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Document(s)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston

By United Nations / Philip Alston, on 1 January 2007


2007

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantzh-hantes
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In addition to reporting on the principal initiatives undertaken in 2006 to address the scourge of extrajudicial executions around the world, this report focuses on four issues of particular importance: (a) the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in armed conflicts; (b) “mercy killings” in armed conflict; (c) the “most serious crimes” for which the death penalty may be imposed; and (d) the international law status of the mandatory death penalty.

Document(s)

Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Asma Jahangir

By United Nations / Asma Jahangir, on 1 January 1999


1999

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
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This report is submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rightsresolution 1998/68 of 21 April 1998 entitled “Extrajudicial, summary orarbitrary executions”. It is the first report submitted to the Commission byMs. Asma Jahangir and the sixteenth submitted to the Commission since themandate on “summary and arbitrary executions” was established by Economic andSocial Council resolution 1982/35 of 7 May 1982.

Document(s)

TRANSPARENCY AND THE IMPOSITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Philip Alston

By United Nations / Philip Alston, on 1 January 2006


2006

International law - United Nations

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The present report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions analyses a critical area of non-compliance with legal safeguards designed to protect the right to life. It builds upon the proposition that “[c]ountries that have maintained the death penalty are not prohibited by international law from making that choice, but they have a clear obligation to disclose the details of their application of the penalty” (E/CN.4/2005/7, para. 59). The report analyses the legal basis of that transparency obligation and examines case studies that illustrate the major problems that exist in this area.

Document(s)

Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Report of the Special Rapporteur, Philip Alston

By United Nations / Philip Alston, on 1 January 2004


2004

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
More details See the document

Document(s)

Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Report of the Special Rapporteur, Asma Jahangir

By United Nations / Asma Jahangir, on 1 January 2003


2003

International law - United Nations

frzh-hantesarru
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Document(s)

Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Report of the Special Rapporteur, Asma Jahangir, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/36

By United Nations / Asma Jahangir, on 1 January 2003


International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
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The report also discusses the issue of capital punishment and makes reference to death penalty cases in which the Special Rapporteur has intervened in reaction to reports that the sentences concerned had been passed in violation of international restrictions and human rights standards.

Document(s)

Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Asma Jahangir, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/45

By United Nations / Asma Jahangir, on 1 January 2002


2002

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
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The report also discusses the issue of capital punishment and makes reference to death penalty cases in which the Special Rapporteur has intervened in reaction to reports that the sentences concerned had been passed in violation of international restrictions and human rights standards.

Document(s)

Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Report of the special rapporteur, Ms. Asma Jahangir, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/35

By United Nations / Asma Jahangir, on 1 January 2000


2000

International law - United Nations

arrufrzh-hantes
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In its resolution 1999/35, the Commission on Human Rights requested the Special Rapporteur to continue monitoring the implementation of existing international standards on safeguards and restrictions relating to the imposition of capital punishment, bearing in mind the comments made by the Human Rights Committee in its interpretation of article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Second Optional Protocol thereto.

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)

German : Über Verbrechen und Strafen

By Cesare Beccaria-Bonesana / Tendler, on 8 September 2020


2020

Book

enenfrzh-hantes
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Im Sommer des Jahres 1764 erschien in Livorno im Großherzogtum Toskana, das damals zum Habsburger Reich gehörte, ohne Namen des Verfassers ein schmales Buch von eben hundert Seiten über Verbrechen und Strafen: ‘Dei Delitti e delle Pene’. Das Titelblatt gab einen Satz Bacons wieder, der besagen sollte, daß der Zweck, dem dieses Buch diente, nicht sofort und mit einem Male zu erreichen sei, doch an die Beständigkeit und Festigkeit seiner Propagierung der Erfolg sich knüpfen werde. Cesare Beccaria (geboren am 15. März 1738 in Mailand, gestorben am 28. November 1794 ebendort) bestritt in dieser Abhandlung den Sinn der Todesstrafe und verfocht soziale Bedingungen, die Verbrechen einschränken müßten. Es war dies der erste wahrhaft unabhängige und von Rücksichten freie literarische Ausdruck der Aufklärung im Reich der Kaiserin Maria Theresia. Die vorliegende Neuübersetzung folgt der letzten Ausgabe Beccarias von 1766 und bringt im Anhang Texte aus der zeitgenössischen Diskussion.’Mißhandlung und Folter, all das Furchtbare wurde entweder tatsächlich beseitigt oder in den Strafprozessen aller Staaten wenigstens abgemildert; und dies ist das Werk nur eines Buches.’

Document(s)

Italian : I FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2009 (E DEI PRIMI SEI MESI DEL 2010)

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

en
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LA SITUAZIONE AD OGGI : L’evoluzione positiva verso l’abolizione della pena di morte in atto nel mondo da oltre dieci anni, si è confermata nel 2009 e anche nei primi sei mesi del 2010. I Paesi o i territori che hanno deciso di abolirla per legge o in pratica sono oggi 154. Di questi, i Paesi totalmente abolizionisti sono 96; gli abolizionisti per crimini ordinari sono 8; quelli che attuano una moratoria delle esecuzioni sono 6; i Paesi abolizionisti di fatto, che non eseguono sentenze capitali da oltre dieci anni o che si sono impegnati internazionalmente ad abolire la pena di morte, sono 44.

Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2009 (and the first six months of 2010)

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 8 September 2020


NGO report

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

Document(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)

The death penalty in China

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


2015

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Bylaws of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty 2023

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 22 August 2023


2023

World Coalition

Trend Towards Abolition

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 146 Ko ]

Document(s)

Bylaws 2021

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 9 September 2021


2021

World Coalition

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 97 Ko ]

Bylaws of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty As Amended by the 18 June 2021 General Assembly

  • Document type World Coalition
  • Available languages Statuts 2021

Document(s)

EU Policy on Death Penalty

By Council of Europe, on 1 January 2014


2014

Arguments against the death penalty


More details See the document

This page contains videos and documents on issues dealing with the death penalty.

  • Document type Arguments against the death penalty

Document(s)

WMA Resolution to Reaffirm the WMA’s Prohibition of Physician Partecipation in Capital Punishment

By World Medical Association, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report


More details See the document

The World Medical Association has strengthened its opposition to capital punishment with a resolution at its recent conference in Bangkok that “physicians will not facilitate the importation or prescription of drugs for execution.”

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

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)

Leaflet – 2020 World Day

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


2020

Academic report

fr
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2020 World Day 8-page leaflet

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Fair Trial, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Death Penalty,
  • Available languages Brochure - Journée mondiale 2020

Document(s)

Hindi : 17 भारतीयों की अपील पर यूएई करे निष्पक्ष जांच: एमनेस्टी

By BBC, on 8 September 2020


Academic report

India


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युक्त अरब अमीरात में एक पाकिस्तानी नागरिक की हत्या के लिए मौत की सज़ा पाने वाले 17 भारतीयों के मामले में मानवाधिकार संस्था एमनेस्टी इंटरनेशन ने यूएई की कड़ी आलोचना की है. एमनेस्टी ने भारतीयों को कथित तौर पर ‘प्रताड़ित किए जाने और ज़बरदस्ती उनसे अपराध मनवाने’ के बारे में यूएई की आलोचना की है.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list India
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty

By Council of Europe, on 1 January 1983


1983

Regional body report

enenrufr
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Document(s)

THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2001

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2002


2002

NGO report

en
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The year 2001 has confirmed the accelerated trend towards the abolition of the death penalty on course for the past ten years. In 2001 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became totally abolitionist, Chile abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, Ireland removed all references to the death penalty from its constitution, Burkina Faso joined the group of de facto abolitionists not having carried out any executions for more than ten years, and Lebanon has imposed a moratorium on executions.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2022

on 24 March 2023


2023

NGO report

China

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Drug Offenses

Indonesia

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Malaysia

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Viet Nam


More details See the document

Harm Reduction International has monitored the use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since our first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007. This report, our twelfth on the subject, continues our work of providing regular updates on legislative, policy and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international standards. As of December 2022, Harm Reduction International (HRI) recorded at least 285 executions for drug offences globally during the year, a 118% increase from 2021, and an 850% increase from 2020. Executions for drug offences are confirmed or assumed to have taken place in six countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, plus in China, North Korea and Vietnam – on which exact figures cannot be provided because of extreme opacity. Therefore, this figure is likely to reflect only a percentage of all drug-related executions worldwide. Confirmed death sentences for drug offences were also on the rise; with at least 303 people sentenced to death in 18 countries. This marks a 28% increase from 2021.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list China / Democratic People's Republic of Korea / Indonesia / Iran (Islamic Republic of) / Malaysia / Saudi Arabia / Singapore / Viet Nam
  • Themes list Drug Offenses

Document(s)

SUMMARY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2002

By HANDS OFF CAIN, on 1 January 2003


2003

NGO report

en
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The worldwide situation to date: The practice of the death penalty has drastically diminished in the past few years. Today the countries or territories that have abolished it or decline to apply it number 130. Of these: 78 are totally abolitionist; 14 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 2 are committed to abolition as members of the Council of Europe and in the meanwhile observe a moratorium; 6 countries are currently observing a moratorium and 30 are de facto abolitionist, not having executed any death sentences in the past ten years.

Document(s)

The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment

By Franklin E. Zimring / Oxford University Press, on 1 January 2003


Book

United States


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Why does the United States continue to employ the death penalty when fifty other developed democracies have abolished it? Why does capital punishment become more problematic each year? How can the death penalty conflict be resolved?In The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment, Frank Zimring reveals that the seemingly insoluble turmoil surrounding the death penalty reflects a deep and long-standing division in American values, a division that he predicts will soon bring about the end of capital punishment in our country. On the one hand, execution would seem to violate our nation’s highest legal principles of fairness and due process. It sets us increasingly apart from our allies and indeed is regarded by European nations as a barbaric and particularly egregious form of American exceptionalism. On the other hand, the death penalty represents a deeply held American belief in violent social justice that sees the hangman as an agent of local control and safeguard of community values.

