A recent book by Sanaz Alasti, ​“Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Comparative Perspective in International Conventions, the United States and Iran,” explores the ques­tion of what con­sti­tutes cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment on an inter­na­tion­al lev­el. The book reviews cur­rent prac­tices in both Iran and the United States, focus­ing on the death penal­ty and the harsh­ness of such prac­tices as cor­po­ral pun­ish­ment, long terms of impris­on­ment, and inflex­i­bile laws man­dat­ing pun­ish­ment. Punishments are par­tic­u­lar­ly exam­ined in light of the uni­ver­sal dec­la­ra­tion of human rights. Sanaz Alasti is a Fellow at Harvard law school, and has writ­ten numer­ous books and arti­cles on var­i­ous aspects of com­par­a­tive crim­i­nal jus­tice and penology.

(S. Alasti, ​“Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Comparative Perspective in International Conventions, the United States and Iran,” Vandeplas Publishing 2009). See more Books.

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