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The Special Rapporteur is also deeply concerned about all the circumstances surrounding the death penalty in Mongolia, especially the total secrecy. Despite repeated requests to the highest authorities of the Government, as well as prosecutors and the judiciary, the Special Rapporteur was not provided with any official information. Concern was expressed that not even the families of the condemned persons are notified of the exact date or place of execution and do not receive their mortal remains for burial, which amounts to inhuman treatment of the family, contrary to article 7 of the Covenant. Moreover, prisoners on death row at the Gants Hudag and Zuunmod detention centres are held in complete isolation, handcuffed and shackled, and denied adequate food. These conditions constitute additional punishments which can only be qualified as torture as defined in article 1 of the Convention.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list Mongolia
• Available languages Доклад Cпециального докладчика по вопросу о пытках и других жестоких, бесчеловечных или унижающих достоинство видах обращения и наказания Манфреда Новака - МИССИЯ В МОНГОЛИЮRapport du Rapporteur spécial sur la torture et autres peines ou traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants, M. Manfred Nowak - MISSION EN MONGOLIE酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚问题 特别报告员曼弗雷德·诺瓦克的报告 - 对蒙古的访问Informe del Relator Especial sobre la tortura y otros tratos o penas crueles, inhumanos o degradantes, Manfred Nowak - MISIÓN A MONGOLIAمن وغيره التعذيب بمسألة المعني الخاص المقرر نواك، منفرد السيد تقرير المهينة أو اللاإنسانية أو القاسية العقوبة أو المعاملة ضروب ‎‎- منغوليا إلى البعثة

Report published by the Death Penalty Information Center on secrecy and the death penalty in the United States. This report documents the laws and policies that states have adopted to make information about executions inaccessible to the public, to pharmaceutical companies, and to condemned prisoners. It describes the dubious methods states have used to obtain drugs, the inadequate qualifications of members of the execution team, and the significant restrictions on witnesses’ ability to observe how executions are carried out. It summarizes the various drug combinations that have been used, with particular focus on the problems with the drug midazolam, and provides a state-by-state record of problems in recent executions. It explains how government policies that lack transparency and accountability permit states to violate the law and disregard fundamental principles of a democratic government while carrying out the harshest punishment the law allows.

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

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

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,
• Available languages مسألة عقوبة الإعدام : تقرير مقدم من الأمين العامВопрос о смертной казни : Доклад Генерального секретаря死刑问题 : 秘书长的报告La cuestión de la pena capital : Informe del Secretario GeneralQuestion de la peine de mort : Rapport du Secrétaire général

Priročnik je del projekta Amnesty International Izobraževanje za človekovo dostojanstvo in je namenjen souporabi z vsebinskimi priročniki projekta o revščini in človekovih pravicah. Razvit pa je bil s fleksibilnostjo, ki omogoča, da se ga lahko uporabi tudi samostojno kot splošni pripomoček v raznolikih okoljih.

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

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

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

On June 29, 1972, the United States Supreme Court decided Furman v. Georgia, striking down all existing death penalty laws in the United States and ushering in the modern era of the U.S. death penalty. In the decades that followed—as jurisdictions revised their death-sentencing procedures in response to the Supreme Court’s rulings on capital punishment—thousands of people were sentenced to death.

The Death Penalty Census is DPIC’s effort to identify and document every death sentence imposed in the U.S. since Furman. The census captures more than 9,700 death sentences imposed between the Supreme Court’s issuance of the Furman ruling and January 1, 2021. These sentences were imposed in 1,280 counties across 40 states, as well as by the federal government and the U.S. Military.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list United States

Questa guida rientra nel progetto Education for Human Dignity di Amnesty International e nasce per essere utilizzata con i moduli del progetto riguardanti povertà e diritti umani.Il manuale di facilitazione, è stato, però, realizzato con la flessibilità necessaria a renderlo fruibile anche singolarmente, come risorsa generale in diversi contesti.

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

Publikacja jest częścią projektu Amnesty international – edukacja dla Godności i może być wykorzystywana w realizacji modułów projektowych na temat ubóstwa i praw człowieka, a także jako odrębna propozycja tematów zajęć szkoleniowych.

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

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,

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 type Book
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Italian : Dei delitti e delle pene-Consulte criminaliOf Crimes and PunishmentDes délits et des peines论犯罪与刑罚De Los Delitos Y De Las Penas

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

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

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 type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS OF 2009 (and the first six months of 2010)

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,

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 type World Coalition
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Statuts de la Coalition mondiale contre la peine de mort 2023

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

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

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty

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,

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 ,

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

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,

Article 1 – Abolition of the death penaltyThe death penalty shall be abolished. No one shall be condemned to such penalty or executed.

