discussions about each of these sub-issues: a strong systemic bias against the poor and marginalized.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Fair Trial, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Investigating Forensic Problems in the United States: How the Federal Government Can Strengthen Oversight Through the Coverdell Grant Program
By Benjamin N. Cardozo / The Innocence Project, on 8 September 2020
2020
Working with...
More details See the document
The report describes the federal forensic oversight program; outlines the problems that have plagued the program since its inception (with specific examples): Explains the consequences of the federal government’s inadequate administration of the program; shows how forensic negligence and misconduct lead to wrongful convictions; and gives specific recommendations for what the federal government, states and individuals can do to strengthen forensic oversight.
- Document type Working with...
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Death Penalty in Liberia. When will it be abolished?
By FIACAT, on 1 January 2019
2019
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
The FIACAT and ACAT Liberia organized an awareness-raisingworkshop on 17 and 18 September 2019 in Monrovia (Liberia) for 30 participants: Muslim and Christian religious leaders, traditional chiefs, members of civil society organizations, journalists, members of the Independent National Commissionon Human Rights (INCHR) and parliamentarians. This workshop resulted in the production of this publication to raise awareness among opinion leaders on the abolition of the death penalty in Liberia, considering the specific characteristicsand needs of the country.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
Document(s)
Innocence and the Death Penalty
By Death Penalty Focus, on 1 January 2011
2011
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 139 men and women have been released from death row nationally.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
Take action on the death penalty
By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 8 September 2020
2020
Campaigning
More details See the document
Two-page guide with tips and contacts for individuals interested in getting started in anti-death penalty activism in the US.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Public opinion,
Document(s)
For or against abolition of the death penalty: Evidence from Taiwan
By Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty / The Death Penalty Project, on 8 September 2020
NGO report
More details See the document
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Public opinion, Death Penalty,
Document(s)
Restraints on Death Penalty in Europe: A Circular Process
By Stefano Manacorda / Journal of International Criminal Justice, on 1 January 2003
2003
Article
More details See the document
That the European area is a zone free of capital punishment is the result of a complex process of restraints that has evolved over the last 50 years. Domestic, regional and universal international law, as well as certain components within each level, have influenced each other to produce a dynamic, circular movement towards abolition. Starting from the internal level, restraints on the death penalty rose up to the regional and universal levels, and then descended back down into domestic law. This process, however, has not produced a completely closed circle, and certain countries in Europe retain legislation permitting recourse to the death penalty for certain crimes, especially war crimes and, according to recent interpretations, criminal offences related to terrorist activity. Extradition or other administrative mechanisms of expulsion also illustrate potential disjunctions in the circle, as they may allow persons to be transferred to retentionist countries. Even though the legislative framework has significantly evolved in the last few years, the dominant role played by political evaluations creates new fissures in the abolitionist circle. Only recently have new abolitionist perspectives emerged from the ‘right of interference’ in foreign death penalty cases, which some countries try to exercise when their own nationals are involved.
- Document type Article
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
A year-end compilation of death penalty data for the state of Missouri : Annual Report 2015
By Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2015
2015
NGO report
More details See the document
MADP released its annual report which highlights some of the major problems with Missouri’s broken death penalty system. Here is a snapshot of the death penalty in Missouri in 2015: 6 executions in 2015 but no new death sentences in Missouri in 2015.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
USA: Breaking a lethal habit – A look back at the death penalty in 2007
By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
United States
esMore details See the document
This document looks back at the death penalty in 2007 beginning with the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission releasing its final report recommending abolition and concluding with the UN General Assembly passing a landmark resolution calling for a global moratorium. It includes death by electrocution; abolition; execution, commutation and stay of execution; mental illness; child rape as well as geographical and colour bias.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks, Statistics,
- Available languages Estados Unidos: Rompiendo con un hábito letal - Un repaso a la pena de muerte en 2007
Document(s)
Financial Costs of the Death Penalty
By Office of Performance Evaluations Idaho Legislature, on 1 January 2014
2014
Government body report
More details See the document
Idaho’s death penalty involves many criminal justicestakeholders at both the local and state levels and in all three branches of government. Because death penalty processes involve so many entities, legislators asked for a better understanding of the structure, workings, and costs. The following events also sparked legislative interest: (1) two offenders sentenced to death werelater released from prison in 2001 and (2) two recent executions after a 17-year pause.Legislators wanted to know whether costs of sentencingdefendants to death could be compared with costs of sentencing them to life in prison.
