Death Penalty Research Articles

A Legal Appraisal of the Application of the Death Penalty in Cameroon

This paper provides a comprehensive legal appraisal of the death penalty’s application in Cameroon, evaluating its constitutional, legal, and human rights dimensions. Despite the global trend towards abolition, Cameroon continues to implement capital punishment, sparking intense debate regarding its alignment with international human rights standards and constitutional guarantees. The study examines the statutory framework governing the death penalty in Cameroon, including relevant provisions of the Cameroonian Penal Code and the Constitution. It assesses the recent legal reforms and international treaties on the death penalty’s application. Through a critical analysis of judicial practices, and case law, the paper highlights inconsistencies and challenges in the implementation process. The appraisal further explores the socio-political and ethical implications of capital punishment in Cameroon, considering public opinion and the role of civil society. The study adopts a qualitative research methodology which makes use of empirical methods such as observation. It also makes use of the doctrinal method which entails content analysis of primary and secondary data. Ultimately, the study advocates for a reassessment of the death penalty’s role in the justice system, emphasizing the need for reforms to align with evolving human rights norms and ensure fair and equitable application of justice.

The Death Penalty in Dickens and Derrida: The Last Sentence of the Law by Jeremy Tambling (review)

The Death Penalty in Dickens and Derrida: The Last Sentence of the Law by Jeremy Tambling (review)

Does depth of information matter? An empirical test of the Marshall hypothesis

ABSTRACT This study consists of an examination of Justice Thurgood Marshall’s second hypothesis in his concurring Furman opinion, where he suggested ‘people who were fully informed’ regarding the death penalty ‘would find the penalty, shocking, unjust and unacceptable’ (p. 361). While numerous empirical studies have been conducted to test this hypothesis, the intent of this study is to add to the existing literature by investigating whether the amount or depth of information about capital punishment is more likely to be associated with increased opposition to capital punishment. Data were collected in a full semester-long course, a 1-week topical lecture embedded in an Introduction to Criminal Justice course, and a comparison group Introduction to Sociology course where no information was presented on the death penalty (total n = 168). Results suggest that depth of information is significantly related to change in opposition toward capital punishment. More specifically, the full semester-long courses were more likely to result in increased knowledge as well as increased opposition toward the death penalty after taking the classes. This result supports a better understanding of the Marshall hypothesis and ensuing academic and legal implications for an evolving standard of decency analysis under the Eighth Amendment.

TINDAK PIDANA KORUPSI PENYALURAN DANA BANTUAN SOSIAL COVID-19 DITINJAU DARI FIQH SIYASAH

This study aims to determine the accountability for the criminal act of corruption in the Covid-19 social assistance fund, efforts to overcome the criminal act of corruption in the Covid-19 social assistance fund, and review of fiqh siyasah against the criminal act of corruption in the Covid-19 social assistance fund. The type of research used is normative legal research, with a normative approach and a juridical approach (siyasah dusturiyah). The data collection technique used is library research technique. The results of this study indicate that accountability for criminal acts of corruption in the Covid- 19 social assistance fund is included in the category of forms of corruption that are detrimental to the state with the intention of enriching themselves so that perpetrators of corruption can be charged with criminal sanctions or even threatened with the death penalty as stated in Article 2 of Law No. 20 of 2001 amendments to the Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 31 of 1999. To minimize the occurrence of corruption in the Covid-19 social assistance funds, preventive and repressive efforts were carried out. The criminal act of corruption in the Covid-19 social assistance fund can be categorized as an act of betrayal of the mandate and is also an unjust act because it is a form of deviation from the objectives of sharia maqasid such as religious protection (hifdz ad-din), protection of the soul (hifdz an-nafs), protection of of reason (hifdz aql), protection of offspring (hifdz an-nasab), and protection of property (hifdz al-mal).

When the Sun, the Moon and the Stars Align: Litigating LGBTQIA+ Rights and the Death Penalty in East Africa and the Caribbean

When the Sun, the Moon and the Stars Align: Litigating LGBTQIA+ Rights and the Death Penalty in East Africa and the Caribbean

The Crime of Accepting Bribes in the Hong Duc Code and Their Significance as a Model for Contemporary Criminal Law in Vietnam

