INDEX

The worldwide situation to date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2006 and the first six months of 2007. There are currently 146 countries and territories that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these, 93 are totally abolitionist, 9 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes, 1 (Russia) is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe and currently observes a moratorium on executions, 4 have a moratorium on executions in place and 39 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. – no executions have taken place in the last ten years).

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : SINTESI DEI FATTI PIU' IMPORTANTI DEL 2006 (e dei primi sette mesi del 2007)

This document focuses on the significant developments and events – both negative and positive – in the struggle against the death penalty in 2006. It includes steps towards abolition; horrific state killings; executions after unfair trials, including that of Saddam Hussein; the growing global campaign for abolition, and the political courage needed to rid the world of judicial state killing.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Networks, Statistics,
• Available languages Pena de muerte: Poner fin al homicidio estatalHalte aux hommicides commis par l'état

The report calls for an end to the use of the death penalty for drug offences around the world, and concludes that the on-going execution of drug offenders is a violation of international human rights law. The report emphasises how the harms faced by people who use drugs do not only include health harms such as HIV and hepatitis C infections, but also the effects of repressive law enforcement activities.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Drug Offences,

Pakistan ranks among the countries in the world which issue the most death sentences: currently, over 7,400 prisoners are lingering on death row. In recent years, Pakistan has witnessed a significant increase in charges carrying capital punishment, in convictions to death, as well as in executions. The HRCP and FIDH find that the application of death penalty in Pakistan falls far below international standards. In particular, they find that, given the very serious defects of the law itself, of the administration of justice, of the police service, the chronic corruption and the cultural prejudices affecting women and religious minorities, capital punishment in Pakistan is discriminatory and unjust, and allows for a high probability of miscarriages of justice, which is wholly unacceptable in any civilised society, but even more so when the punishment is irreversible. At every step, from arrest to trial to execution, the safeguards against miscarriage of justice are weak or non-existent, and the possibility that innocents have been or will be executed remains frighteningly high.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Due Process , Discrimination,

On 28 November the meeting of the heads of the states in the Commonwealth of Independent States takes place in Minsk, Belarus. On the eve of the meeting Amnesty International calls on the heads of CIS states to put the issue of the abolition of the death penalty high on their agenda and to do all within their power to make the region a death penalty-free zone. Amnesty international is concerned that the conditions on death row in the region fall far short of international standards.

• Document type NGO report
• Available languages СНГ: Смертная казнь уходит в прошлое, но сделано пока недостаточно

This 65-page report reveals the slipshod history of executions by lethal injection, using a protocol created three decades ago with no scientific research, nor modern adaptation, and still unchanged today. As the prisoner lies strapped to a gurney, a series of three drugs is injected into his vein by executioners hidden behind a wall. A massive dose of sodium thiopental, an anesthetic, is injected first, followed by pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes voluntary muscles, but leaves the prisoner fully conscious and able to experience pain. A third drug, potassium chloride, quickly causes cardiac arrest, but the drug is so painful that veterinarian guidelines prohibit its use unless a veterinarian first ensures that the pet to be put down is deeply unconscious. No such precaution is taken for prisoners being executed.

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Lethal Injection,

To assess fairness and accuracy in Georgia’s death penalty system, the Georgia Death Penalty Assessment Team researched twelve issues: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state postconviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. The Georgia Death Penalty Assessment Report summarizes the research on each issue and analyzes the level of compliance with the relevant ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report

The worldwide situation to date: The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for at least a decade, was again confirmed in 2005 and the first half of 2006. There are currently 142 countries that to different extents have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 90 are totally abolitionist; 10 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 1 (Russia) is committed to abolishing the death penalty as a member of the Council of Europe and currently observing a moratorium on executions; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 37 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. no executions have taken place in those countries for at least ten years).

• Document type NGO report
• Themes list Statistics,
• Available languages Italian : I FATTI PIù IMPORTANTI DEL 2005 (e dei primi sei mesi del 2006)

To assess fairness and accuracy in Florida’s death penalty system, the Florida Death Penalty Assessment Team researched the twelve issues that the American Bar Association identified as central to the analysis of the fairness and accuracy of a state’s capital punishment system: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state post-conviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report devotes a chapter to each of these issues, which follow a preliminary chapter on Florida death penalty law (for a total of 13 chapters). Each of the issue chapters begins with a discussion of the relevant law and then reaches conclusions about the extent to which the State of Florida complies with the ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report

To assess fairness and accuracy in Arizona’s death penalty system, the Arizona Death Penalty Assessment Team researched twelve issues: (1) collection, preservation, and testing of DNA and other types of evidence; (2) law enforcement identifications and interrogations; (3) crime laboratories and medical examiner offices; (4) prosecutorial professionalism; (5) defense services; (6) the direct appeal process; (7) state postconviction proceedings; (8) clemency; (9) jury instructions; (10) judicial independence; (11) the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities; and (12) mental retardation and mental illness. The Arizona Death Penalty Assessment Report summarizes the research on each issue and analyzes the State’s level of compliance with the relevant ABA Recommendations.

• Document type NGO report