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

Document(s)

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

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


1996

Regional body report


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

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

Document(s)

The lethal injection quandary: how medicine has dismantled the death penalty

By Deborah W. Denno, on 1 January 2007


2007

Article

United States


More details See the document

On February 20, 2006, Michael Morales was hours away from execution in California when two anesthesiologists declined to participate in his lethal injection procedure, thereby halting all state executions. The events brought to the surface the long-running schism between law and medicine, raising the question of whether any beneficial connection between the professions ever existed in the execution context. History shows it seldom did. Decades of botched executions prove it. This Article examines how states ended up with such constitutionally vulnerable lethal injection procedures, suggesting that physician participation in executions, though looked upon with disdain, is more prevalent— and perhaps more necessary —than many would like to believe. The Article also reports the results of this author’s unique nationwide study of lethal injection protocols and medical participation. The study demonstrates that states have continued to produce grossly inadequate protocols that severely restrict sufficient understanding of how executions are performed and heighten the likelihood of unconstitutionality. The analysis emphasizes in particular the utter lack of medical or scientific testing of lethal injection despite the early and continuous involvement of doctors but ongoing detachment of medical societies. Lastly, the Article discusses the legal developments that led up to the current rush of lethal injection lawsuits as well as the strong and rapid reverberations that followed, particularly with respect to medical involvement. This Article concludes with two recommendations. First, much like what occurred in this country when the first state switched to electrocution, there should be a nationwide study of proper lethal injection protocols. An independent commission consisting of a diverse group of qualified individuals, including medical personnel, should conduct a thorough assessment of lethal injection, especially the extent of physician participation. Second, this Article recommends that states take their execution procedures out of hiding. Such visibility would increase public scrutiny, thereby enhancing the likelihood of constitutional executions. By clarifying the standards used for determining what is constitutional in Baze v. Rees, the U.S. Supreme Court can then provide the kind of Eighth Amendment guidance states need to conduct humane lethal injections.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Methods of Execution, Lethal Injection,

Document(s)

Capital Punishment, 2016 – Statistical Brief

By Bureau of Justice Statistics / Elizabeth Davis, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


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Presents statistics on persons under sentence of death at year-end 2016, including summary trends in the population, admissions to and releases from death row, the number of persons executed, and an advance count of executions in 2017. Data are from BJS’s National Prisoner Statistics(NPS-8 series.Highlights:- At year-end 2016, a total of 32 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) held 2,814 prisoners under sentence of death, which was 58 (2%) fewer than at year-end 2015.- California (26%), Florida (14%), and Texas (9%) held nearly half (49%) of the nation’s prisoners under sentence of death at year-end 2016; in 2016, Texas executed seven prisoners, Florida executed one, and California did not execute any prisoners.- In 2016, the number of prisoners under sentence of death decreased for the sixteenth consecutive year.- Twelve states received a total of 32 prisoners under sentence of death in 2016.- Five states executed a total of 20 prisoners in 2016, with Georgia (9) and Texas (7) accounting for 80% of executions.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Countries list United States

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)

Deciding Death

By Corinna Barrett Lain / Duke Law Journal, on 1 January 2007


2007

Article

United States


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

Death Penalty in the Palestinian Legal System: A Legal Review

By Maan Shihda Ideis / Independent Commission for Human Rights , on 1 January 2010


2010

International law - Regional body

ar
More details See the document

ICHR carried out this review in order to assist the PNA in its attempts to join international community that did abolish death penalty from their legal system. In order for the PNA to ratify the various international conventions stipulating respect for the right to life and prohibits the execution of every human being. In this study, ICHR aims to define the practical steps that the PNA should take in order to abolish death penalty from the Palestinian legal system. According to Article (10) of the Basic Law of 2002, the human rights and fundamental freedoms shall be binding and respected by the PNA which shall, without delay, accede to the regional and international declarations and instruments that protect human rights, especially those international charters and resolutions that governing the right to life, the abolition of death penalty, and/or placing restrictions on the procedures of its execution.

Document(s)

How to answer the deterrence argument

By World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2015


2015

Arguments against the death penalty

fr
More details Download [ pdf - 1642 Ko ]

It was created to help all abolitionists answer the deterrent argument. It gives a definition of the deterrent theory, concrete reasons why academic studies have failed to prove the deterrent effect of the death penalty and compares figures about criminal rates in relation to abolition. It does not provide simple and easy answers, but explain, step by step, what to answer to those who believe that the death penalty has a deterrent effect.

Document(s)

Silently Silenced: State-Sanctioned Killing of Women

By Eleos Justice, Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide , on 30 March 2023


2023

Academic report

Women


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Silently Silenced: State-Sanctioned Killing of Women examines States’ involvement in ‘feminicide’. Feminicide is understood as the gender-motivated killing of women and girls that States actively engage in, condone, excuse, or fail to prevent. We use the term ‘feminicide’ to refer to the various forms of State-sanctioned killing of women and girls. In this report, we outline States’ direct involvement and complicity in the killings of women and girls and explain these deaths as a product of gendered forms of structural violence upheld and sustained by the State. We examine 3 types of feminicide: gender- related killings of women directly perpetrated by the State, such as the death penalty and extrajudicial killings; gender-related killings of women committed by non-State actors that are excused or condoned by the State; and gender-related killings of women that the State failed to prevent.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Women

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)

Is Public Opinion a Justifiable Reason Not to Abolish the Death Penalty? A Comparative Analysis of Surveys of Eight Countries

By Roger Hood / Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law, on 1 January 2018


