Your search “Keep the Death Penalty Abolished fin the Philippfines ”

This paper discusses some case law on detention issues by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) that supervises the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as HRC case law on the so-called “death row phenomenon,” which involves forcing a person to live under conditions that spawn intense fear, distress, and the virtual destruction of the personality while awaiting execution.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Phenomenon,

The authors analyze data concerning race discrimination in capital sentencing and data regarding how the public perceives this issue. They conclude that race discrimination is not an inevitable feature of all death penalty systems. Before Furman v. Georgia was decided in 1972, widespread discrimination against black defendants marred the practice of capital punishment in America. According to studies cited by the authors, race-of-defendant discrimination has lessened since Furman. However, race-of-victim discrimination remains a significant factor in sentencing; defendants with white victims are at a significantly higher risk of being sentenced to death and executed than are defendants whose victims are black, Asian, or Hispanic. From 1976 to 2002, the proportion of white-victim cases among all murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases has ranged between 51% and 56%. However, 81% of executed defendants had white victims. Polling data indicate that the general public perceives only one form of race discrimination in the use of the death penalty – race-of-defendant discrimination – and that the public and elected officials may see racial discrimination as inevitable in the criminal justice system. Race of victim discrimination is a pervasive problem in the death penalty system. However, race discrimination is not inevitable. If serious controls were enacted to address this problem (such as those imposed in a few states) a fairer system could result.

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

Numerous studies have examinedthe psychological sequelae thatresult from the murder of a loved one. Except for the death penalty,however, sparse attention has been paidto the impact of the murderer’ssentence on homicide survivors’ well-being. Given the steadfastness ofthe public’s opinion that the death penalty brings satisfaction and closureto survivors, it is surprising thatthere has been no systematic inquirydirectly with survivors about whether obtaining the ultimate punishmentaffects their healing. This Study used in-person interviews with arandomly selected sample of survivorsfrom four time periods to examinethe totality of the ultimate penal sanction (UPS) process and itslongitudinal impact on their lives. Moreover, it assessed the differentialeffect of two types of UPS by comparing survivors’ experiences in Texas,a death penalty state, and Minnesota, a life without the possibility ofparole (LWOP) state. Comparing states highlights differences primarilyduring the postconviction stage, specifically with respect to the appealsprocess and in regard to survivor well-being. In Minnesota, survivors ofadjudicated cases show higher levels of physical, psychological, andbehavioral health. This Study’s findings have implications for trialstrategy and policy development.

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

Executionhas also (1) had a powerful negative influence on the substantive criminal law; (2) promoted the practice of using extreme penal sanctions as status rewards to crime victims and their families; (3) provided moral camouflage for a penalty of life imprisonment without possibility of parole, which is almost as brutal as state killing; and (4) diverted legal andjudicial resources from the scrutiny of other punishments and governmental practicesin an era of mass imprisonment. This chapter discusses these four latent impacts of attempts to revive and rationalize the death penalty in the United States.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Arbitrariness,

During a televised panel discussion on the death penalty on 9th October, Slovenian law professor Dragan Petrovec said victims should play no role in the sentencing of offenders. ”The victim is never objective,” he said. ”Victims can’t be judges.” The discussion, organised by the Council of Europe to mark the European day against the death penalty, also featured Sweden’s Human Rights Ambassador Jan Axel Nordlander. Council of Europe’s Head of Department Jeroen Schokkenbroek said the organisation was critical of the United States and Japan over their use of the death penalty . He added that ”dialogue was continuing” with both countries towards ending the practice.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty

Women sentenced to death: an invisible reality.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Women
• Available languages 2021اليوم العالمي ضدّ عقوبة الاعدامPoster ES - 2021 Día Mundial contra la Pena de Muerte2021روز جهانی علیه مجازات مرگAffiche FR - 2021 Journée mondiale contre la peine de mortPoster RU- 2021 Всемирный день против смертной казниPoster ZH 2021- 世界反死刑日

This survey polled public opinion in Kazakhstan towards the use of the death penalty for terrorist offences resulting in death, and also for especially grave crimes committed inwartime.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Public opinion,

Test your knowledge of human rights and the death penalty in the U.S. with our downloadable quiz.