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages German : Protokoll Nr. 13 zur Konvention zum Schutze der Menschenrechte und Grundfreiheiten bezüglich der Abschaffung der Todesstrafe unter allen UmständenItalian : Protocollo n° 13 alla Convenzione per la salvaguardia dei Diritti dell'Uomo e delle Libertà fondamentali relativo all'abolizione delle pena di morte in ogni circostanzaПротокол № 13 к Конвенции о защите прав человека и основных свобод относительно отмены смертной казни при любых обстоятельствахProtocole n° 13 à la Convention de sauvegarde des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés fondamentales, relatif à l'abolition de la peine de mort en toutes circonstances

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 type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIÙ IMPORTANTI DEL 2001

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

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,

Article 1 – Abolition of the death penaltyThe death penalty shall be abolished. No-one shall be condemned to such penalty or executed.

• Document type Regional body report
• Themes list International law,
• Available languages German : Protokoll Nr. 6 zur Konvention zum Schutze der Menschenrechte und Grundfreiheiten über die Abschaffung der TodesstrafeItalian : Protocollo n° 6 alla Convenzione per la salvaguardia dei Diritti dell'Uomo e delle Libertà fondamentali sull'abolizione delle pena di morteПротокол № 6 к Конвенции о защите прав человека и основных свобод относительно отмены смертной казниProtocole no. 6 à la Convention de sauvegarde des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés fondamentales concernant l'abolition de la peine de mort

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 type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIU´ IMPORTANTI DEL 2002

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,

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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 type International law - Regional body
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages مراجعة قانونية لعقوبة الإعدام في سطيني

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 type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Deterrence ,
• Available languages Comment répondre à l'argument de l'effet dissuasif

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,

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,

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,

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 type NGO report
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages 中国死刑观察报告

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,

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

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,

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

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,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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 type NGO report
• Themes list Public debate, Member organizations, Death Penalty,

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public debate, Member organizations, Death Penalty,

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 type Working with... / World Coalition
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition
• Available languages Comment travailler avec les institutions nationales des droits de l’homme pour abolir la peine de mort ?

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 type NGO report
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Available languages گزارش ساالنه اعدام در ایران ۲۰۲۰

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,

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,

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,

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,

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 

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

Parting Words, a visual photographic archive of the 500+ prisoners to date executed in the state of Texas.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Public debate, Death Row Phenomenon,

Meet the Bloggers talks about the death penalty with two anti death penalty campaigners. The cases of Troy Davis and Montell Johnson are discussed and issues such as discrimination, retribution, the cost of the death penalty, religion and sentencing alternatives are touched upon. Short clips on the Death Penalty in Mexico, Amnesty Internationals campaign and how you can help fight the death penalty are all discussed here.

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

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

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

In Death by Design, research psychologist Craig Haney argues that capital punishment, and particularly the sequence of events that lead to death sentencing itself, is maintained through a complex and elaborate social psychological system that distance and disengage us from the true nature of the task. Relying heavily on his own research and that of other social scientists, Haney suggests that these social psychological forces enable persons to engage in behavior from which many of them otherwise would refrain. However, by facilitating death sentencing in these ways, this inter-related set of social psychological forces also undermines the reliability and authenticity of the process, and compromises the fairness of its outcomes. Because these social psychological forces are systemic in nature –built into the very system of death sentencing itself –Haney concludes by suggesting a number of inter-locking reforms, derived directly from empirical research on capital punishment, that are needed to increase the fairness and reliability of the process.

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

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,

In this compelling and timely work, Austin Sarat provides the first book-length work on executive clemency. He turns our focus from questions of guilt and innocence to the very meaning of mercy. Starting from Ryan’s controversial decision, Mercy on Trial uses the lens of executive clemency in capital cases to discuss the fraught condition of mercy in American political life. Most pointedly, Sarat argues that mercy itself is on trial. Although it has always had a problematic position as a form of “lawful lawlessness,” it has come under much more intense popular pressure and criticism in recent decades. This has yielded a radical decline in the use of the power of chief executives to stop executions.

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

This is a highly thought-provoking work where Beccaria-Bonesana has explained his ideas against the use of torture and capital punishments. He has produced a humanitarian spirit in the dispensation of laws. This work is important as the views expressed here, were not regarded either in his times or now.

• Document type Book
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages German : Über Verbrechen und StrafenItalian : Dei delitti e delle pene-Consulte criminaliDes délits et des peines论犯罪与刑罚De Los Delitos Y De Las Penas

Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the field, Bedau addresses topics such as strong public suppport for the death penalty, wrongful convictions, the disappearance of executive clemency, constitutional arguments surronding the Eight Amendment, and procedural reforms under consideration that move toward abolition.

