The Operation of the Modern Death Penalty in Africa

Abstract

This chapter explores the operation of capital punishment in Africa in the present era. The erosion of the mandatory death penalty in favor of discretionary judicial sentencing has drastically lowered the number of death sentences passed by African courts. More transparent clemency procedures, automatic appellate review, improvements in conditions on death row, and the prohibition of extradition of prisoners to countries with the death penalty represent attempts to rationalize the death penalty after its misuse in the colonial and independence eras. Some challenges remain, including the crisis of legal aid for indigent criminal defendants and the practical barriers erected by the continent’s linguistic, ethnic, and geographic diversity.