2018

Article


More details See the document

Roger Hood, “Is Public Opinion a Justifiable Reason Not to Abolish the Death Penalty? A Comparative Analysis of Surveys of Eight Countries”, 23 Berkeley J. Crim. L. 218 (2018)

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

Document(s)

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

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


2020

Article

India


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

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)

China Against the Death Penalty Report 2012

By China Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2012


2012

NGO report

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

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

Document(s)

Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy

By Equal Justice Initiative, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report


More details See the document

Today in America, there is perhaps no arena of public life or governmental administration where racial discrimination is more widespread, apparent, and seemingly tolerate than in the selection of juries. Nearly 135 years after Congress enacted the 1875 Civil Rights Act to eliminate racially discriminatory jury selection, the practice continues, especially in serious criminal and capital cases.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

No death penalty: Essay on the human dignity of the guilty

By Alfredo De Francesco , on 11 January 2022


2022

Book


More details See the document

Is the death penalty “natural” or sometimes legally due?
If not, is the death penalty always a political instrument?
If so, how and why can it be said that the death penalty is unjust, also considering religious values?
What about in case of war time or of very dangerous criminals?
In which way can there be an irrefutable argument for banning the death penalty worldwide and forever?

These and other issues concerning the death penalty are addressed by the Author of this book.
A book, where the most common theories for and against the death penalty are considered in the light of law history and philosophical views, and where Cesare Beccaria’s approach is revised, taking into account the development of the contemporary criminal law and of the legal positivism.

This is an essay, where the protection of humanity is not considered simply as a hope or as a naive dream, but rather as a juridical concept, absolutely necessary to understand one of most tragic questions of all time: “is it just to kill those who killed?”

  • Document type Book

Document(s)

The Innocence Protection Act of 2001

By Senator Patrick Leahy / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2001


2001

Article

United States


More details See the document

The goal of our bill is simple, but profoundly important: to reduce the risk of mistaken executions. The Innocence Protection Act proposes basic, common-sense reforms to our criminal justice system that are designed to protect the innocent and to ensure that if the death penalty is imposed, it is the result of informed and reasoned deliberation, not politics, luck, bias, or guesswork. We have listened to a lot of good advice and made some refinements to the bill since the last Congress, but it is still structured around two principal reforms: improving the availability of DNA testing, and ensuring reasonable minimum standards and funding for court-appointed counsel.

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

Document(s)

Imposing a Cap on Capital Punishment

By Adam M. Gershowitz / Missouri Law Review 72(1), 73-124., on 1 January 2007


2007

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article argues that because prosecutors have discretion to seek the death penalty in too many cases, they lack the incentive to police themselvesand choose carefully. Put simply, because there are few legal constraints — and virtually no political constraints — on the sheer number of cases in which prosecutors can pursue the death penalty, the Government is not under sufficient pressure to limit its use of capital punishment to only the most heinous cases. As a result, two things happen. First, the death penalty is sought and meted out in some cases, which though terrible, are no worse than the thousands of other murder cases in which prosecutors pursue only life imprisonment. Second, because prosecutors file too many capital cases, the criminal justice system lacks the resources to focus sufficient attention on each one.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Arbitrariness, Most Serious Crimes,

Document(s)

Making the Last Chance Meaningful: Predecessor Counsel’s Ethical Duty to the Capital Defendant

By Lawrence J. Fox / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

The thesis of this paper is that lawyers who have represented clients in capital murder cases at trial and appeal—not unlike all criminal trial and initial appeal counsel, but more urgently because of the circumstances—continue to owe important obligations to their former clients. These obligations have been just recently included in the latest version of the American Bar Association’s Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death PenaltyCases: In accordance with professional norms, all persons who are or have been members of the defense team have a continuing duty to safeguard the interests of the client and should cooperate fully with successor counsel. This duty includes, but is not limited to: A. maintaining the records of the case in a manner that will inform successor counsel of all significant developments relevant to the litigation; B. providing the client’s files, as well as information regarding all aspects of the representation, to successor counsel; C. sharing potential further areas of legal and factual research with successor counsel; and D. cooperating with such professionally appropriate legal strategies as may be chosen by successor counsel. It is my hope that this article will demonstrate that these Guidelines reflect not just best practice, but actual ethical mandates that trial counsel, like Bryan Saunders, owe their former clients as those clients negotiate the jurisprudential maze known as habeas corpus.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Legal Representation,

Document(s)

Appointed but (Nearly) Prevented From Serving: My Experiences as a Grand Jury Foreperson

By Phyllis L. Crocker / Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, on 1 January 2004


2004

Article

United States


More details See the document

I begin this essay with basic information about grand juries, then tell what happened to our grand jury, and conclude by reflecting on what I learned from this experience. My theme is the tension between the grand jury’s independence and the prosecutor’s desire to control it. The lesson I learned, intellectually and emotionally, is the depth and tenacity of the prosecutor’s assumption that he does control, and has the right to control, the grand jury process. I also learned some lessons about being a client, and believing in oneself and one’s principles.

