Madison v. Alabama: Chief Justice Roberts “Takes Back Control” of his Court
Last week, the US Supreme Court spared the life of Vernon Madison, at least temporarily, by remanding his case back to the lower court to decide whether his dementia renders...
The High Court of England and Wales: facilitator of the death penalty abroad?
Last week, the High Court of England and Wales held that it was lawful for the British Government to assist American authorities with the investigation and prosecution of crime in...
Indian Supreme Court Judge Calls for Abolishing the Death Penalty
In a powerful dissenting opinion that has reignited the debate on the retention of the death penalty in India, Justice Kurian Joseph of the Indian Supreme Court has called for...
The Union Government of India Introduces the Death Penalty for Child Rape
When news broke out two weeks ago of the horrors committed in the brutal rape of two girls in the small towns of Kathua and Unnao, all legislative consideration of...
A Theatre of Death: Challenging the Death Penalty in India (with Anup Surendranath)
The death penalty was written into the colonial penal code in India when the country was under British direct rule, and it stayed on the books after independence. Today India...
The Hidden Cost of the Death Penalty in India
The death penalty needs to have significant social benefits, not attainable with the next most severe form of punishment, life imprisonment, for it to be justified. Existing arguments already show...
Criminal Justice and the Death Penalty in India: An Opinion Study with 60 Former Supreme Court Judges
The Centre on the Death Penalty at National Law University, Delhi conducted an opinion study with 60 former Indian Supreme Court judges to understand their perspectives on India’s criminal justice...
Death Sentences in the Delhi Gang Rape Case: Brutality as Trumps
On 16th December 2012, a particularly disturbing case of gangrape and murder in New Delhi (‘the Delhi gangrape case’) set off massive nationwide protests. Widespread discussions on sexual violence in...
Midazolam and the Lethal Injection – ‘In re: Ohio Execution Protocol Litigation’
On January 26 2017, a federal court in Ohio ruled that its current execution method is unconstitutional. This was on the basis that the use of the first drug in...
The Rise of the Death Penalty in the Middle East and North Africa
In the six years following the Arab Spring, there has been a notable increase in death sentences and executions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In this episode,...
Donald Trump is President: What are the Implications for the Death Penalty?
Prior to the election of Donald Trump, death penalty abolitionists were quietly confident that capital punishment was nearing its inevitable end in the United States. The number of executions has...
Killing Time: A Comment on the Case of Brandon Astor
On 3 February 2016, the State of Georgia executed a 72 year old man – Brandon Astor – by lethal injection. Astor was convicted of killing a convenience store manager...
