Conclusion: The Future of the Death Penalty in Africa

Abstract

The death penalty in Africa is part of a much larger world-historical decline in capital punishment, and the continent falls somewhere between Europe and Latin America’s near-total abolition and the committed retention of East Asia and the Islamic world. The conclusion discusses the prospects of a continent-wide moratorium, the promise of African regional tribunals, and the role of NGOs in bringing human rights litigation. Finally, no discussion on the death penalty is complete without addressing alternatives, such as life imprisonment and mandatory minimum sentencing, as abolition requires consideration of the relative costs, effectiveness, and goals of other forms of criminal punishment.KeywordsDeath PenaltyRome StatuteTransitional JusticeIslamic WorldLife ImprisonmentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.