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

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)

The Guiding Hand of Counsel’ and the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases

By Robin M. Maher / Hofstra Law Review, on 1 January 2003


2003

Article

United States


More details See the document

The ABA has long been concerned with the provision of effective counsel for all criminal defendants, especially for those facing the death penalty. In 1989, the ABA first published its Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, which detailed the kind of competent, effective legal representation that all capital defendants were entitled to receive. Earlier this year, after a two-year effort drawing upon the expertise of a broad group ofdistinguished and experienced judges, lawyers, and academics, the ABA House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved revisions to those Guidelines to update and expand upon the obligations of death penalty jurisdictions to ensure due process of law and justice. “These Guidelines are not aspirational.” They articulate a national standard of care and the minimum that should be required in the defense of capital cases.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Legal Representation,

Document(s)

Addressing Capital Punishment Through Statutory Reform

By Douglas A. Berman / Ohio State Law Journal, on 1 January 2002


2002

Article

United States


More details See the document

State legislatures principally have been responsible for the acceptance and evolution (and even sometimes the abandonment) of capital punishment in the American criminal justice system from the colonial and founding eras, through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and now into the twenty-first century. A number of colonial legislative enactments, though influenced by England’s embrace of the punishment of death, uniquely defined and often significantly confined which crimes were to be subject to capital punishment.[1] State legislatures further narrowed the reach of the death penalty through the early nineteenth century as states, prodded often by vocal abolitionists and led by developments in Pennsylvania, divided the offense of murder into degrees and provided that only the most aggravated murderers would be subject to the punishment of death. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also saw states, as the product of legislative enactments, move away from mandating death as the punishment for certain crimes by giving juries discretion to choose which defendants would be sentenced to die. Throughout all these periods, statutory enactments have also played a fundamental role in the evolution of where and how executions are carried out.

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

Document(s)

The death penalty in Africa

By Dirk van Zyl Smit / African Human Rights Law Journal, on 1 January 2004


2004

Article


More details See the document

This article examines the situation of the death penalty in Africa. It does so byaddressing three main questions: First, to what extent is the death penalty inAfrica in fact an issue about which one should be particularly concerned?Second, what are the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? Third, whatis to be done to strengthen the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? Inaddition, the article examines the question whether article 4 of the AfricanCharter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its related provisions will inspirethe abolition of the death penalty. It is suggested that challenging mandatorydeath sentences, advancing procedural challenges, open debate onalternatives to the death penalty, and improving the national criminaljustice system will strengthen restrictions on the death penalty in Africa. Thearticle concludes that positive criminal justice reform rather than moralisticcondemnation is the most effective route to the eventual abolition of thedeath penalty in Africa.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Tanzania Human Rights Reports 2009: Incorporating Specific Part on Zanzibar

By Clarence Kipobota / Legal and Human Rights Centre, on 1 January 2010


2010

NGO report


More details See the document

The statistical information suggests that despite the executions that were done between 1961 and 1995, incidents of offences punishable by the death penalty were increasing and are still on the rise, from 46 convicts in 1961 to 2,562 in 2007. This report briefly describes the death penalty system in Tanzania.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Statistics,

Document(s)

India and the Death Penalty Using the Media: How an Event Can Influence the Establishment of the Death Penalty

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


2017

NGO report


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

Document(s)

Press article: reporting the death penalty

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


NGO report


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

Document(s)

REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON REVIEW OF THE MANDATORY DEATH SENTENCE UNDER SECTION 204 OF THE PENAL CODE

By THE TASK FORCE ON REVIEW OF THE MANDATORY DEATH SENTENCE , on 1 January 2019


2019

International law - Regional body


More details See the document

The report incorporates the results of the audit and recommendations for the design of a comprehensive framework for resentence hearings of capital offenders in Kenya. The framework could guide courts to conduct the resentence hearing process in a structured and evidence-based manner, taking into consideration all the key information that is necessary for mitigation, reintegration and resettlement needs of the offenders, allow the input of the victims, families and communities to be considered, and ensure consistency in resentencing judgments across the country.

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

Document(s)

Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2020

By Iran Human Rights (IHR), ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty), on 4 May 2021


2021

NGO report

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

fa
More details See the document

The 13th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2020 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Document(s)

UPR Pre-Session Statement on the Death Penalty in Iran

By Iran Human Rights (IHR) / World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, on 1 January 2014


2014

NGO report


More details See the document

This statement is delivered on behalf of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty (WCADP), Iran Human Rights (IHR), Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation,The Advocates for Human Rights, an NGO with special consultative status, and Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran-Geneva.The statement addresses the following issues: (1) extensive use of the death penalty(official and unofficial figures); (2) the death penalty against juvenile offenders; (3) public executions; (4) the death penalty for murder or “qesas/retribution;” (5) the death penalty for drug-related charges, and; (6) the death penalty for other non-violent offenses.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Juveniles, Minorities, International law, Capital offences, Right to life, Drug Offences, Hanging, Stoning,

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)

Capital Punishment, 2009 – Statistics Tables

By Bureau of Justice Statistics / US Department of Justice, on 8 September 2020


2020

NGO report

United States


More details See the document

At yearend 2009, 36 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons held 3,173 inmates under sentence of death, which was 37 fewer inmates than at yearend 2008. This represents the ninth consecutive year that the population has decreased. California, Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania held half of all inmates on death row as of December 31, 2009. The Federal Bureau of Prisons held 55 inmates.

