NCJ Number
173437
Date Published
1993
Length
416 pages
Annotation
This book discusses the different limitations that international law has placed on imposition of the death penalty, procedural safeguards required by international law when capital punishment is being considered, and the eventual emergence of a customary norm completely abolishing the death penalty.
Abstract
The first step towards creation of an international human rights norm abolishing the death penalty was taken in 1948 with recognition of the "right to life" in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The book traces the emergence and evolution of this international legal norm through examination of relevant conventions and case law of both regional and universal applications as well as specific humanitarian agreements. The book devotes separate chapters to: (1) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Recognition of the Right to Life; (2) The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Towards Abolition; (3) Genesis and Adoption of the Second Optional Protocol Abolishing the Death Penalty; (4) The Death Penalty in International Humanitarian Law; (5) The Death Penalty in European Human Rights Law; and (6) The Death Penalty in Inter-American Human Rights Law. Tables, abbreviations, notes, appendixes, bibliography, index