By Roger Hood CBE QC (Hon) DCL FBA and Carolyn Hoyle

Description

• Fully up-to-date and substantially expanded new edition of the renowned study previously referred to by Amnesty International and others as the authority on the death penalty
• Discusses all the recent major developments towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, including the abolition in the US of the death penalty for offenders who committed murder while under the age of 18, and explores a recent sharp fall in the number of death sentences imposed and executions carried out
• Explores significant new developments in China, particularly the requirement that the eoples Supreme Court reviews all death sentences
• Discusses the controversial policy of replacing capital punishment with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole
• Brings up to date and reviews the latest evidence about the deterrent effects of capital punishment

New to this edition

• Includes an additional chapter on alternatives to the death penalty
• Discusses the victim interest movement and the role of victims families in capital sentencing
• Expanded coverage of the impact and relevance of public opinion

The 4th edition of this authoritative study, now written jointly with Carolyn Hoyle, brings up-to-date developments in the movement to abolish the death penalty worldwide. It draws on Roger Hoods experience as consultant to the United Nations for the UN Secretary Generals five-yearly surveys of capital punishment and on the latest information from a wide range non-governmental organizations and the academic literature.

Not only have more countries abolished capital punishment, but amongst those that continue to retain it, the majority have been carrying out fewer executions. Legal challenges to mandatory capital punishment have been successful, as has the movement to abolish the death penalty for those who commit a capital crime when under the age of 18. This edition has more to say about the prospects that China will restrict and control the number of executions on the road to abolition.

Yes, despite such advances, this book reveals many human rights abuses where the death penalty still exists. In some countries a wide range of crimes still subject to capital punishment amd the authorities often fail to meet the safeguards embodied in international human rights treaties to safeguards those facing the death penalty. There is evidence of police abuse, unfair trials, lack of access to competent defence counsel, excessive periods of time spent in horrible conditions on death row, and public, painful forms of execution.

The authors engage with the latest debates on the realities of capital punishment, especially its justification as a a uniquely effective deterrent; whether it can ever be administered equitably, without discrimination or error, and what influence relatives of victims should have in sentencing and public debate. For the the first time it also discusses the problem of devising an alternative to capitali punishment; especially, life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Readership: Scholars, students, human rights practitioners, and policy-makers interested in capital punishment, human rights, and criminal justice.

Authors, editors, and contributors

Roger Hood CBE QC (Hon) DCL FBA, Formerly Professor of Criminology and Fellow of All Souls Colege, Oxford and Carolyn Hoyle, Lecturer in Criminology, Oxford University Centre for Criminology

Published Year: 2008 Format: Paper Back ISBN: 978-0-19-922847-8 Publisher: Oxford University Press Our Price: £ 29.99 Reviews: 0 reivew(s).

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