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

Document(s)

Tanzania Human Rights Report 2008: Progress through Human Rights

By Sarah Louw / Clarence Kipobota / Legal and Human Rights Centre, on 1 January 2009


2009

NGO report


More details See the document

Tanzania is one of 25 countries in the world that continues to retain the death penalty in its legislation.56 However, de facto, Tanzania is an abolitionist country, as there have been no executions in Tanzania since 1994. Chapter 2.1.1 describes the position of the death penalty in Tanzania.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Statistics,

Document(s)

Let the Lord Sort Them. The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty

By Maurice Chammah, on 27 January 2021


2021

Book

Public Opinion 

United States


More details See the document

Maurice Chammah (The Marshall Project) explores the rise and fall of capital punishment in Texas where it appears to durably decline in spite of the state’s long use of the death penalty.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Public Opinion 

Document(s)

Still Unfair, Still Arbitrary — But Do We Care?

By Samuel L. Gross / Ohio Northern University Law Review, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

My assignment is to try to give an overview of the status of the death penalty in America at the beginning of the twenty-first century. I will try to put that in the context of how the death penalty was viewed thirty years ago, or more, and maybe that will tell us something about how the death penalty will be viewed thirty or forty years from now.

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

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)

In This Timeless Time: Living and Dying on Death Row in America

By Univerity if North Carolina / Diane Christian, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book

United States


More details See the document

In this comprehensive, well-crafted book, published in association with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, SUNY-Buffalo professors Jackson and Christian build upon the photographs and interviews from death row in Texas that yielded their 1979 book and documentary Death Row

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

Document(s)

Execution Watch: Mitt Romney’s ‘Foolproof’ Death Penalty Act and the Politics of Capital Punishment

By Russell G. Murphy / Suffolk University Law Review, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

United States


More details See the document

This article presents a legal and political analysis of the 2003 – 2005 effort of Governor Mitt Romney to make the death penalty available as a sentencing option in Massachusetts.

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

Document(s)

MVFHR Asia Speech Tour in Korea & Japan

By Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty / Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights / YouTube, on 8 September 2020


Academic report

Japan

en
More details See the document

MVFHR is an organization formed by a group of victim’s family members. They have traveled across the ocean all the way down to Korea, Japan, and Taiwan to share their stories and views on the death penalty with the local victim’s family members, attorneys, and human rights organizations.

Document(s)

Victims, We Care

By Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty / Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights / YouTube, on 1 January 2011


2011

Working with...


More details See the document

Victims, We Care

  • Document type Working with...
  • Themes list Murder Victims' Families,

Document(s)

When Justice Fails: Thousands executed in Asia after unfair trials

By Amnesty International / Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, on 1 January 2011


NGO report


More details See the document

Failures of justice in trials which result in an execution cannot be rectified. In the Asia-Pacific region, where 95 per cent of the population live in countries that retain and use the death penalty, there is a real danger of the state executing someone in error following an unfair trial.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Fair Trial,

Document(s)

Lethal Injustice in Asia: End unfair trials, stop executions

By Amnesty International / Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, on 1 January 2011


NGO report

enenenenenenenenzh-hant
More details See the document

More people are executed in the Asia-Pacific region than in the rest of the world combined. Add to this the probability that they were executed following an unfair trial, and the gross injustice of this punishment becomes all too clear.

Document(s)

Lapan lembaran kes (meliputi China, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapura, Taiwan)

By Amnesty International / Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, on 1 January 2011


Academic report

enenenenenenzh-hant
More details See the document

Document(s)

By Amnesty International / Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, on 1 January 2020


2020

NGO report


More details See the document

Энэхүү илтгэлийг боловсруулахдаа хэд хэдэн хэргийг тоймлон бичсэн ба тэдгээр нь цаазын ялыг хэрэгжүүлэхийн бодит аюулыг ил тодорхой харуулж байна.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

Peter Jackson talks about his innocence project: ‘West of Memphis’

By Chris Nashawaty / Entertainment Weekly, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

United States


More details See the document

For the past seven years, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have quietly financed investigations to help free Jason Baldwin, Jesse Misskelley Jr., and Damien Echols, known as the the West Memphis Three, who were wrongly convicted in 1994 of murdering three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis , Arkansas. This piece provides and in-depth look into Peter and Fran’s involvement with the investigattion, the creation of ‘West of Memphis’ as a way to expose key developments in the infamous murder case and Jackson’s main goal, to exonerate the West Memphis Three and help find the real killer.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Innocence,

Document(s)

Incendiary: the Willingham case

By Joe Bailey Jr. / Indira Barykbayeva / YOKEL production, on 1 January 2011


2011

Legal Representation


More details See the document

After its national release in October, “Incendiary: The Willingham Case” is now available on DVD and through Apple’s iTunes Movie Store.The film examines the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas for the murder of his children by arson and centers around evolving standards of scientific evidence and the notion that an innocent man was executed

  • Document type Legal Representation
  • Themes list Innocence,

Document(s)

Killer Art: Florida’s Death Row Artists

By Chris Dahl / CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, on 8 September 2020


2020

Book

United States


More details See the document

Art and letters from the men who await death in the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Conditions, Country/Regional profiles,

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)

Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong

By Raymond Bonner / Stated First Edition, on 1 January 2012


Book

United States


More details See the document

The book that helped free an innocent man who had spent twenty-seven years on death row. In January 1982, an elderly white widow was found brutally murdered in the small town of Greenwood, South Carolina. Police immediately arrested Edward Lee Elmore, a semiliterate, mentally retarded black man with no previous felony record. His only connection to the victim was having cleaned her gutters and windows, but barely ninety days after the victim’s body was found, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

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

Document(s)

Death Watch Diary

By Robert Towery / Amazon Digital Services, on 1 January 2012


Book

United States


More details See the document

Robert Towery was denied clemency by the state of Arizona on Friday March 2, 2012 and was executed on Thursday March 8th in Florence, Arizona. He was 47 years old. The last 35 days of his life, Robert was placed on “Death Watch” where his every move was recorded and chronicled by prison officials. Robert kept a diary and he sent his writings to his attorneys. Robert authorized his lawyers to release his diary after his execution.

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

Document(s)

Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott

By Beverley Cooper / Centaur Theater Company, on 1 January 2013


2013

Working with...


More details See the document

In 1959, the Canadian justice system nearly killed an innocent 14-year-old boy. The fact that Steven Truscott was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of 12-year-old Lynne Harper that year, and sentenced to hang, now seems surreal. All the more so since he’s alive and well and living quietly with his family after 10 years of unjust incarceration – and many more years as an obscure factory worker, father and grandfather, after suffering the consequences of a destroyed reputation.

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

Document(s)

Incendiary: the Willingham case

By Steve Mims / Joe Bailey Jr. / Yokel, on 1 January 2011


2011

Legal Representation


More details See the document

This film, by Steve Mims and Joe Bailey Jr., is just what its title implies: a match being lit to a tinderpile of flimsy evidence that led to the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas in 2004 after his 1992 conviction for setting the fire that killed his three babies.

  • Document type Legal Representation
  • Themes list Innocence,

Document(s)

Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned

By Richard Jaffe / New Horizon Press, on 1 January 2012


2012

Book

United States


More details See the document

In Quest For Justice, the author takes readers into the Bo Cochran and Eric Rudolph cases, along with those of Randall Padgett and Judge Jack Montgomery, in a conversational, story-driven narrative that offers personal insights and intimate views into these complex individuals and cases.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Due Process ,

Document(s)

Confronting Capital Punishment in Asia: Human Rights, Politics and Public Opinion

By Roger Hood / Oxford University Press / Surya Deva, on 1 January 2013


2013

Book


More details See the document

This book shows that the majority of Asian countries have been particularly resistant to the abolitionist movement and tardy in accepting their responsibility to uphold the safeguards. The essays contained in this volume provide an in-depth analysis of changes in the scope and application of the death penalty in Asia with a focus on China, India, Japan, and Singapore. They explain the extent to which these nations still fail to accept capital punishment as a human rights issue, identify impediments to reform, and explore the prospects that Asian countries will eventually embrace the goal of worldwide abolition of capital punishment.

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

Document(s)

Imprisoned by the Past: Warren McCleskey and the American Death Penalty

By Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier / Oxford University Press, on 1 January 2015


2015

Book

United States


More details See the document

Imprisoned by the Past: Warren McCleskey and the American Death Penalty examines the long history of the American death penalty and its connection to the case of Warren McCleskey, revealing how that case marked a turning point for the history of the death penalty. In this book, Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier explores one of the most important Supreme Court cases in history, a case that raised important questions about race and punishment, and ultimately changed the way we understand the death penalty today.

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

Document(s)

A Summary Report on Public Support for the Death Penalty in Ghana

By University of Cambridge / Peter Atupare Atudiwe, on 1 January 2014


2014

Academic report


More details See the document

This report provides evidence on public attitudes to the death penalty in Ghana, withan empirical focus on Accra.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Public opinion, Statistics,

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)

The Politics of the Death Penalty in Countries in Transition

By Routledge / Madoka Futamura, on 1 January 2014


2014

Book


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

A Wild Justice: The Death and Resurrection of Capital Punishment in America

By Evan J. Mandery / W. W. Norton & Company, on 1 January 2013


2013

Book

United States


More details See the document

For two hundred years, the constitutionality of capital punishment had been axiomatic. But in 1962, Justice Arthur Goldberg and his clerk Alan Dershowitz dared to suggest otherwise, launching an underfunded band of civil rights attorneys on a quixotic crusade. In 1972, in a most unlikely victory, the Supreme Court struck down Georgia’s death penalty law in Furman v. Georgia. Though the decision had sharply divided the justices, nearly everyone, including the justices themselves, believed Furman would mean the end of executions in America.Instead, states responded with a swift and decisive showing of support for capital punishment. As anxiety about crime rose and public approval of the Supreme Court declined, the stage was set in 1976 for Gregg v. Georgia, in which the Court dramatically reversed direction.A Wild Justice is an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the Court, the justices, and the political complexities of one of the most racially charged and morally vexing issues of our time.

