INDEX



Document(s)

Designed to break you: Human Rights Violations in Texas’ Death Row

By The Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, on 1 January 2017


2017

Academic report


More details See the document

The State of Texas stands today as one of the most extensive utilizers of the death penalty worldwide. Consequently, inmate living conditions on Texas’ death row are ripe for review. This report demonstrates that the mandatory conditions implemented for death row inmates by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) are harsh and inhumane. Particular conditions of relevance include mandatory solitary confinement, a total ban on contact visits with both attorneys and friends and family, substandard physical and psychological health care, and a lack of access to sufficient religious services.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Death Row Conditions, Death Row Phenomenon, Death Penalty, Country/Regional profiles,

Document(s)

Pathways to abolition

By Death Penalty Worldwide / Cornell Law School, on 1 January 2016


2016

Academic report


More details See the document

This report documents the processes by which 14 jurisdictions abolished the death penalty in law. The conclusions attempt to identify patterns and draw conclusions in the hope that they will provide ideas, insights and inspiration to countries that either already are on their path to abolition or yet have to embark on it.

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

Document(s)

The Public Opinion Myth. Why Japan retains the death penalty

By Mai Sato & Paul Bacon, on 5 August 2015


2015

Academic report


More details See the document

In this report, Mai Sato and Paul Bacon go beyond the simple results of opinion polls conducted
recently by the Japanese government, which show very high levels of support for the death penalty.
Using a similar methodology and sample, the authors reveal that the majority of the population form
their views on the death penalty with limited information and based on often inaccurate perceptions
– for example, believing that the crime rate is increasing. Sato and Bacon also demonstrate that
people have a relatively low level of ‘psychological ownership’ when it comes to the future of the death
penalty: the majority think that the government and experts should decide. Furthermore, discussions
about the death penalty among participants increased tolerance towards those with different views –
which, in turn, facilitated potential reform and change.

  • Document type Academic report

Document(s)

America has abandoned the death penalty

By The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice / Harvard Law School, on 1 January 2015


2015

Academic report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

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

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


2014

Academic report


More details See the document

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

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

Document(s)

The death penalty, terrorism and international law

By Penal Reform International, on 1 January 2014


Academic report


More details See the document

The death penalty is retained for terrorism offences in many countries, but how does it conform with international standards? The global community has had much to say about both terrorism and capital punishment; this paper brings together the key arguments to identify the appropriate state responses in the face of terrorism.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list International law, Terrorism,

Document(s)

The Role of Race in Washington State Capital Sentencing, 1981-2014

By Katherine Beckett / University of Washington, on 1 January 2014


Academic report


More details See the document

This report assesses whether race influences the administration of capital punishment in Washington State, and if so, where in the process it matters.

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

Document(s)

The Death Penalty: Should the Judge or the Jury Decide Who Dies?

By John H. Blume / Theodore Eisenberg / Sheri Lynn Johnson / Cornell Law Review / Martin T. Wells / Valerie P. Hans / Amelia Courtney Hritz / Caisa E. Royer, on 1 January 2014


Academic report


More details See the document

This article addresses the effect of judge versus jury decision making through analysis of a database of all capital sentencing phase hearing trials in the state of Delaware from 1977-2007. Over the three decades of the study, Delaware shifted responsibility for death penalty sentencing from the jury to the judge. Currently, Delaware is one of the handful of states that gives the judge the final decision making authority in capital trials. Controlling for a number of legally-relevant and other predictor variables, we find that the shift to judge sentencing significantly increased the number of death sentences. Statutory aggravating factors, stranger homicides, and the victim’s gender also increased the likelihood of a death sentence, as did the county of the homicide. We reflect on the implications of these results for debates about the constitutionality of judge sentencing in capital cases.

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

Document(s)

The European Union and the Abolition of the Death Penalty

By Christan Behrmann and Jon Yorke / Pace University, School of Law, on 1 January 2013


2013

Academic report


More details See the document

This article investigates how the EU has evolved its abolitionist position. It analyzes the development of the region’s internal policy beginning in the European Parliament, to the rejection of the punishment being mandated as a Treaty provision, which evolves into anintegral component of the external human rights project. The EU has now formulated technical bilateral and multilateral initiatives to promote abolition worldwide. This is most clearly evidenced in the EU playing an important role in the 2007 United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and the strengthening of the resolution in 2008, 2010, and 2012. This article demonstrates that the EU’s contribution to the abolition of the deathpenalty is a recognizable success story of human rights, and it is one aspect of the regions’ policies that was rewarded in 2012 with the Nobel Peace Prize.

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

Document(s)

The 2% Death Penalty: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases At Enormous Costs to All

By Death Penalty Information Center / Richard C. Dieter, on 1 January 2013


Academic report


More details See the document

The 2% Death PenaltyEXECUTIVE SUMMARYContrary to the assumption that the death penalty is widely practiced across thecountry, it isactuallythe domain of a small percentage of U.S. counties in a handful ofstates. The burdens created by this narrow but aggressive use, however, areshiftedtothe majority of counties that almost never use it.The disparate and highly clustered use of the death penalty raises seriousquestions of unequal and arbitraryapplication of the law. It also forcesthejurisdictionsthat have resisted the death penalty for decadesto pay fora costlylegalprocess thatisoftenmarred withinjustice.

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Statistics,