European Amicus Curiae Briefs: The Road to Abolition of the Death Penalty

• Author: Nikki O'Sullivan
• Position: 3rd Year BCL (Intl 3) Candidate, University College Cork
• Pages: 30-57

EUROPEAN UNION

AMIcus

CURIAE

BRIEFS:

THE

ROAD

TO

ABOLITION

OF THE

DEATH

PENALTY.

NIKKI

O'SULLIVAN*

One

is

absolutely

sickened,

not

by

the

crimes

that the

wicked have

committed, but

by

the

punishments

that the good

have

inflicted;

and

a

community

is

infinitely

more

brutalized

by

the habitual

employment

of

punishment

than

it

is

by

the occasional

occurrence

of

crime.

Oscar

Wilde,

Irish

dramatist,

novelist,

poet

(1854-1900).

Introduction

This

incisive statement

sets

the

tone

for

any

debate

surrounding

the

death

penalty.

In

recent

years,

the debate

concerning

the

death

penalty

and

its use

globally

has

raged

into

a

political

storm

as

countries

continue

to analyse

their

legal

systems and

compare

them

to

international

standards.'

In

1977,

only

16

countries

had

abolished

the

death

penalty

for

all

crimes

but

today

the

figure

stands at

91.2

The

case

for abolition becomes

more compelling

with

each

passing

year,

as

the

number

of

countries prohibiting

capital

punishment

continues

to

increase.

In

light

of

this progressive

trend,

one

must

wonder

how

much

longer

the

retentionist

countries

will continue

to

express

support

for

the

death

penalty

as

a

method

of

punishment.

It

is

also

worth

considering the

effect

their

stance

will

have

on

their

position

in

the

global community.

Human

rights

law

is

now

a

standard

by

which

the

global community

adjudicates

its

peers

and this

affects not only

domestic

* 3

rd

Year

BCL

(Intl

3)

Candidate, University

College

Cork.

Over

50

countries

worldwide

have abolished

the death penalty

for

all

crimes

since

1990.

See

Amnesty International,

Death

Penalty:

Abolitionist

and

Retentionist

Countries

www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/abolitionist-and-retentionist-countries

(visited

January

2008).

2

Ibid.

3

TD

Meithe, and

H

Lu,

Punishment:

A

Comparative

Historical

Perspective

(Cambridge

University

Press,

2004),

at

59-62.

©

2008

Nikki

O'Sullivan

and

Dublin

University Law

Society

EUAmicus Curiae

Briefs

policy

but

also

commerce, trading, diplomatic relations

4

between

countries

and

international

co-operation

on

security

initiatives.

5

Two-thirds

of

the

countries in the

world

have

now

abolished

the

death

penalty

in

law

or

practice.

The latest available figures

from

Amnesty

International

6

demonstrate

that:

91

countries

have abolished

the

death penalty

for

all

crimes;

11

countries

have

abolished

the

death penalty

for

all

but exceptional

crimes

such

as

wartime

crimes;

33

countries

can be

considered

abolitionist

in

practice: they

retain

the

death penalty

on

the

statute

books

but

they

have

not

carried

out

any

executions

for

the

past

10

years

or

more.

This

makes

a

total

of

133

countries which

have

abolished

the

death

penalty

in

law

or

practice.

However,

there

are

still

64

countries

that

retain

the

use

of

the

death

penalty,

although

the

number

of

prisoners

executed

in

any

given

year

is

decreasing.

In

2006,

91

per

cent

of

all

known executions

7

took

place

in six

countries:

China,

Iran,

Pakistan,

Iraq,

Sudan

and

the

USA.

8

This

data

places the

United

States

in

the

same

league

as

countries

that

it

often

publicly condemns

as

violators

of

international human

rights

standards.

While

it

must

be

noted that

the

USA is

by

no

means

the worst

offender

in

terms

of

the

number

of

executions

carried out

per

year,

it

faces

4

Roper

v

Simmons

543

US

551

(2005).

See Amicus

Curiae

brief

written

by

former

US

diplomats:

Morton

Abramowitz,

Stephen

W Bosworth, Stuart

E

Eizenstat,

John

C

Kornblum,

Phyllis

E

Oakley,

Thomas

R

Pickering,

Felix

G

Rohatyn,

J

Stapleton

Roy and

Frank

G

Wisner.

In

their

brief

supporting

the

applicant,

the

diplomats argued

that

the USA

policy

on

executing

juvenile

offenders puts

major

strain

on

diplomatic

relations,

as

such

a

practice has

been

expressly

prohibited

by

other

countries.

5

Richard

C

Dieter,

International

Perspectives

on

the

Death Penalty:

A

Costly

Isolation

for

the

US,

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=536&scid-45 (visited

51

h

December

2007).

6

1bid.

At

the

time

of

writing,

the

most recent

figures

were

from

the

2nd

October

2007,

however Amnesty

International

regularly posts

the

current statistics

at

www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty#figures

(visited

3

1"

January

2008).

7 Amnesty

International

estimates

that

at

least

1,010

people

were

executed

in

2006

in

China.

See

Amnesty

International,

Death

Penalty: Death

Sentences

and

Executions

in

2006

www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/death-sentences-and-executions-in-2006 (visited

31st

January

2008).

8

In

2006,

there

were

53

executions

in

12

states

in

the

USA.

Amnesty International USA,

Death

Penalty

Statistics

2006

www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGACT500122007 (visited

31

st

January

2008).

2008]