- Document type Government body report
- Themes list Statistics, Financial cost,
Document(s)
Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2013
By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2014
NGO report
fafrMore details See the document
The sixth annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty gives an assessment of how the death penalty was implemented in 2013 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Juveniles, Women, Minorities, Religion , Fair Trial, International law, Transparency, Drug Offences, Torture, Discrimination, Foreign Nationals, Hanging, Stoning, Death Penalty, Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages گزارش سالانه اعدام در ايران – سال ٢٠١٣ میلادیRapport annuel sur la peine de mort en iran 2013
Document(s)
People’s Republic of China: The Death Penalty in 1999
By Amnesty International, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
China
frMore details See the document
This report analyses the use of the death penalty in China and examines sentencing patterns and the legislation behind the death penalty.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list China
- Themes list Networks, Statistics,
- Available languages République Populaire de Chine: La peine de mort en 1999
Document(s)
Alternative Sanctions to the Death Penalty Information Pack
By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2011
2011
Arguments against the death penalty
More details See the document
PRI information kit on the alternative sanctions to the death penalty: ; a review of current practices; the increasing use of ‘life’ and long-term sentences and their contribution to growing prison numbers; 12 steps toward alternative sanctions to the death penalty that respect international human rights standards and norms.
- Document type Arguments against the death penalty
- Themes list Sentencing Alternatives,
Document(s)
Mental Illness and the Death Penalty in North Carolina
By American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2007
2007
NGO report
More details See the document
As this report lays bare, entrenched obstacles within the criminal justice system impede efforts to recognize those with severe mental illness and to treat them fairly. As detailed in this report, these obstacles include the fact that: 1, mentally ill offenders, because of their impairments, often undermine their own defenses in a variety of ways that contribute directly to their convictions, death sentences and executions; 2, although state law exclusively defines mental illness as a mitigating factor for sentencing purposes, juries often perceive mental illness as an aggravating (rather than mitigating) factor. 3, the law governing mental illness in the context of the death penalty does not often align itself with clinical realities; thus mental health experts must often answer legal questions that do not conform to their medical analyses.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Mental Illness,
Document(s)
Death Penalty: Stop the state killing
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2007
NGO report
fresMore details See the document
This document focuses on the significant developments and events – both negative and positive – in the struggle against the death penalty in 2006. It includes steps towards abolition; horrific state killings; executions after unfair trials, including that of Saddam Hussein; the growing global campaign for abolition, and the political courage needed to rid the world of judicial state killing.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Networks, Statistics,
- Available languages Halte aux hommicides commis par l'étatPena de muerte: Poner fin al homicidio estatal
Document(s)
Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning
By John D. Carlson / Erik C. Owens / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company / Eric P. Elshtain / J. Budziszewski / E. J. Dionne / Avery Cardinal Dulles / Stanley Hauerwas / Frank Keating / Gilbert Meilaender / David Novak, on 1 January 2004
2004
Book
More details See the document
This important book is sure to foster informed public discussion about the death penalty by deepening readers’ understanding of how religious beliefs and perspectives shape this contentious issue. Featuring a fair, balanced appraisal of its topic, Religion and the Death Penalty brings thoughtful religious reflection to bear on current challenges facing the capital justice system.