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

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,

This video gives a tour of the death row facilities at North Carolina. It also explores the protocol for execution by lethal injection.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Lethal Injection,

This video features Jeremy Irons who speaks about the death penalty and arguements commonly made for it.

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

Colonel Oleg Alkaev, who was Director of remand prison (SIZO)6 No. 1 in Minsk and ordered a number of executions. He gave this testimony to Amnesty International, a member of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list Belarus
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Oleg Alkaev, ex-directeur du couloir de la mort biélorusse

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

Renowned capital defense attorney Stephen Bright discusses the death penalty in light of recent Supreme Court decisions.

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

They undertake this “cultural voyage” comparatively—examining the dynamics of the death penalty in Mexico, the United States, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, India, Israel, Palestine, Japan, China, Singapore, and South Korea—arguing that we need to look beyond the United States to see how capital punishment “lives” or “dies” in the rest of the world, how images of state killing are produced and consumed elsewhere, and how they are reflected, back and forth, in the emerging international judicial and political discourse on the penalty of death and its abolition.

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

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,

This video was filmed at the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva in February 2010. Speaker is Elizabeth Zitrin at the opening session.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Les vidéos du 4ème congrès mondial

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,

Danthong Breen, from the NGO Union for Liberty, based in Thailande, explains why the death penalty is torture.

• Document type Academic report
• Countries list Thailand
• Themes list Torture,
• Available languages Danthong Breen - Union pour les libertés

This article reports the results of a two-part investigation of psychological assessments proposed as expert evidence in legal context.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Mental Illness, Death Penalty,

Visa o presente artigo a destacar a preocupação do homem com a criminalidade, procurando encontrar meios que possam minimizá-la. Objetiva tornar o assunto objeto de discussão. O tema, dividido em subtemas, procura, no contexto da História, demonstrar como foi tratado esse assunto, verificando a constatação do problema, tomando como medida a paz social. Trata, também, dos aspectos constitucionais sobre o direito à vida, e da sua importância para o ser humano. Detém-se este trabalho à inconstitucionalidade da pena de morte em nosso país, através de uma análise da doutrina a mais científica possível, capaz de conduzir à conscientização inalienada sobre o tema em pauta. Este texto jurídico demonstra que a pena capital não é a solução para a violência, mas uma forma de violar o nosso maior direito, a vida.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Brazil
• Themes list Right to life,

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,

Lebih banyak orang yang dieksekusi mati di kawasan Asia-Pasifik dibandingkan dengan gabungan jumlah hukuman mati di kawasan lain di dunia. Ditambah lagi adanya kemungkinan bahwa mereka dieksekusi hukuman mati setelah melalui sebuah peradilan yang tidak adil, maka ketidakadilan yang sangat besar dari hukuman ini menjadi semakin jelas.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial,
• Available languages Korean : 아시아에서의 치명적 불의 불공정 재판을 멈춰라, 사형집행을 중단하라.Thai : การประหารชีวิตที่อยุติธรรม ในภูมิภาคเอเชีย ยุติการพิจารณาคดีที่ไม่เป็นธรรม ยกเลิกการประหารชีวิตUrdu : یفاصناان کلہم ںیم ایشیا ںیرک متخ توم ےازس ،دنب تامدقم ہنافصنمریغTagalog : NAKAMAMATAY NA KAWALAN NG KATARUNGAN SA ASYA Itigil ang Di Makatarungang paglilitis, Itigil ang PagbitayMongolian : АЗИ ТИВ ДЭХ ЭНЭРЭЛГҮЙ ШУДАРГА БУС ЯВДАЛ Шударга бусaap шүүх явдлыг зогсоож, цаазын ялыг халъяJapanese : 不当に奪われる生命 ～アジアにおける不公正な裁判を止め、 死刑執行の停止を～Hindi : एशिया में घातक अन्याय: समाप्ति अनुचित परीक्षण, सज़ाएँ बंद करोLethal Injustice in Asia: End unfair trials, stop executions亚洲的致命不公: 终止不公审判，停止处决

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,

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,

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,

The Ride tells the true story of one of the most gruesome crimes in recent memory—the 1997 abduction and murder of ten-year-old Massachusetts resident Jeffrey Curley—and how his father, Bob Curley, managed to heal the deep wounds of rage and emerge to become an outspoken critic of the death penalty.In vivid, compelling prose, Boston Globe reporter Brian MacQuarrie recounts the brutal crime that shocked New England and chronicles what transpires after Jeffrey’s death, which is nearly as shocking as the crime itself. At the heart of this deeply touching story is the way Bob Curley summons the almost superhuman courage to reject the death penalty. In tracing his personal journey, The Ride presents an appealing everyman hero forced into the spotlight by unfathomable circumstances, and compelled to confront the consequences of his fury.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Public opinion, Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