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

This paper describes the international law surrounding the trend towards abolition. It then discusses this in relation to the death penalty in Palestine which has come under criticism from Human Rights NGO’s to provide prisoners with international standards regarding their detention and providing a fair trial.

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

Brandon Garrett hand-collected and analyzed national data, looking for causes and implications of this turnaround. End of Its Rope explains what he found, and why the story of who killed the death penalty, and how, can be the catalyst for criminal justice reform.

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

This report aims at focusing attention on the country’s use of the death penalty, particularly as Zambia does not apply international standards for fair trials in its use of the death penalty.

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

In a video interview at the NCADP conference in Chicago, leading Illinois abolitionist Jeremy Schroeder explains how grassroots activism and political lobbying was an important factor in abolishing the death penalty in Illinois.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Illinois : abolition, mode d'emploi

Two-page guide with tips and contacts for individuals interested in getting started in anti-death penalty activism in the US.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Public opinion,

Poster of the 15th World Day against the Death Penalty dedicated to poverty. Poverty and Justice: a Deadly Mix.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Discrimination,
• Available languages German : Poster - 15. Welttag gegen die TodesstrafeItalian : Poster - 15° Giornata mondiale contro la Pena di morteپوستر - رد روز جهانی علیه مجازات اعدام 2017плакат - Всемирный день 2017海報 - 世界反对死刑日 2017 繁體海報 - 世界反对死刑日2017 简化字Cartel -15° Día mundial contra la pena de muerteAffiche Journée Mondiale 2017

This report focuses itsanalysis on discrimination and torture, cruel inhuman and degrading treatment and foundnumerous human rights violations, including the most basic right – the right to life – in theuse of the death penalty in California and Louisiana.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Discrimination,

The Egypt Death Penalty Index is a joint initiative of Reprieve and the Daftar Ahwal Data Research Center. The Index tracks Egypt’s use of capital punishment between 25 Janurary 2011 and 23 Septembrer 2018.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

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,

In China last year, approximately 17 people were sentenced to death each day, every day of the year. This report examines the record versus the rhetoric in 1996. It examines the death penalty in practice during this year’s “Strike Hard Anti-Crime Campaign” which highlights legal inadequacies and institutionalized abuses long discussed by domestic critics.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages REPÚBLICA POPULAR CHINA: La pena de muerte en China: Batir récords abatiendo vidasRÉPUBLIQUE POPULAIRE DE CHINE: La peine capitale en Chine : nouveaux records et nouvelles transgressions de la loi

Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executions could resume after a four year moratorium, more than 1,050 people have been executed in the United States. Approximately 3,370 men and women remain on death row throughoutthe United States. This is a teaching guide on the death penalty in the United States after 1976.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

The Global Overview 2011. It provides a country-by-country analysis of the death penalty for drugs, and is intended to inform policy-makers of the potential for change as well as to shed some light on the environments in which the international fight against illicit drugs is pursued.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Drug Offences,

This report examines four key aspects of the administration of capital punishment in Virginia: prosecutorial discretion in the charging of capital crimes, quality of legal representation for the accused at trial, appellate review of trials resulting in the death penalty and race. During its preparation, another issue became apparent: the state’s record keeping.

• Document type NGO report

The secrecy that surrounds capital punishment in Japan is taken to extremes not seen in other nations. This article describes the Japanese state’s policy of secrecy and explains how it developed in three historical stages: the “birth of secrecy” during the Meiji period (1867 – 1912); the creation and spread of “censored democracy” during the postwar Occupation (1945 – 1952); and the “acceleration of secrecy” during the decades that followed. The article then analyzes several justifications for secrecy that Japanese prosecutors provide. None seems cogent. The final section explores four meanings of the secrecy policy that relate to the sources of death penalty legitimacy, the salience of capital punishment, the nature of Japan’s democracy, and the role and rule of law in Japanese society.