- Document type Book
- Themes list Religion ,
Document(s)
Ultimate Sanction: Understanding the Death Penalty Through Its Many Voices and Many Sides
By Robert M. Bohm / Kaplan Trade, on 1 January 2010
2010
Book
United States
More details See the document
The book looks at the death penalty through interviews with people affected by the system in different ways. He uses interviews to explore issues of deterrence, retribution, and fairness, while taking a unique look at how the death penalty affects those who participate in the system.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Fair Trial, Deterrence , Retribution,
Document(s)
DNA and the Death Penalty
By Brandon Garrett / Joshua Marquis / CATO Unbound / Jeffrey Kirchmeier / George H. Smith, on 1 January 2012
2012
Article
United States
More details See the document
Essays on the theme of the issue of the DNA and the Death Penalty
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Innocence,
Document(s)
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND ELITE POLITICS: DISSENSUS AND THE DEATH PENALTY IN AMERICA
By Judith Randle / Studies in Law, Politics and Society, on 1 January 2003
2003
Article
United States
More details See the document
Drawing from televised debates over capital punishment on CNN’s Crossfire from February 2000 to June 2002, I argue that Teles’s (1998) theory of “dissensus politics” is useful in understanding the U.S.’s preservation of capital punishment as well as current divisions in death penalty sentiment within the U.S. I pose the retention of capital punishment as the product of rival elites who are unwilling to forsake capital punishment’s moral character (and often the political benefits it offers), and who consequently ignore an American public that appears to have reached a measured consensus of doubt about the death penalty.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,
Document(s)
The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2015
By Rick Lines / Harm Reduction International, on 1 January 2015
2015
NGO report
More details See the document
In this new fourth edition of HRI’s ‘Global Overview’ series, HRI updates its previous research on the death penalty for drugs worldwide, and it considers critical developments on the issue. While the report notes that there still are a troubling number of governments with capital drug laws, in practice very few states execute people for drugs. The number of people killed for drug-related offences is high because China, Iran and Saudi Arabia are aggressive executioners. Those governments that kill for drugs are an extreme fringe of the international community.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Drug Offences,
Document(s)
Is the Death Penalty Good for Women
By Phyllis L. Crocker / Buffalo Law Review, on 1 January 2001
2001
Article
United States
More details See the document
In this essay, I suggest a different and particularly feminist reason for reexamining, and rejecting, the death penalty. The death penalty perverts society’s response to the tragedy of a woman being raped and murdered by relying on a form of racism that is gendered in nature and by making the horrific nature of the crime of rape-murder a more important consideration in determining punishment than the individual characteristics of the person who committed it.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Annual Report of the Death Penalty in Iran in 2010
By Iran Human Rights (IHR), on 1 January 2010
2010
NGO report
faMore details See the document
The annual report of the death penalty in 2010 shows a dramatic increase in the number of executions compared to the previous years. The number of annual executions in 2010 in Iran is probably the highest since the mass executions of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.
- Document type NGO report
- Available languages سازمان حقوق بشر ایران: گزارش سالانه اعدام در سال میلادی ۲۰۱۰
Document(s)
The State of Texas vs. Melissa
By Sabrina Van Tassel, on 25 March 2020
2020
Multimedia content
Fair Trial
United States
More details See the document
Melissa Lucio was the first Hispanic woman sentenced to death in Texas. For ten years she has been awaiting her fate, and she now faces her last appeal.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Fair Trial
Document(s)
Human Rights and the Death Penalty
By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2012
2012
Campaigning
More details See the document
Four-page introduction to the status of the death penalty in international human rights law and the global trend abolition.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition,
Document(s)
Race Discrimination and the Legitimacy of Capital Punishment: Reflections on the Interaction of Fact and Perception
By George Woodworth / David C. Baldus / DePaul Law Review, on 1 January 2004
2004
Article
United States
More details See the document
The authors analyze data concerning race discrimination in capital sentencing and data regarding how the public perceives this issue. They conclude that race discrimination is not an inevitable feature of all death penalty systems. Before Furman v. Georgia was decided in 1972, widespread discrimination against black defendants marred the practice of capital punishment in America. According to studies cited by the authors, race-of-defendant discrimination has lessened since Furman. However, race-of-victim discrimination remains a significant factor in sentencing; defendants with white victims are at a significantly higher risk of being sentenced to death and executed than are defendants whose victims are black, Asian, or Hispanic. From 1976 to 2002, the proportion of white-victim cases among all murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases has ranged between 51% and 56%. However, 81% of executed defendants had white victims. Polling data indicate that the general public perceives only one form of race discrimination in the use of the death penalty – race-of-defendant discrimination – and that the public and elected officials may see racial discrimination as inevitable in the criminal justice system. Race of victim discrimination is a pervasive problem in the death penalty system. However, race discrimination is not inevitable. If serious controls were enacted to address this problem (such as those imposed in a few states) a fairer system could result.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Discrimination,
