Of all the dramatic turns in the criminal law, few seize the public imagination quite like the eleventh-hour reprieve. Popular fiction and cinema frequently trade on the frantic midnight telephone call to the prison governor’s desk, the breathless courier bearing a parchment reprieve, or the frantic waving of papers as the executioner’s hand grips the … Read more
Throughout the history of capital punishment, the legal authority to take human life has rested upon judicial process: a formal indictment, a trial before a judge and jury, a pronounced sentence, and a period of condemned detention preceding execution by an authorised officer of the state. Running alongside this codified legal machinery is the practice … Read more
Whenever capital punishment is debated, discussions invariably centre upon morality, retribution, deterrence, and the awful risk of executing an innocent person. Yet running parallel to these ethical arguments is a pragmatic question that has occupied Treasury officials, Home Secretaries, and American state legislators for well over a century: what does it actually cost to put … Read more
Analysis by Country Afghanistan America (USA) America has historically shown marked reluctance to execute women. Notable Female Executions in the USA There were no female executions in America during 1999. Botswana Chechnya China China executes more people per year than the rest of the world combined, but only a small proportion are women. Female Executions … Read more
Background The case of Shahla Jahed gripped Tehran. The tabloids sold by street children at traffic lights across the city made a great deal out of the case under banner headlines such as “Shahla: I am Laleh’s murderer”, “Shahla: I’m no psycho” and “My mistress murdered my wife”. Although not pretty enough to be a model, Shahla was a … Read more