• Document type Article
• Countries list Japan
• Themes list Transparency,

Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who have committed heinous crimes present hard cases for the American system of justice. The violence that occasionally erupts into murder can easily overcome the special respect that is afforded most veterans. However, looking away and ignoring this issue serves neither veterans nor victims. PTSD has affected an enormous number of veterans returning from combat zones. Over 800,000 Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD. At least 175,000 veterans of Operation Desert Storm were affected by “Gulf War Illness,” which has been linked to brain cancer and other mental deficits. Over 300,000 veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have PTSD. In one study, only about half had received treatment in the prior year.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Mental Illness,

This advocacy toolkit is for the use of activists working on the abolition of the death penalty in Africa. It is intended to equip them with some key advocacy tools to effectively influence the institutions and individuals who can make abolition a reality in the region.

• Document type Lobbying

Lawyers are generally familiar with the ethical rule forbidding frivolous arguments, principally because of sanctions imposed under rules of civil procedure for making such arguments. Not all lawyers are aware, however, of two ways in which the prohibitions of frivolous arguments are restricted in both the rules themselves and in their enforcement. First, the ethical rules have express limitations with respect to arguments made on behalf of criminal defendants, and courts are generally loath to sanction criminal defense lawyers. Second, the term “frivolous” is narrowed, even in civil cases, by the way it is defined and explained in the ethical rules and in court decisions.

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

This overview discusses the intersection of the law and the challenges faced by mentally ill capital defendants at every stage from trial through appeals and execution. It provides examples of some of the more famous cases of the execution of the mentally ill. Lastly, it describes current legislative efforts to exempt those who suffer from a serious mental illness from execution and the importance of such efforts.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Mental Illness,

The penalty follows three people caught in the crosshairs of capital punishment, and the political landscape thatcould decide their fate. Going behind the scenes of some of the biggest headlines in the history of America’sdeath penalty, the film follows the lethal injection protocol crisis that resulted in a botched execution, therehabilitation of a man who spent 15 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, and the family of a youngwoman – brutally murdered – split by the state’s pursuit of the ultimate punishment.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Fair Trial, Right to life, Murder Victims' Families, Death Row Phenomenon, Lethal Injection, Death Penalty,

The tide is turning in the United States from death sentences to permanent imprisonment. A growing number of states are choosing permanent imprisonment over the death penalty, fueled by growing concerns about the wrongful conviction of innocent people and the high costs of the death penalty in comparison to permanent imprisonment. In 2009, the number of new death sentences nationwide reached the lowest level since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. California lags behind in this national trend. The Golden State sent more people to death row last year than in the seven preceding years. By the close of 2009, California’s death row was the largest and most costly in the United States.

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

The stories of parents, siblings, children, and cousins chronicled in this book-vividly illustrate the precarious position family members of capital offenders occupy in the criminal justice system. They live in the shadow of death, crushed by trauma, grief, and helplessness. In this penetrating account of guilt and innocence, shame and triumph, devastating loss and ultimate redemption, the voices of these family members add a new dimension to debates about capital punishment and how communities can prevent and address crime.

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

Within the international community, other countries have recognized the potential for harm caused by our current system, and as a result have refused to extradite back to the United States individuals who might face the death penalty. These countries cite not only the possibility of execution as reason for refusal, but the waiting process which attends that death as a separate, independent violation of human rights. If we remain unpersuaded by the international community, the behavioral trends of those individuals awaiting execution are telling as well. Within one week in 2008, two individuals awaiting death in Texas committed suicide, reflecting the heightened suicide rates on death row, estimated at ten times greater than those in society at large and several times greater than those in a general prison population. In addition, the widely-recognized practice of “volunteering” for execution permits condemned inmates to waive their state and federally mandated rights to appeal in order to speed up the execution process, in essence “volunteering” to be executed.

• Document type Article
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Death Row Phenomenon, Extradition,

The case of Cameron Todd Willingham has become infamous and was enmeshed in the death penalty debate and the reelection of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who refused to grant a stay of execution. The governor has since attempted to derail an investigation by the Texas Forensic Science Commission.