Document(s)
Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty
By Death Penalty Information Center / Richard C. Dieter, on 1 January 2015
2015
NGO report
More details See the document
Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who have committed heinous crimes present hard cases for the American system of justice. The violence that occasionally erupts into murder can easily overcome the special respect that is afforded most veterans. However, looking away and ignoring this issue serves neither veterans nor victims. PTSD has affected an enormous number of veterans returning from combat zones. Over 800,000 Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD. At least 175,000 veterans of Operation Desert Storm were affected by “Gulf War Illness,” which has been linked to brain cancer and other mental deficits. Over 300,000 veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have PTSD. In one study, only about half had received treatment in the prior year.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Mental Illness,
Document(s)
The Professional Obligation to Raise Frivolous Issues in Death Penalty Cases
By Monroe H. Freedman / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003
2003
Article
United States
More details See the document
Lawyers are generally familiar with the ethical rule forbidding frivolous arguments, principally because of sanctions imposed under rules of civil procedure for making such arguments. Not all lawyers are aware, however, of two ways in which the prohibitions of frivolous arguments are restricted in both the rules themselves and in their enforcement. First, the ethical rules have express limitations with respect to arguments made on behalf of criminal defendants, and courts are generally loath to sanction criminal defense lawyers. Second, the term “frivolous” is narrowed, even in civil cases, by the way it is defined and explained in the ethical rules and in court decisions.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Legal Representation,
Document(s)
Social survey: public attitudes in Kazakhstan to the death penalty for terrorist offences
By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2014
2014
NGO report
More details See the document
This survey polled public opinion in Kazakhstan towards the use of the death penalty for terrorist offences resulting in death, and also for especially grave crimes committed inwartime.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Public opinion,
Document(s)
Zambia: Time to abolish the death penalty
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 2001
2001
NGO report
More details See the document
This report aims at focusing attention on the country’s use of the death penalty, particularly as Zambia does not apply international standards for fair trials in its use of the death penalty.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Death Penalty in the US Quiz
By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2009
2009
Campaigning
More details See the document
Test your knowledge of human rights and the death penalty in the U.S. with our downloadable quiz.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
The Death Penalty Resource Guide
By Amnesty International - USA, on 1 January 2011
2011
Campaigning
More details See the document
Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executions could resume after a four year moratorium, more than 1,050 people have been executed in the United States. Approximately 3,370 men and women remain on death row throughoutthe United States. This is a teaching guide on the death penalty in the United States after 1976.
- Document type Campaigning
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
China: The death penalty in China: breaking records, breaking rules
By Amnesty International, on 1 January 1997
1997
NGO report
fresMore details See the document
In China last year, approximately 17 people were sentenced to death each day, every day of the year. This report examines the record versus the rhetoric in 1996. It examines the death penalty in practice during this year’s “Strike Hard Anti-Crime Campaign” which highlights legal inadequacies and institutionalized abuses long discussed by domestic critics.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
- Available languages RÉPUBLIQUE POPULAIRE DE CHINE: La peine capitale en Chine : nouveaux records et nouvelles transgressions de la loiREPÚBLICA POPULAR CHINA: La pena de muerte en China: Batir récords abatiendo vidas
Document(s)
Oregon’s death penalty disproportionately used against persons with significant mental impairments
By Fair Punishment Project, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
United States
More details See the document
Although,by all functional measures, Oregonians have abandoned the death penalty, 35 condemned inmates remain on Oregon’s death row.What do we know about those people, and about the quality of justice that resulted in their death sentences? This report examines the cases of the condemned men and women in Oregon to see how they ended up there, and what patterns emerged.Here’s what we found: In Oregon, two-thirds of death row inmates possess signs of serious mental illness or intellectual impairment, endured devastatingly severe childhood trauma, or were not old enough to legally purchase alcohol at the time the offense occurred.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Mental Illness, Death Row Phenomenon, Intellectual Disability, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
Unequal, Unfair and Irreversible: The Death Penalty in Virginia
By Laura LaFay / American Civil Liberties Union / Virgina, on 1 January 2000
2000
NGO report
More details See the document
This report examines four key aspects of the administration of capital punishment in Virginia: prosecutorial discretion in the charging of capital crimes, quality of legal representation for the accused at trial, appellate review of trials resulting in the death penalty and race. During its preparation, another issue became apparent: the state’s record keeping.