The Hong Duc Code, promulgated during the reign of King Le Thanh Tong, is regarded as a progressive and comprehensive legal code within the context of feudal Vietnam. It reflects the principles of the rule of law and demonstrates a deep commitment to humanity. The Hong Duc Code contains detailed provisions covering various forms of bribery, including accepting money or gifts, exploiting positions for personal gain, harassing individuals, making wrongful convictions, concealing crimes, and weakening the military. The law applies to incumbent officials, relatives, and other connected individuals. Penalties are clearly outlined and vary depending on the nature and severity of the offense, ranging from fines and demotion to exile and the death penalty. Although resembling a feudal society, the Hong Duc Code remains relevant in Vietnamese criminal law, particularly in corruption prevention and control, especially the clauses on bribery. The article is dedicated to analyzing the crime of bribery in the Hong Duc code, to provide valuable insights for the current Vietnamese criminal law system. The article highlights three main points: (1) The legal form is clear, easy to understand, and easy to apply; (2) Treating bribery as a separate crime rather than just an aggravating circumstance as in current law; (3) Providing rewards to those who report bribery. As a result, the article aims to improve the law, enhance the effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts, and contribute to establishing a fair and civilized society.

Protection of Factually Innocent as a New Narrative to Abolish the Death Penalty in Malaysia

Protection of Factually Innocent as a New Narrative to Abolish the Death Penalty in Malaysia

Monitoring illicit pentobarbital availability in the United States: A National Drug Early Warning System briefing

BackgroundPentobarbital is a Schedule II/III short-acting barbiturate with limited medical use in humans. Veterinary professionals use pentobarbital to euthanize dogs, cats, and other companion animals. Pentobarbital is also utilized in capital punishment and small amounts are illegally shipped or diverted to assist in suicides. However, five kilograms of pentobarbital smuggled in from Mexico was recently seized by an organized crime drug enforcement task force (along with fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine), which may suggest a shift in illicit supply. We investigated potential indicators of illicit pentobarbital use or availability in the US to help determine whether this drug is becoming an emerging public health concern. MethodsThe National Drug Early Warning System requested information on pentobarbital from its sentinel surveillance sites and collaborators and conducted a search of current literature. ResultsIn early 2024, multiple batches of counterfeit pills (e.g., pressed as “M30s” to represent oxycodone) confiscated near the Southwest border tested positive for pentobarbital plus combinations of fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and xylazine. Other indicators suggest pentobarbital is being smuggled in powder form and possibly sold as another drug such as heroin. One national drug analysis program detected pentobarbital in 217 drug submissions from 2020 to 2023, and there were at least 12 fatal exposures linked to use from 2020 to 2022. ConclusionContinued monitoring of illicit use and availability is needed as pentobarbital may continue to appear on the illicit market. Unknown exposure can occur if the drug is mixed into counterfeit pills or sold in powder form represented to be another drug.

Attitudes to Crime and Punishment in England and Wales, 1964–2023: A Reinterpretation of the 1980s and a Model of Interactions Between Concern, Punitiveness and Prioritization

Abstract This paper assembles the largest set of British survey questions about criminal justice to date (1,190 question-year pairs) and uses it to measure crime concern, punitiveness, support for the death penalty and the prioritization of crime as a social issue from the 1960s to today. Results lend some support to existing narratives of public opinion, showing that concern and prioritization grew steadily through the 1970s before declining from the mid-2000s, and that support for the death penalty has been falling since at least the 1960s. But they contradict orthodox accounts of the 1980s as a period of rising punitiveness, showing instead that support for tougher policing and sentencing was highly volatile and subject to significant demographic variation until the late 1990s. I also show that crime concern is particularly responsive to the true rate of crime and propose a model for the interaction between these different strands of public opinion.

The Impact of The Application of The Death Penalty on Reducing Crime Rates: Legal and Criminological Perspectives

The application of the death penalty as a punishment for severe crimes has long been a controversial topic in legal and criminological discourse. This article explores the impact of the death penalty's application on reducing crime rates from two main perspectives: law and criminology. This study uses a qualitative approach with in-depth literature analysis of death penalty policies in various countries, as well as empirical data on crime trends before and after the implementation of the death penalty. From a legal perspective, this article examines how the death penalty is justified as the most extreme tool of law enforcement and how it is integrated within the existing legal framework in several jurisdictions. From a criminological point of view, this article examines theories and research that evaluate the effectiveness of the death penalty as a determinant against crime. The analysis includes a study of the psychological effects of the death penalty on potential offenders, as well as a statistical evaluation of the correlation between the death penalty and a decrease in crime rates. The results of the analysis show that although there is some evidence to support the effectiveness of the death penalty as a crime deterrent, this evidence is often inconclusive and influenced by many contextual factors. In addition, we found that the application of the death penalty usually carries significant ethical and social implications, which can limit its effectiveness and acceptance in society. This article concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of these findings. It provides recommendations for law enforcement and policymakers in balancing crime prevention goals with the principles of justice and human rights. We also call for the need for more holistic research to fully understand the impact of the death penalty on crime levels.