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

This submission addresses the Central African Republic’s compliance with its humanrights obligations with regard to its use of the death penalty. This submission concludesthat although the Central African Republic (CAR) should be given great credit for takingimportant steps towards abolition of the death penalty, including supporting the 2012U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, manyhurdles remain in terms of ensuring that the citizens of CAR are afforded adequatedomestic and international guarantees against the arbitrary deprivation of life.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Central African Republic
• Themes list Due Process , Trend Towards Abolition, Arbitrariness,

Senate Resolution No.6 in 2011 called for a study of the contemporary capital punishment system in the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania is among the 31 states and the federal government that authorize capital punishment. During the last four decades in Pennsylvania, hundreds of murderers have been convicted and condemned to death; however, there have been only three executions.This study follows others on the same or related topics, including those conducted by the American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System. The SR6 report is the culmination of work done by the Justice Center for Research at The Pennsylvania State University, the Interbranch Commission on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness, and an advisory committee comprised of judges, public defenders, district attorneys, victim advocates, inmate advocates, clergy, law enforcement officials, and other expert stakeholders.

• Document type Government body report
• Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,

The purpose of this article is (1) to establish that increasing punitiveness characterizes criminal justice policies in Japan and (2) to explain this trend in terms of the penal populism promoted by crime victims and supporting politicians. This article first examines newspaper articles to illuminate the increasingly punitive character of recent criminal justice policies in Japan in terms of both legislation and judicial decisions. The next section discusses the main contributing factors behind this trend and its public acceptance. The next two sections discuss two related issues: the public’s subjective sense of security, and the lack of a role for empirical criminologists in criminal justice policy making in Japan. The concluding section compares the Japanese and Anglo-American situations and argues that the same penal populism seen in Anglo-American countries is rapidly rising in Japan, and that public distrust of government has ironically increased the state’s investigative, prosecutorial, and sentencing powers in Japan. This article closes with the conjecture that police, prosecutors, and judges are unlikely to relinquish their increased power in the event that they gain the public’s trust and equally unlikely in the event of a change of the ruling party.

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

In the past thirty years, American attitudes towards those convicted of crimes have followed a devastating progression toward the dehumanization of criminal defendants. The evolution of law and policy has mirrored these changing attitudes. The philosophies behind incarceration have shifted from “facilitat[ing inmates’] productive re-entry back into the free world” to “using imprisonment merely to punish criminal offenders by … “containing’ them behind bars … for as long as possible.” 4 Rather than preventing crime or rehabilitating offenders, incarceration has become a means to satisfy society’s desire for vengeance and retribution. Responding to this push to punish, prosecutors in their haste to obtain a conviction are more likely to stress the heinousness of crimes rather than questioning the circumstances surrounding …

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

The present report, the first to be submitted to the Human Rights Council, is submitted pursuant to Council resolution 16/9 and covers the human rights developments since the commencement of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on 1 August 2011.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Country/Regional profiles,

In this joint letter many Iranian and international human rights organizations, urge the governments they called to support the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, during the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Discrimination,

Malaysia is one of only a handful of countries around the world that continues to retain a mandatory death penalty. The newly elected Malaysian government has promised to abolish mandatory death sentences and other “oppressive laws”. This short animation sheds light on what the mandatory death penalty is, what the Malaysian public think about it and why it is time to consign this abhorrent punishment to history.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Malaysia
• Themes list Public opinion, Drug Offences, Mandatory Death Penalty,

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list United States
• Themes list Moratorium , Public debate, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Every 3 hours someone is put to death by their government. Is this justice? Watch first-hand testimonies by Reprieve lawyers and clients. Read ten hard facts about the death penalty. Decide for yourself.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Public debate, Death Penalty,

MYTH: The death penalty is not political. FACT: The death penalty is often driven by politics rather than a desire to repair social problems and bring justice.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Fair Trial,

Provides a comprehensive statistical assessment of how the death penalty has been applied over the entire modern period, 1976 to present

• Document type Book
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Penalty, Statistics,

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 video by Amnesty International talks about how the administration of the death penalty is cruel, often sought after unfair trials and how innocent people have been wrongfully convicted. Voice over by Colin Firth.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Available languages Diaporama animé sur la peine de mort dans le mondeفيديو حول عقوبة الاعدام يسردها الممثل كولن فيرثFotogalería: historias de todo el mundo sobre la pena capital

MYTH: The death penalty saves money. It costs less to kill people than to imprison them for life. FACT:The death penalty costs millions more than a sentence of life without parole. Taxpayers’ money could be used more efficiently on crime prevention programs and police.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives, Financial cost,

The vast majority of countries in Western Europe, North America and South America – more than 139 nations worldwide – have abandoned capital punishment in law or in practice. This document goes through the death penalty status of countries world wide.