  • Document type Book
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Due Process , Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Death penalty in Iran: A State terror policy – Special Update for 11th World Day against the Death Penalty

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


2020

NGO report

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

fa
More details See the document

The change of administration in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and taking of office by a new president on 3 August 2013 has not brought any change as far as the death penalty is concerned. Between the 14 June presidential election and 1st October, more than 200 people have been reportedly executed, including possibly three people who may have been younger than 18 at the time of the commission of the alleged crimes.Against this backdrop, FIDH and its member organisation, LDDHI, have decided topublish the present report to analyse the new penal laws in force in Iran that are invoked consistently to violate the right to life in general and to execute child offenders. Coinciding with 10 October 2013, World Day against the Death Penalty, this report aimsto serve as an update on the current state of application of the death penalty in the IRI.

Document(s)

Emergency Exit: Which actions for supporting offenders close te release?

By Save Anthony, on 1 January 2013


2013

NGO report


More details See the document

In a recent research , Emergency Exit: Which actions for supporting offenders close te release?, 13 key practices have proven to help resettle successfully ex offenders into society at their exit of prison and prevent them from re-offending.

  • Document type NGO report
  • Themes list Public debate,

Document(s)

Trial and Errors : The Texas Death Penalty

By Lisa Maxwell / AMITI, on 1 January 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)

Foreign nationals facing the death penalty in the USA: the important role of consular officials

By Reprieve, on 1 January 2012


2012

Lobbying


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This video explains the role of consular officers in protecting their nationals when they face the death penalty abroad.

  • Document type Lobbying
  • Themes list Foreign Nationals,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in China: Towards the Rule of Law

By Nicola Macbean / Ashgate Publishing, on 1 January 2008


2008

Academic report


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

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

Document(s)

BN at 6 – Our Stories, Our Miracles: Sentenced to Death, An Innocent Man Steps Out After 24 Years in Prison – Olatunji Olaide shares his story of Survival, Freedom & Hope

By Adeola Adeyemo / Bellanaija, on 8 September 2020


2020

Article

Nigeria


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Olatunji Olaide was wrongfully arrested and subsequently sentenced to death. He shares the harrowing experience of his time in prison and his survival and freedom with BN and how he kept his head high in the face of the storm.We hope that you are inspired by it.

  • Document type Article
  • Countries list Nigeria
  • Themes list Innocence,

Document(s)

Film: “Execution”

By Steven Scaffidi / Ghost Rider Pictures, on 8 September 2020


Academic report


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Amnesty International Presents a Groundbreaking Film Event That Takes the Audience to the Front Row of an Execution–Regal Cinemas opens its doors in eight major cities across America for this first-of-a-kind motion picture less than 1 week after California’s attempt to repeal the death penalty fails.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Innocence,

Document(s)

Article: “Troy Davis: Why Poster Boys Don’t Matter”

By David R. Dow / Guerinca, on 8 September 2020


Academic report

United States


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Is the Troy Davis case the tipping point on the capital punishment debate? Unfortunately, not until the majority of Americans believes that killing—even an unquestionably guilty murderer—is wrong.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Countries list United States
  • Themes list Innocence,

Document(s)

Condemned to Die

By Mark Davis / SBS, on 1 January 2011


2011

Legal Representation


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Presenter Mark Davis travels to Indonesia with the mother of Bali Nine member Myuran Sukumaran, as she visits her son for the first time since his final death sentence appeal was rejected.

  • Document type Legal Representation
  • Themes list Drug Offences,

Document(s)

Victim’s son objects as Texas sets execution in hate crime death

By Karen Brooks / Reuters, on 8 September 2020


2020

Academic report

United States


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As Texas prepares to execute one of his father’s killers, Ross Byrd hopes the state shows the man the mercy his father, James Byrd Jr., never got when he was dragged behind a truck to his

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

Document(s)

Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures

By Oxford University Press / Beth A. Berkowitz, on 1 January 2006


2006

Book


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In this book Beth Berkowitz tells the story of modern scholarship on the ancient rabbinic death penalty and continues the story by offering a fresh perspective using the approaches of ritual studies, cultural criticism, and talmudic source criticism. Against the scholarly consensus, Berkowitz argues that the rabbinic laws of the death penalty were used by the early Rabbis in their efforts to establish themselves in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. The purpose of the laws, she contends, was to create a complex ritual of execution that was controlled by the Rabbis, thus bolstering their claims to authority in the context of Roman imperial domination.

  • Document type Book
  • Themes list Religion ,

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...


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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)

The North Carolina Racial Justice Act

By North Carolina Coalition For A Moratorium / YouTube, on 1 January 2009


2009

Arguments against the death penalty


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House Bill 472 and Senate Bill 461, known as The North Carolina Racial Justice Act, addresses racial discrimination in capital sentencing. This video featuring death row exonoree Edward Chapman, talks about racial bias and how the Racial Justice Act attempts to assure that race would not play a role in who gets the death penalty.

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

Document(s)

Innocence

By The North Atlantic Innocence Project / The Innocence Project / YouTube, on 1 January 2009


Arguments against the death penalty


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This event was held by the North Atlantic Innocence Project. The video explores post conviction evidence that can prove innocence after conviction. Testimonials from the exonerated, a victim and from a police officier who works on post conviction cases.

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

Document(s)

Mike Farrell: Paul House and Death Row

By Air America Media / YouTube, on 1 January 2009


Arguments against the death penalty


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Mike Farrell talks about the death penalty in the United States. Amongst many things he speaks about innocence, deterrence and retribution.

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