INDEX



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


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)

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

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

Document(s)

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE ULTIMATE PENAL SANCTION ON HOMICIDE SURVIVORS: A TWO STATE COMPARISON

By Marilyn Peterson Armour / Marquette Law Review, on 1 January 2012


2012

Academic report


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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,

Document(s)

The Dark At the Top of the Stairs: Four Destructive Influences of Capital Punishment on American Criminal Justice

By David T. Johnson / Franklin Zimring / Social Science Research Network , on 1 January 2011


2011

Academic report


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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,

Document(s)

Eight case sheets (covering China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan)

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


Academic report


More details See the document

In compiling this report, a number of cases have been reviewed which clearly demonstrate the very real dangers of applying the death penalty. Eight case sheets: Leng Guoquan (China), Devender P. Singh (India), Humphrey Eleweke (Indonesia), Hakamada Iwao (Japan), Reza Shah (Malaysia), Aftab Bahadur (Pakistan), Yong Vui Kong (Singapore), Chiou Ho-shun (Taiwan)

  • Document type Academic report
  • Themes list Networks,

Document(s)

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

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


Academic report

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More details See the document

Document(s)

Abolition of the Death Penalty: China in World Perspective

By Roger Hood / City University of Hong Kong Law Review 1-21, on 1 January 2009


2009

Academic report


More details See the document

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,

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in China: Towards the Rule of Law

By Nicola Macbean / Ashgate Publishing, on 1 January 2008


2008

Academic report


More details See the document

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

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