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

A new study by an interdisciplinary team of Arizona State University psychology researchers has found a link between the actual and perceived scarcity of resources and support for capital punishment. The study discovered that countries with greater resource scarcity were more likely to have a death penalty, as were U.S. states with lower per capita income.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Death Penalty, Financial cost,

MYTH: The death penalty acts as a deterrent to potential criminals. FACT: The death penalty does not deter crime. It stimulates it.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Deterrence ,

The International Commission against theDeath Penalty (ICDP) undertook anumber of activities in 2013 to reinforce andconsolidate the global trend toward abolition ofcapital punishment. This is a full report on ICDP’s workin 2013 as well as statistics on global trends on capital punishment.

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

Video recording of a training session by The Advocates for Human Rights on death penalty advocacy for the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review of human rights. Download the PowerPoint presentation here.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list International law,

MYTH: The death penalty applies to everyone equally, regardless of race, wealth or background. FACT: People who are convicted of the same crime receive vastly different penalties, across the world and within the same country or even case.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Arbitrariness,

This book addresses one of the most controversial issues in the criminal justice system today—the death penalty. Paternoster et al. present a balanced perspective that focuses on both the arguments for and against capital punishment. Coverage draws on legal, historical, philosophical, economic, sociological, and religious points of view.

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

In 2015, America had the lowest number of executions in 25 years. Of the 28 people executed, 68% suffered from severe mental disabilities or experienced extreme childhood trauma and abuse according to a new report released by Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice. A significant number of the executed individuals had multiple mental impairments. Two individuals were executed despite doubts about their guilt.

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

This report documents unfairness and unreliability that plague the death penalty system in Alabama and makes several recommendations, including a moratorium on executions. The major areas of focus the report examines are: Inadequate Defence, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Judicial Overrides, Execution of the Mentallly Retarded, Racial Discrimination, and Geographic Disparities.

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

Four-page introduction to the status of the death penalty in international human rights law and the global trend abolition.

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

While research abounds on attitudes toward capital punishment in the United States, such work has been lacking in non-western nations — particularly in India, the world’s largest democracy. Data recently collected have revealed variance in levels of support for the death penalty among Indian college students: 44 percent express some degree of opposition, 13 percent are uncertain, and 43 percent express some degree of support. Reasons for support or opposition also exhibited variance. According to a multivariate analysis, statistically significant reasons for support included retribution, instrumentalist goals, and incapacitation; while significant reasons for opposition included morality and the belief that deterrence could be achieved by imposing sentences of life without parole.

• Document type Article
• Countries list India
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

This toolkit is for the use of activists who are working on the abolition of the death penalty in West Africa. It is intended to equip activists with some key advocacy tools to effectively influence the institutions and individuals who can make abolition a reality.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages Manuel de plaidoyer - Abolition de la peine de mort en Afrique de l'Ouest

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,

She tells the story of two inmates she came to know as a spiritual adviser. Dobie Williams, a poor black man with an IQ of 65 from rural Louisiana, was executed after being represented by incompetent counsel and found guilty by an all-white jury based mostly on conjecture and speculation. Joseph O’Dell was convicted of murder after the court heard from an inmate who later admitted to giving false testimony for his own benefit. O’Dell received neither an evidentiary hearing nor potentially exculpatory DNA testing and was executed, insisting on his innocence the whole while. Besides exploring the shaky cases against them, Prejean describes in vivid detail the thoughts and feelings of Williams and O’Dell as their bids for clemency fail and they are put to death. The second part of the book details “the machinery of death,” the legal process that Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, dismayed at the inequities of the death penalty, cited as his reason for resigning and that current justice Antonin Scalia has boasted of being a part of.

