Resources

This book provides practical assistance to members of the judiciary, defence lawyers, prosecutors and others working on capital cases on the sentencing principles and procedures that have been adopted in common law jurisdictions following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty. Whether the death penalty is mandatory or discretionary, it is impossible to ensure that it is administered without cruelty, arbitrariness,…

Malaysia is one of only a handful of countries around the world that continues to retain a mandatory death penalty – where death sentences are imposed automatically with no chance for the courts to consider the individual circumstances of the case. The newly elected Malaysian government has promised to abolish mandatory death sentences and other “oppressive laws”. This short animation…

This report looks at The Death Penalty Project’s key highlights and successes from 2017.  

Is Zimbabwe ready to abolish the death penalty? This video presents findings from a nationally representative public opinion survey examining attitudes towards the death penalty in Zimbabwe, a country that has not carried out any executions for over a decade. The research was commissioned by The Death Penalty Project, in association with Zimbabwean NGO Veritas, and was carried out by…

The Death Penalty Project, in partnership with Zimbabwean NGO Veritas commissioned an independent public opinion survey on the death penalty in Zimbabwe. A survey was undertaken with a nationally representative sample of 1,200 Zimbabweans in the summer of 2017. The study was undertaken by Dr Mai Sato, University of Reading, with the support of the University of Zimbabwe. The report provides…

This Handbook, together with the compendium Casebook of Forensic Psychiatric Practice in Capital Cases,  provides an authoritative guide on the application of mental health law in capital cases and other serious criminal proceedings. The resources respond to the knowledge that, in many countries that retain the death penalty, mental health issues are not being sufficiently addressed by the courts, leading…

This Casebook is a compendium to the Handbook of Forensic Psychiatric Practice in Capital Cases. Together the two resources  provide an authoritative guide on the application of mental health law in capital cases and other serious criminal proceedings. The resources respond to the knowledge that, in many countries that retain the death penalty, mental health issues are not being sufficiently…

Matters of Judgement: A judges’ opinion study on the death penalty and the criminal justice system, sheds fresh light on the complicated and sometimes troubling views of India’s most senior judges towards the death penalty and the administration of justice in India. The report presents findings from interviews with 60 former Supreme Court judges on the death penalty and the…

Less than twenty years ago Belize carried the mandatory death penalty for murder. Today, death row is empty and the gallows in the only prison have fallen into disrepair. This short video from the BBC World Service follows our work in Belize, and looks at how our legal victories there have helped save lives across the globe. This video clip…

In November 2015 the UK celebrated the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act 1965, which suspended and effectively abolished the death penalty for murder in England, Scotland and Wales. To mark a half-century of abolition in the UK, we launched a monograph by Julian B. Knowles QC: The Abolition of the Death Penalty in…

This Handbook, published in association with the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, provides a  practical and informative guide for mental health professionals and all those involved in the criminal justice process in Taiwan. The Handbook is adapted from our first edition Handbook of Forensic Psychiatric Practice in Capital Cases (2013), and is designed specifically to assist mental health professionals and lawyers engaged…

This report, co-authored by Mai Sato and Paul Bacon, confronts the Japanese government’s assertion that the majority in favour of capital punishment in Japan is so large that it cannot be ignored by a democratic government. It complements our other published reports analysing public attitudes to the death penalty (in Malaysia, Trinidad & Tobago and Japan) and forms part of the DPP publication series.…