Policy Issues

International

More than 70% of the world’s countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice. The U.S. is an outlier among its close allies in its continued use of the death penalty.

DPIC Page: Foreign Nationals on United States' Death Rows

DPIC Page: Foreign Nationals on United States’ Death Rows

Some of those on death row in the U.S. are cit­i­zens of oth­er coun­tries, rais­ing human rights issues and issues of U.S. com­pli­ance with inter­na­tion­al treaties.

Cornell Law School: International Death Penalty Database

Cornell Law School: International Death Penalty Database

Maintained by the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide (Cornell Law School)

Overview

More than 70% of the world’s countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice. However, the death penalty continues to exist in many parts of the world, especially in countries with large populations and those with authoritarian rule. In recent decades, there has been a clear trend away from capital punishment, as many countries have either abolished the death penalty or discontinued its use. The U.S. remains an outlier among its close allies and other democracies in its continued application of the death penalty.

While inter­na­tion­al law does not pro­hib­it the death penal­ty, most coun­tries con­sid­er it a vio­la­tion of human rights. The use of the death penal­ty world­wide is rel­e­vant in eval­u­at­ing U.S. stan­dards of decen­cy and what should be con­sid­ered cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment under the Eighth Amendment. Some Justices of the Supreme Court have referred to international law as further affirmation of their own conclusions about the death penalty, particularly as it may apply to specific classes of defendants such as juvenile offenders.

At Issue

There are a number of disagreements that may arise between countries that impose the death penalty and those that do not. Countries without the death penalty are particularly concerned when one of their citizens faces execution in the U.S. Some countries refuse to extradite individuals to the U.S., or even to provide incriminating evidence, if the defendant could face the death penalty. In addition, many countries and international bodies consider the death penalty to be a human rights issue and various U.S. death-penalty practices have been criticized as violating U.S. treaty obligations and international human rights law. The concern for human rights around the world has always been important in U.S. diplomacy, but the U.S. is often challenged because of its use of the death penalty and the protection that affords to other countries that use it in particularly abusive ways.

What DPIC Offers

International research on the use of the death penalty owes particular gratitude to Amnesty International, which has regularly monitored and reported on capital punishment around the world. DPIC passes this information on with attribution through its website and makes an effort to highlight those areas where international norms and practices reflect on the death penalty in the U.S. DPIC has issued one report focusing on this topic and regularly highlights relevant research and developments that occur around the world.

 

News & Developments


News

Oct 02, 2024

Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, United States, and Vietnam

On September 13, 2024, 37 peo­ple, includ­ing three Americans, who were charged with ter­ror­ism, mur­der, crim­i­nal asso­ci­a­tion and ille­gal pos­ses­sion of weapons, among oth­er charges” for their par­tic­i­pa­tion in an attempt­ed coup in May were con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by a mil­i­tary court. Richard Bondo, lawyer for the three Americans, filed an appeal on Tuesday, September 17, 2024. Mr. Bondo argues that since the DRC is a mem­ber of the Treaty of Rome, the rein­state­ment of the death penalty…

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News

Oct 01, 2024

Citing Misconduct, Japanese Court Formally Exonerates Iwao Hakamada of 1966 Murder After 46 Years on Death Row

On September 26, 2024, a Japanese court for­mal­ly acquit­ted 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada (pic­tured), who was wrong­ful­ly sen­tenced to death in 1968 for the mur­der of his for­mer boss and fam­i­ly in Shizuoka, Japan. After 46 years on death row, and anoth­er decade of lit­i­ga­tion, Judge Kunii Tsuneishi of the Shizuoka District Court ruled that blood-stained cloth­ing used to con­vict Mr. Hakamada was fab­ri­cat­ed long after the mur­ders. The court can­not accept the fact that the blood stain would remain…

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News

Sep 04, 2024

Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Somalia

The Aprajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, which out­lines the death penal­ty for rape result­ing in the victim’s death or veg­e­ta­tive state,” was adopt­ed by the West Bengal gov­ern­ment in east­ern India on September 3, 2024. Under inter­na­tion­al law, it is unlaw­ful to pre­scribe the death penal­ty for a crime not meet­ing the most seri­ous” crime (e.g., inten­tion­al murder)…

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News

Aug 27, 2024

68 Human Rights Organizations Express Support for Iranian Prisoners’ No Death Penalty Tuesdays” Abolition Movement Entering Its 31st Week

Amidst a con­tin­ued post-elec­tion exe­cu­tion surge and increased sup­pres­sion of peace­ful prison protests, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and 67 human rights orga­ni­za­tions across four con­ti­nents expressed their sup­port for the ongo­ing No Death Penalty Tuesdays” week­ly hunger strike move­ment cur­rent­ly span­ning 17 Iranian pris­ons across the coun­try. The August 27, 2024 state­ment, pub­lished a day after the first pub­lic hang­ing of the year, call[ed] for an imme­di­ate halt on all executions…

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News

Aug 07, 2024

Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: Belarus, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore

30-year-old German nation­al Rico Krieger, who was sen­tenced to death on six charges relat­ed to ter­ror­ism, espi­onage, and mer­ce­nary activ­i­ty, was par­doned by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on July 30, 2024, there­by con­vert­ing his death sen­tence to a life prison term. On August 1, Mr. Krieger was sub­se­quent­ly released dur­ing the largest pris­on­er exchange since the Cold War, accord­ing to The Guardian. Eight Russian pris­on­ers were released from Western nations, including…

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