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

This submission addresses Iraq’s compliance with its human rights obligations withregard to its use of the death penalty. This submission concludes that Iraq cannotguarantee its citizens adequate domestic and international guarantees against the arbitrarydeprivation of life and therefore should abolish the death penalty.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Iraq
• Themes list Fair Trial, Arbitrariness,

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,

The Darkest Hour: Stories and Interviews from Death Row by Nanon M. Williams emerged from a deep and dark despair in a place where the thought of suicide often holds more appeal than the thought of living

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

The issue of whether innocent people have been executed is now at the center of the debate concerning the legitimacy of capital punishment. The purpose of this research was to use data collected by the Gallup Organization in 2003 to investigate whether Americans who believed that an innocent person had been executed were less likely to support capital punishment. We also explored whether the association varied by race, given that African Americans are disproportionately affected by the death penalty. Our results indicated that three-quarters of Americans believed that an innocent person had been executed for a crime they did not commit within the last five years and that this belief was associated with lower levels of support for capital punishment, especially among those who thought this sanction was applied unfairly. In addition, our analyses revealed that believing an innocent person had been executed had a stronger association with altering African American than white support for the death penalty.A key claim of death penalty advocates is that a high proportion of the public supports capital punishment. In this context, scholars opposing this sanction have understood the importance of showing that the public’s support for executing offenders is contingent and shallower than portrayed by typical opinion polls. The current research joins this effort by arguing that the prospect of executing innocents potentially impacts public support for the death penalty and, in the least, creates ideological space for a reconsideration of the legitimacy of capital punishment.

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

The second edition of America’s Experiment with Capital Punishment is an updated and expanded version of the comprehensive first edition. Chapters, authored by the country’s leading legal and social science scholars, have been revised to include a host of important developments since the 1998 edition. Thus, new evidence and information is presented concerning racial disparities in the administration of the death penalty, wrongful convictions, deterrence, the prediction of future dangerousness, jury decision-making, public opinion about the death penalty, the effects of the capital punishment process on murder victims’ and offenders’ relatives, death row incarceration, the costs of capital punishment, execution methods, and many other issues.

• Document type Book
• Countries list United States

Prior research on the role of race in wrongful capital convictions has focused primarily on the race of the defendant. In contrast, this article begins with two case studies that illustrate the impact of the race of the defendant and also the race of the victim in contributing to erroneous convictions. The second section of this article identifies the race of the defendant and the victim in 82 cases where prisoners were released from death row because of doubts about their guilt and in a matched group of inmates who were executed. Through the use of three logistic regression models, the combination of the race of the defendant and the race of the victim is identified as a significant predictor of case outcome (exoneration vs. execution). The results also indicate that an indirect relationship may exist between the combination of the race of the defendant and the victim, the strength of the evidence, and case outcome.

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

This Handbook deals with the right to life, as guaranteed by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR or “the Convention”), and with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) under that article.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,
• Available languages Le Droit à la Vie: Un Guide sur la Mise en œuvre de l'article 2 de la Convention Européenne des Droits de l'Hommes

Where the death penalty is applied, international law, jurisprudence and practice require that certain minimum standards are applied. The standards include international and regional treaties that are legally binding on states that have ratified them, customary international law that is binding on all states without exception, and non-binding standards and resolutions that nonetheless command the support of the majority of states. International understanding of these minimum standards has continued to evolve in the years since they were drafted, but the documents themselves do not always keep pace. This paper brings together international, regional and national standards, the most recent understandings of relevant experts and appropriate insights from other connected disciplines. It explores possible ways in which international minimum standards could be further strengthened at this time, whether through ECOSOC, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, regional bodies or national amendments to laws and policies. In each section, the issue and current practice is described, followed by examples of good practice or suggestions for improvement, finishing with a short list of recommendations for strengthening existing standards. These issues and recommendations are not final, but are intended to provide a point from which discussion can begin.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list International law, Legal Representation,

Court’s case-law and pending cases on abolition of the death penalty. It deals with death-row phenomenon – the risk of being stoned to death / of being sentended to death and the death penalty as result of unfair trial.

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Death Row Phenomenon, Stoning, Death Penalty,

An argument against deterrence is made by looking at a survey which found that during the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48 to 101 percent higher than in states without the death penalty.

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

This short article will explore some additional issues regarding the relationship between international law and the death penalty. First, it will discuss some additional aspects of the representation of foreign nationals in capital cases. Second, it will discuss additional instances in which defense counsel can make international law arguments, regardless of the client’s nationality. Third, because international law issues are new to most lawyers in the United States, even those who are seasoned in capital litigation, it will suggest some alternative ways in which international law arguments can be made. The conclusion will put theUnited States experience with the death penalty into the broader context of world practice on the death penalty.

