NCJ Number
157467
Date Published
1995
Length
55 pages
Annotation
This report reviews the use of and trends in capital punishment throughout the world, including the implementation of safeguards, during the period 1989-1993.
Abstract
Of the 57 countries from which information was received, five were in North Africa and the Middle East, four in Asia and the Pacific, 12 in Latin American and the Caribbean, 10 in Eastern Europe, five in Africa south of the Sahara, and 21 in Western Europe and other states. Information and data on changes in death penalty status during 1989-1993 address countries that had already abolished the death penalty for all crimes by 1989, countries that had already abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes by 1989, new independent States created after 1989 that abolished the death penalty, and retentionist countries in 1989. Other sections of the report examine enforcement of the death penalty, penalties that have replaced capital punishment, and ratification of international instruments. A discussion of the implementation of the safeguards that guarantee protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty considers safeguards for ordinary offenses and offenses against the state, military and wartime offenses, mandatory death penalty, persons below age 18, pregnant women or new mothers, the insane, the mentally retarded, and maximum age. Another section briefly discusses research and studies pertinent to the death penalty. 18 notes and appended supplementary data and information