- Document type NGO report
Document(s)
Sources of Variation in Pro-Death Penalty Attitudes in China: An Exploratory Study of Chinese Students at Home and Abroad
By Lening Zhang / Terance D. Miethe / Hong Lu / Bin Liang / British Journal of Criminology, on 1 January 2006
2006
Article
China
More details See the document
This paper examines Chinese students’ attitudes about the death penalty in contemporary China. Drawing upon Western public opinion research on the death penalty, samples of Chinese college students at home and abroad are used to explore the magnitude of their pro-death penalty attitudes and sources of variation in these opinions. Both groups of Chinese students are found to support the death penalty across different measures of this concept. Several individual and contextual factors are correlated with pro-death penalty attitudes, but the belief in the specific deterrent effect of punishments was the only variable that had a significant net effect on these attitudes in our multivariate analysis. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study for future research on public opinion about crime and punishment in China.
- Document type Article
- Countries list China
- Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,
Document(s)
A Perverse and Ominous Enterprise: The Death Penalty and Illegal Executions in Saudi Arabia
By Helena Kennedy, on 1 January 2019
2019
International law - Regional body
More details See the document
The evidence reviewed demonstrates frequent and heavy-handed recourse to the death penalty by Saudi Arabia in recent months. At least 149 people were executed in 2018, with at minimum 46 remaining on death row at the end of the year. A significant proportion of those executed were political dissidents, and a number were children at the time of their alleged offending. Each of these features connotes a grave violation of international human rights norms.
- Document type International law - Regional body
Document(s)
Putting Them There, Keeping Them There, and Killing Them: An Analysis of State-Level Variations in Death Penalty Intensity
By William S. Lofquist / Iowa Law Review, on 1 January 2002
2002
Article
United States
More details See the document
The landscape of the American death penalty is diverse. Though death penalty attitudes show a remarkable and increasing degree of homogeneity by region, race, gender, religion, and other factors, the actual practice of the death penalty varies substantially from region to region, and even from state to state. While these variations are widely recognized, they are not widely studied or understood. The lack of attention paid to the actual practice of the death penalty in different states and regions, the patterns that contribute to its use, and the factors associated with these patterns represents a substantial and troubling gap in our knowledge of an issue as widely studied as the death penalty.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Mental Illness and the Death Penalty
By American Civil Liberties Union, on 1 January 2009
2009
NGO report
More details See the document
This overview discusses the intersection of the law and the challenges faced by mentally ill capital defendants at every stage from trial through appeals and execution. It provides examples of some of the more famous cases of the execution of the mentally ill. Lastly, it describes current legislative efforts to exempt those who suffer from a serious mental illness from execution and the importance of such efforts.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Mental Illness,
Document(s)
Death In Decline ’09: Los Angeles Holds California Back as Nation Shifts to Permanent Imprisonment
By American Civil Liberties Union / Northern California, on 8 September 2020
2020
NGO report
United States
More details See the document
The tide is turning in the United States from death sentences to permanent imprisonment. A growing number of states are choosing permanent imprisonment over the death penalty, fueled by growing concerns about the wrongful conviction of innocent people and the high costs of the death penalty in comparison to permanent imprisonment. In 2009, the number of new death sentences nationwide reached the lowest level since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. California lags behind in this national trend. The Golden State sent more people to death row last year than in the seven preceding years. By the close of 2009, California’s death row was the largest and most costly in the United States.