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

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Juveniles, Fair Trial, Death Penalty,

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

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,

Many family members who have lost loved ones to murder feel that the death penalty will not heal their wounds nor will it end their pain. This webpage provides resources for those looking to connect with murder victims’ families organisations.

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

Moratorium on the use of death penalty (2018)

• Document type United Nations report
• Themes list Moratorium , Death Penalty,
• Available languages وقف العمح فعقوفة الإعداMoratoria del uso de la pena de muerteMoratoire sur l'application de la peine de mortМораторий на применение смертной казни暂停使用死刑

In Alabama, elected trial judges can override jury verdicts of life and impose death sentences. Although judges have authority to override life or death verdicts, in 92% of overrides elected judges have overruled jury verdicts of life to impose the death penalty.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Fair Trial, Arbitrariness, Sentencing Alternatives,

DPIC’s 2014 Year-End Report. Death sentences were at a 40-year low and executions were at a 20-year low. Texas, Missouri, and Florida accounted for 80% of all the executions in the United States. There were 7 exonerations this year and it took an average of 30 years to discover their innocence.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Innocence, Statistics,

DPIC’s 2014 Year-End Report. Death sentences were at a 40-year low and executions were at a 20-year low. Texas, Missouri, and Florida accounted for 80% of all the executions in the United States. There were 7 exonerations this year and it took an average of 30 years to discover their innocence.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Innocence, Statistics,

On 28th January 2014, DPP’s 3rd lecture was held at the Inner Temple, London. Professor William Schabas delivered a lecture entitled “Universal Abolition: Only a Decade Away“. This video recording of the lecture includes the Q&A session.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Themes list Trend Towards Abolition,

The aim of this resource is to build and strengthen the knowledge and raise awareness of journalists on how to report on the death penalty and alternative sanctions. This training resource has been developed in conjunction with PRI’s partner, Inter Press Services (IPS).

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

This paper is an attempt to cover developments during 1999 and provide information current at the end of the year concerning the death penalty worldwide, different aspects of its use and attempts to abolish it or reduce its application.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages LA PENA DE MUERTE EN EL MUNDO: NOTICIAS DE 1999La peine de mort dans le monde: évolution en 1999

Written in the spirit of “Dead Man Walking,” this book by Antoinette Bosco conveys both the powerful personal experience of a mother whose son was murdered and a wealth of information about the criminal justice system in America. (Orbis Books, 2001)

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Public opinion, Murder Victims' Families, Death Penalty,

This resource targets journalists. The aim of this resource is to build and strengthen the knowledge and raise awareness of how to report on the death penalty and alternative sanctions. This training resource has been developed in conjunction with PRI’s partner, Inter Press Service (IPS).

• Document type NGO report

Summary of key supreme court cases in the United States, these cases deal with juror problems, the constitutionality of the death penalty and juveniles amongst key cases discussed.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

This article outlines changes that the author has observed in the debate on the death penalty.

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

Cases involving the Establishment of Religion Clause predominantly emphasize religious neutrality. Believing this to be normatively correct, Professor Loewy argues for religious neutrality in capital punishment cases. In accordance therewith, he would uphold religious peremptory challenges where a juror’s religious belief is related to her death penalty perspective. Professor Loewy agrees with the courts’general willingness to disallow religion as an aggravating factor while allowing it as a mitigating factor. This dichotomy comports with the neutralityp rinciple because aggravatingfa ctors, in general,a re limited whereas mitigating factors are unlimited.