Right to “Life”: The Cruel Contradiction of Exceptions to the Death Penalty for Pregnant People

The death penalty debate intensifies when condemned women are considered, at least in part because of the associations society holds between womanhood and motherhood. Consequently, the concept of motherhood inherently permeates every condemned woman's sentence. Using qualitative document analysis, we examine how pregnancy is accounted for in the death penalty statutes and execution protocols. In half of U.S. states, exceptions exist in the statutes preventing executions of pregnant people, but pregnancy is rarely mentioned in execution protocols. The findings highlight aspects of reproductive injustice.

Sentiment analysis on twitter about the death penalty using the support vector machine method

It is estimated that 175 million people in Indonesia utilize the Internet, according to the most recent We Are Social survey. 160 million of them are internet users who utilize social media, according to this data. It is estimated that 19.5 million Indonesians use Twitter. This is consistent with the numerous tweets that users have posted on Twitter about a variety of topics, including politics, music, health, and education. The death penalty is still one of the most popular subjects that is addressed on Twitter. When a judge rules that someone will be executed as retribution for a crime they have committed, this is referred to as the death penalty. As a result, sentiment analysis utilizing the Support Vector Machine technique with linear kernel features and Python programming was used to study public opinions on the death sentence. To improve the accuracy of the results obtained, data labeling on 848 data that were received through the scraping process was done manually in this study. Positive data is categorized as belonging to the class that supports the death sentence, while negative data is categorized as belonging to the class that opposes it. The study that was done shows an 8:2 difference between the training and test data. After preprocessing a dataset containing 758 data points, of which 606 will be utilized for training and 152 for testing, we obtain 91% accuracy, 91% precision, 100% recall, and 95% f1-score

Eksternalisasi Penerapan Hukuman Mati Terorisme dalam Perspektif Pidana Islam: Studi Komparasi Indonesia dan Mesir

As part of the global community, the death penalty for terrorism should ideally comply with international standards that respect human rights and justice. However, in Indonesia and Egypt, the implementation of the death penalty is often influenced by external and internal factors that deviate from these principles. This study aims to analyze how externalization affects the implementation of the death penalty for terrorism from the perspective of Islamic criminal law in Indonesia and Egypt. This article is classified as library research with a qualitative approach. The methodology used is a comparative study explained through descriptive analysis. The findings show that both countries are influenced by external pressures, with Indonesia experiencing tension between national policies and international standards, while Egypt struggles to balance Sharia principles with global demands. Although there are similarities in the impact of externalization, differences in implementation reflect the diversity of responses to international pressure within the context of Islamic criminal law.

Application of the Status of Justice Collaborator in the Criminal Justice System in Indonesia (Case Study: Decision of Central Jakarta District Court Number 41/Pid.sus/TPK/ 2017/PN. JKT)

In Indonesian criminal law, the status of a Perpetrator Witness (Justice Collaborator) has significant legal consequences. With the entry of this Justice Collaborator regulation, the threat of criminal punishment will be less effective against perpetrators of serious crimes. This will make it more difficult to identify the main perpetrators in cases of crimes committed together, and will be a new strategy to avoid the threat of high punishment because the status of a Justice Collaborator is guaranteed to get leniency for serious crimes committed. The enactment of the regulation on the status of Justice Collaborator in corruption criminal justice which provides a guarantee of a reduction in punishment for perpetrator witnesses is seen as very counterproductive with a very high criminal threat for corruption perpetrators as perpetrators of certain crimes (serious crimes). Most people in Indonesia even strongly agree that the criminal threat for the perpetrators of corruption crimes is the death penalty, so great are the hopes of people who want no more corruption crimes that are very detrimental to the state and the people of Indonesia.