- Document type NGO report
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Sentencing Alternatives, Networks,
Document(s)
Public support for the death penalty ticks up
By Pew Research Center / J. Baxter Oliphant, on 1 January 2018
2018
Article
United States
More details See the document
Public support for the death penalty, which reached a four-decade low in 2016, has increased somewhat since then. Today, 54% of Americans favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while 39% are opposed, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April and May.
- Document type Article
- Countries list United States
- Themes list Public opinion,
Document(s)
FINAL DECLARATION – 7th World Congress Against the Death Penalty
By Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) / World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
2020
Multimedia content
frMore details Download [ pdf - 129 Ko ]
FINAL DECLARATION7TH World Congress Against the Death PenaltyBrussels, 1st March 2019
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list Capital offences, Public debate, Right to life, Member organizations, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,
- Available languages DECLARATION FINALE - 7ème Congrès contre la peine de mort
Document(s)
Poster – 16th World Day against the Death Penalty
By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 8 September 2020
Multimedia content
More details Download [ pdf - 2084 Ko ]
Poster of the 16th World Day against the Death Penalty dedicated to living conditions on death row. Dignity For All.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Themes list Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon,
Document(s)
Siting the Death Penalty Internationally
By Valerie West / David F. Greenberg / Law and Social Inquiry, on 1 January 2008
2008
Article
More details See the document
We examine sources of variation in possession and use of the death penalty using data drawn from 193 nations in order to test theories of punishment. We find the death penalty to be rooted in a country’s legal and political systems, and to be influenced by its religious traditions. A country’s level of economic development, its educational attainment, and its religious composition shape its political institutions and practices, indirectly affecting its use of the death penalty. The article concludes by discussing likely future trends.
- Document type Article
- Themes list Networks,
Document(s)
Early Supreme Court Cases on the Death Penalty
By Robert Bohm / Carolina Academic Press, on 1 January 2012
2012
Book
United States
More details See the document
A new book by Professor Robert Bohm of the University of Central Florida looks at death-penalty decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court prior to the modern era of capital punishment that began in 1968. In The Past As Prologue, Bohm examines 39 Court decisions, covering issues such as clemency, jury selection, coerced confessions, and effective representation.
- Document type Book
- Countries list United States
- Themes list International law, Trend Towards Abolition,
Document(s)
ENHANCING EU ACTION ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN ASIA
By Roger Hood / European Parliament / DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES OF THE UNION, on 1 January 2012
Article
More details See the document
This paper has three objectives. First, it provides an analysis of the state-of-play regarding the death penalty in Asia. Second it reports on EU human rights dialogues. Third, it suggests policies that might help to support initiatives in Asian countries aimed both at restraining the use of the death penalty and securing its complete abolition.
- Document type Article
- Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,
Document(s)
A blow to human rights: Taiwan resumes executions: The Death Penalty in Taiwan, 2010
By Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2011
2011
NGO report
zh-hantMore details See the document
This report details the administration of the death penalty in Taiwan. It discusses Taiwans obligations under international law, how executions are carried out, the profile of the condemned, discrimination in the sysem and discusses placing a moratorium on executions in Taiwan.
- Document type NGO report
- Themes list Networks,
- Available languages 重啓死刑執行 廢死之路大倒退- 2010台灣死刑報告
Document(s)
Central African Republic : Seventeenth Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review
By The Advocates for Human Rights, on 1 January 2014
2014
Multimedia content
Central African Republic
More details See the document
This submission addresses the Central African Republic’s compliance with its humanrights obligations with regard to its use of the death penalty. This submission concludesthat although the Central African Republic (CAR) should be given great credit for takingimportant steps towards abolition of the death penalty, including supporting the 2012U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, manyhurdles remain in terms of ensuring that the citizens of CAR are afforded adequatedomestic and international guarantees against the arbitrary deprivation of life.
- Document type Multimedia content
- Countries list Central African Republic
- Themes list Due Process , Trend Towards Abolition, Arbitrariness,