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

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

• Document type Multimedia content
• Available languages Actes numériques Oslo 2016 - 6ème Congrès mondial contre la peine de mort

Twenty-five U.S. states still permit the execution of offenders with mental retardation and should pass laws to ban the practice without delay. The United States appears to be the only democracy whose laws expressly permit the execution of persons with this severe mental disability.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Intellectual Disability,

This document describes the process that someone suspected of committing a capital crime goes through under the Chinese criminal justice system, from detention through to execution. This process will be described using examples of cases researched by Amnesty International, and others monitored in the official press in China. As shown, there is potential for the violation of human rights at every stage of the criminal justice process leading to execution.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list China
• Themes list Statistics, Country/Regional profiles,
• Available languages République Populaire de Chine: Des exécutions << conformes au droit >> ? La peine de mort en Chine

Amnesty International remains deeply concerned that several senior Chinese officials continue to use ‘strike hard’ policies to constrain the legitimate activities of a range of peaceful activists, including journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders. This report updates concerns in these areas, illustrated by the experiences of several individuals who have been detained or imprisoned in violation of their fundamental human rights. The failure of the Chinese authorities to address the legal and institutional weaknesses that allow such violations to flourish continues to hamper efforts to strengthen rule of law in China.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list International law, Public opinion,
• Available languages República Popular de China:La cuenta atrás para los Juegos Olímpicos: La represión de activistas ensombrece las reformas sobre la pena de muerte y los medios de comunicaciónChine: À l'approche des Jeux olympiques, les réformes concernant la peine capitale et les medias sont occultées par la répression contre les militants

This is the seventh edition of the Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report published by Project 39A at National Law University, Delhi. 2022 represents a significant shift in death penalty adjudication, with the Supreme Court recognising the need to reconsider the capital sentencing framework for the first time since it was laid down in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab in 1980. In a momentous order, the Supreme Court noted the gaps in the death penalty sentencing framework and has sought to address these concerns through a Constitution Bench towards establishing the components of a real, meaningful and effective capital sentencing hearing. In another decision, the Court laid down guidelines for the collection of mitigating material by trial courts. However, in the same year that the Supreme Court cast grave doubts on the death penalty sentencing framework and its implementation by trial courts, it is of concern that 165 death sentences were imposed by Sessions Courts, the highest in a single year since 2000.

• Document type NGO report
• Countries list India

Thisreport examines the imposition of the death penalty in Iran in light of international human rightsstandards.This report will also examine and discuss the judicial process applied in casesinvolving punishment by the death penalty.

• Document type Multimedia content
• Countries list Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Themes list Due Process , Fair Trial, International law,

When the state decides to seek the death penalty against a criminal defendant, the cards are heavily stacked against him before the trial even starts. First, the defendant must face a jury that already assumes he is guilty simply because he has been charged with a crime. They will assume this all the more given that it is a capital case. Moreover, the jury selection process itself will produce a jury that is predisposed to vote both for guilt and for death.The purpose of this handbook is to provide some suggestions for ways to “unstack the deck” for capital defendants by challenging the state’s case in aggravation.

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

The Pakistan Capital Punishment Study is the result of a two-year long research and analysis project undertaken by lawyers and academics at the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (‘FFR’) in Pakistan and international legal non-profit organization, Reprieve.

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

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,

The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 16/9, which establishes the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages Положение в области прав человека в Исламской Республике Иран: Записка Генерального секретаря伊朗伊斯兰共和国的人权状况 秘书长的说明La situación de los derechos humanos en la República Islámica del Irán: Nota del Secretario GeneralLa situation des droits de l’homme en République islamique d’Iran: Note du Secrétaire général

This document covers significant events concerning the death penalty during the year 2005. Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes, bringing to 86 the number of totally abolitionist countries at year end. Moratoria or suspensions of executions were being observed in several countries. At least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries, and at least 5,186 were sentenced to death in 53 countries. Eight child offenders were executed in Iran. Other sections include significant judicial decisions; the use of the death penalty against child offenders and resumptions of executions.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages LA PENA DE MUERTE EN EL MUNDO: NOTICIAS DEL AÑO 2005La peine de mort dans le monde : évolution en 2005

The execution of those with mental illness or “the insane” is clearly prohibited by international law. Virtually every country in the world prohibits the execution of people with mental illness. This webpage explores international law and the death penalty in relation to the USA.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Mental Illness,
• Available languages La Pena de Muerte ignora las Enfermedades Mentales

The ‘Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics’ attempts to create a comprehensive year-by-year documentation of movements in the death row population in India. The publication tracks important political and legal developments in the administration of the death penalty and the criminal justice system in the year 2019.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Death Penalty, Statistics,