God, love, and death of Trunyan Village

Backgrund: Trunyan Village is a traditional village on the shores of Lake Batur in Bali, Indonesia. The village has unique funeral traditions and religious beliefs. The "Death Penalty Society'' is a specialized burial system where bodies are placed on the ground and surrounded by bamboo. The adore and fondness we appear to others can moreover bring meaning and bliss to our lives, indeed as we persevere melancholy and loss. It is critical to keep in mind that seeing God, adoration and passing are intensely impacted by one's culture, religion, traditions and individual views. Method: The method used is qualitative content analysis, interpreted using Goffman's Framing theory. This approach examines how structured narratives in documents and previous research about Trunyan Village influence perceptions of god, love, and death. Findings: In the context of Trunyan Village, the concepts of God, love and death can have unique meanings and are influenced by local traditions and beliefs..God and love from Trunyan village can be seen in their family relationships with the living and the dead, as they still believe in their ancestors..The love and death of the Terunyan people can be seen from their very unique funeral practices, where they say that the corpse or human body that has died will not emit odour and by doing 'mepasah' is the only way for humans to get a good place in the afterlife..Why there is no ngaben tradition in Trunyan, only ‘mapasah and mendem sawa’, is because their culture and traditions have been passed down from generation to generation, and their understanding of the funeral process is better than the ngaben tradition. Conclusion: Back to the traditions and culture that influence why Trunyan village prefers to carry out 'mepasah' and 'mendem sawa' funerals. It can be concluded that the funeral tradition of mepasah or mendem sawa carried out in Trunyan village is a tradition carried out from generation to generation from their ancestors, which is a funeral activity that thinks about the concept of humanity where they have an understanding that if the human body has died it will not smell and with the taru menyan tree that grows in the setra or grave that protects the corpse from pungent odours and by covering the corpse with bamboo to protect it from wild animals. Novelty/Originality in this Study: Through qualitative content analysis and Goffman's Framing theory, this study explores the meaning of God, love, and death in the context of local traditions. The proposed model includes a digital interactive platform and mobile application to preserve and disseminate knowledge about these cultural practices.

Analysis of criminal responsibility for the crime of premeditated murder (An analysis of decision number 813K/Pid/2023)

Background: This research is motivated by the existence of premeditate murder where the suspect is a member of the police force, namely Ferdy Sambo, the motive for this murder is heartbreak towards the victim who is suspected of committing sexual harassment against Ferdy Sambo’S wife, Putri Candrawati, the problems that arise regarding the regulation of criminal liability for premeditated murder and the application of criminal sanctions for premeditated. Methods: The type of research used by the author is the normative legal and juridical. Statuta Approach, Case Approach, Comparative Approach. Findings: That the act of premeditated murder is regulated in Article 340 of the Criminal Code with a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, while in Law No 1 of 2023 or the National Criminal Code the crime of premeditated murder is regulated in article 459 with the same penalty but the difference is the death penalty embedded in Article 100 of Law No. 1 of 2023 which with a probationary period of 10 years in prison if good behaviour can be changed to life. Conclusion: The use of Law No. 1 of 2023, which should take effect only 3 years later in accordance with Article 624 of Law No. 1 of 2023, it is necessary to review the decision of the Supreme Court on the use of the National Criminal Code as a consideration for the decision in the case of the defendant Ferdy Sambo and also the defendant Ferdy Sambo received a reduction in sentence which was. Novelty/Originality of this Study: This study provides a critical analysis of the application of Law No. 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code in the case of Ferdy Sambo, particularly examining the shift from retributive to rehabilitative criminal justice paradigms. It uniquely highlights the implications of implementing future legislation in current judicial decisions, questioning the appropriateness and legality of such premature application.

Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty (2023) Ghosts Over the Boiler: Voices from Alabama’s Death Row. Katie Owens-Murphy (Ed.). Vanderbilt University Press

Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty (2023) Ghosts Over the Boiler: Voices from Alabama’s Death Row. Katie Owens-Murphy (Ed.). Vanderbilt University Press

On the Spread of Christianity in the Fayum Oasis

Abstract One of the most intriguing periods of Egyptian history, associated with the spread of Christianity, is still poorly understood. Recent excavations shed more light on this process. During excavations conducted by the Centre of Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the Deir el-Banat necropolis in the Fayum an unusual burial was discovered. It contained the remains of a young man who had been subjected to a cruel punishment: an arrow had been shot into his body and he was hanged by the neck. According to the tomb’s inventory and the shrouds found in the grave, the man lived in the fourth century AD, when the persecution of Christians by Roman authorities was particularly virulent. Although it is currently impossible to clearly determine the cause of such a severe violent death, some findings suggest that the execution was caused by religious conflicts. If so, this case is a rare illustration of the death penalty on religious grounds imposed on the ordinary inhabitants of the oasis during Roman rule.

The Death Penalty in Chinese Law

The Death Penalty in Chinese Law

Death Penalty in the Indonesian National Legal System

Death Penalty in the Indonesian National Legal System