Barriers to Abolition: A Global Perspective on the Death Penalty

With only 37 of the 195 UN Member States retaining the death penalty, the global movement towards abolition is clear, but what are the remaining barriers?

In recent years we have seen some positive developments in retentionist countries:  see the steps taken by China, the world's number one executioner, to reduce the number of crimes that face a sentence of death to the progressive reasoning used by Sudanese judges in the Meriam Ibrahim apostasy case.  However, many areas of great concern remain including the sharp rise in the number of executions in Iran and the regressive steps taken by Pakistan and Chad in resuming the use of the death penalty show us there is still work to be done.

Focusing on the use of the death penalty in China, the United States and Malaysia, as well as looking into the relationship between Islam and the death penalty, panellists will assess the final legal and political barriers to abolition.

Panellists

• Professor Carolyn Hoyle, University of Oxford and Director of the Centre for Criminology:  The Use of the Death Penalty in China
• Professor Jon Yorke, Birmingham City University and member of the Death Penalty Advisory Group:  Islamic Law and the Death Penalty
• Abdul Rashid Ismail,  practising lawyer in Malaysia and former President of the Malaysian Human Rights Society:  The Use of the Death Penalty in Malaysia
• Dr Bharat Malkani, University of Birmingham:  The Use of the Death Penalty in the United States

The event is free and open to all.  If you would like to attend, please RSVP to laura.wills@nottingham.ac.uk.