This edited volume brings together leading scholars on the death penalty within international, regional and municipal law. It considers the intrinsic elements of both the promotion and demise of the punishment around the world, and provides analysis which contributes to the evolving abolitionist discourse.The contributors consider the current developments within the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the African Commission and the Commonwealth Caribbean, and engage with the emergence of regional norms promoting collective restriction and renunciation of the punishment. They investigate perspectives and questions for retentionist countries, focusing on the United States, China, Korea and Taiwan, and reveal the iniquities of contemporary capital judicial systems. Emphasis is placed on the issues of transparency of municipal jurisdictions, the jurisprudence on the ‘death row phenomenon’ and the changing nature of public opinion. The volume surveys and critiques the arguments used to scrutinize the death penalty to then offer a detailed analysis of possible replacement sanctions.

• Document type Book
• Countries list China
• Themes list International law,

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

• Document type Book
• Countries list China

FaultLines explores the death penalty in the United States. Interviews with murder victim families, politicans and the exonerated are included.

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

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

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

Professor Kirchmeier examines the recent decline in support for the death penalty in the United States and the resulting emergence of a movement to impose a moratorium on executions. After discussing the history of the death penalty abolition movement in the United States, he identifies five major and seven minor events that have contributed to the growth of the Death Penalty Moratorium Movement. Then, he compares the current Moratorium Movement to other similar reform periods: the 1960s Death Penalty Abolitionist Movement; legislative abolition of the death penalty in several states during the mid-1800s and early 1900s; death penalty abolition in other countries; and the Anti-Lynching Movement of the early 1900s. Based on the history of these other movements, Professor Kirchmeier discovers various lessons for today’s Moratorium Movement, including lessons about strategy and the roles of public opinion and leadership. Finally, using these lessons from history and looking at recent events, he considers the future of the Moratorium Movement. Professor Kirchmeier concludes that for the Movement to continue to be successful: (1) there must be no major national distracting forces; (2) the Movement must continue to broaden its arguments and not be overly dependent upon one issue, one person, or one strategy; (3) the Movement must continue seek support from unexpected voices; and (4) the Movement must stay focused on the goals of achieving popular support and creating new leaders. Finally, Professor Kirchmeier predicts that the Moratorium Movement is strong enough to continue to have lasting effects.

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

Informations and survey findings about the public opinion on the death penalty in Singapore

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

This article discusses a new art exhibition in Los Angeles which aims to humanise condemned prisoners. It continues to situate the exhibition in the greater context of the depiction of the death penalty in art history. The conversation this article raises is the link the death penalty in art history has with creating a public discussion. From the sword to the electric chair, the death penalty has inspired challenging art, writes Jason Farago.

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

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Death Row Conditions, Legal Representation, Death Penalty, Statistics,

For the first time in a long time, the Supreme Court’s most important death penalty decisions all have gone the defendant’s way. Is the Court’s new found willingness to protect capital defendants here to stay? Or is it a passing fancy that will dissipate in less hospitable times? At first glance, history allows for optimism. Furman v. Georgia, the 1972 landmark that invalidated the death penalty, provides a seemingly perfect example of the Court’s ability and inclination to protect capital defendants when no one else will. Furman looks countermajoritarian, scholars have claimed it was countermajoritarian, and even the Justices saw themselves as playing a heroic, countermajoritarian role in the case. But the lessons of Furman are not what they seem. Rather than proving the Supreme Court’s ability to withstand majoritarian influences, Furman teaches the opposite – that even in its more countermajoritarian moments, the Court never strays far from dominant public opinion, tending instead to reflect the social and political movements of its time. This Article examines the historical context of Furman v. Georgia and its 1976 counterpart, Gregg v. Georgia, to highlight a fundamental flaw in the Supreme Court’s role as protector of minority rights: its inherently limited inclination and ability to render countermajoritarian change. In theory, the Court might protect unpopular minorities, but in practice it is unlikely to do so unless a substantial (and growing) segment of society supports that protection. Even then, Furman reminds us that the Court’s “help” may do more harm than good. If the past truly is a prologue, Furman portends that the Court’s current interest in restricting the death penalty will not last forever. Like the fair-weather friend, the Court’s protection will likely be there in good times but gone when needed the most.

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

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,

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,