David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter makes the case for a regional focus by reviewing the materials in the preceding chapters for insights from Asia about capital punishment in the world in the 21st century. The lessons are ...
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This chapter makes the case for a regional focus by reviewing the materials in the preceding chapters for insights from Asia about capital punishment in the world in the 21st century. The lessons are organized into three sections. The first section describes features of death penalty policy in Asia that are consistent with the experiences recorded in Europe and with the theories developed to explain Western changes. The second section identifies some of the most significant diversities within the Asian region—in rates of execution, trends over time, and patterns of change—that contrast with the recent history of capital punishment in non-Asian locations and hence challenge conventional interpretations of death penalty policy and change. The third section discusses three ways the politics of capital punishment in Asia is distinctive: the limited role of international standards and transnational influences in most Asian jurisdictions; the presence of single-party domination in many Asian political systems; and the persistence of communist versions of capital punishment in the Asian region. Overall, the study of death penalty policy in Asia confirms many of the major themes that have emerged from studies of the postwar European and Commonwealth experiences.Less
This chapter makes the case for a regional focus by reviewing the materials in the preceding chapters for insights from Asia about capital punishment in the world in the 21st century. The lessons are organized into three sections. The first section describes features of death penalty policy in Asia that are consistent with the experiences recorded in Europe and with the theories developed to explain Western changes. The second section identifies some of the most significant diversities within the Asian region—in rates of execution, trends over time, and patterns of change—that contrast with the recent history of capital punishment in non-Asian locations and hence challenge conventional interpretations of death penalty policy and change. The third section discusses three ways the politics of capital punishment in Asia is distinctive: the limited role of international standards and transnational influences in most Asian jurisdictions; the presence of single-party domination in many Asian political systems; and the persistence of communist versions of capital punishment in the Asian region. Overall, the study of death penalty policy in Asia confirms many of the major themes that have emerged from studies of the postwar European and Commonwealth experiences.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
On current evidence, the abolition of capital punishment in Asia is not a question of “if” but of “when,” and the critical issues concern the pace and processes of change rather than the direction ...
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On current evidence, the abolition of capital punishment in Asia is not a question of “if” but of “when,” and the critical issues concern the pace and processes of change rather than the direction changes will take or their eventual end point. That said, a large margin of error accompanies efforts to guess the rate at which Asian capital punishment will change. Should we think in terms of a few years, a few decades, or a few centuries? What are the leading indicators of the cessation of executions? And what contingencies could slow the process? These are the central concerns of this concluding chapter.Less
On current evidence, the abolition of capital punishment in Asia is not a question of “if” but of “when,” and the critical issues concern the pace and processes of change rather than the direction changes will take or their eventual end point. That said, a large margin of error accompanies efforts to guess the rate at which Asian capital punishment will change. Should we think in terms of a few years, a few decades, or a few centuries? What are the leading indicators of the cessation of executions? And what contingencies could slow the process? These are the central concerns of this concluding chapter.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Asia is the next frontier in the campaign to end state execution because more than 95 percent of the executions in the world take place there. This book combines detailed case studies of the death ...
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Asia is the next frontier in the campaign to end state execution because more than 95 percent of the executions in the world take place there. This book combines detailed case studies of the death penalty in major Asian nations with cross-national comparisons. It demonstrates decline in the number of Asian countries using execution as a criminal sanction and a decline in the rate of executions in most nations that retain the death penalty. Few Asian nations conduct executions with any regularity, and even major nations with death penalties in their criminal codes use the sanction rarely. What separates the low-execution nations from the very few states with high execution rates is, more than anything, politics. All of Asia's high execution states are hard-line authoritarian regimes of the left or right. When former right-wing authoritarian states experience democratic reforms, the rate of executions drops sharply and the only noncommunist government that maintains high executions is Singapore. The key question is not whether Asia will end state executions, but when it can be expected to do so. If the end of executions depends on the democratization of relatively stable hard-line communist regimes, many decades may be required, but if the stigma of state executions continues to increase, the end of capital punishment in Asia could happen before more comprehensive political change occurs.Less
Asia is the next frontier in the campaign to end state execution because more than 95 percent of the executions in the world take place there. This book combines detailed case studies of the death penalty in major Asian nations with cross-national comparisons. It demonstrates decline in the number of Asian countries using execution as a criminal sanction and a decline in the rate of executions in most nations that retain the death penalty. Few Asian nations conduct executions with any regularity, and even major nations with death penalties in their criminal codes use the sanction rarely. What separates the low-execution nations from the very few states with high execution rates is, more than anything, politics. All of Asia's high execution states are hard-line authoritarian regimes of the left or right. When former right-wing authoritarian states experience democratic reforms, the rate of executions drops sharply and the only noncommunist government that maintains high executions is Singapore. The key question is not whether Asia will end state executions, but when it can be expected to do so. If the end of executions depends on the democratization of relatively stable hard-line communist regimes, many decades may be required, but if the stigma of state executions continues to increase, the end of capital punishment in Asia could happen before more comprehensive political change occurs.
Nils Melzer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199533169
- eISBN:
- 9780191714511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533169.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Public International Law
This chapter introduces the analytical scope and approach of the book. It clarifies the parameters determining the attributability of targeted killings to states under international law, including ...
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This chapter introduces the analytical scope and approach of the book. It clarifies the parameters determining the attributability of targeted killings to states under international law, including the concepts of de iure and de facto state agency. It then discusses the interrelation of the international legal frameworks applicable to such state-sponsored targeted killings, namely the law of interstate force, human rights law and humanitarian law. The chapter concludes by explaining the conceptual approach underlying the subsequent analysis, which is based on the two distinct international normative paradigms of law enforcement and of hostilities.Less
This chapter introduces the analytical scope and approach of the book. It clarifies the parameters determining the attributability of targeted killings to states under international law, including the concepts of de iure and de facto state agency. It then discusses the interrelation of the international legal frameworks applicable to such state-sponsored targeted killings, namely the law of interstate force, human rights law and humanitarian law. The chapter concludes by explaining the conceptual approach underlying the subsequent analysis, which is based on the two distinct international normative paradigms of law enforcement and of hostilities.
Nils Melzer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199533169
- eISBN:
- 9780191714511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533169.003.0015
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Public International Law
This chapter compares the results of the preceding analysis into the permissibility of State-sponsored targeted killing under the international normative paradigms of law enforcement and of ...
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This chapter compares the results of the preceding analysis into the permissibility of State-sponsored targeted killing under the international normative paradigms of law enforcement and of hostilities by recapitulating the preconditions for the lawfulness of such operations under each paradigm, identifying the main concerns raised by recent State practice, and making a few concluding observations setting the respective findings into the larger perspective. It argues that the resort by States to targeted killings in the conduct of hostilities can neither be wholly condemned nor be welcomed without reservation. While the reduction of the conduct of hostilities to pinpoint operations against selected individuals may seem to limit the devastating effects of warfare to a greater extent than could ever have been anticipated in military history, this should not divert attention from the fact that armed conflicts remain inter-collective confrontations that are unlikely to be brought to an end, but may even be stirred-up and protracted, by individualized attacks alone.Less
This chapter compares the results of the preceding analysis into the permissibility of State-sponsored targeted killing under the international normative paradigms of law enforcement and of hostilities by recapitulating the preconditions for the lawfulness of such operations under each paradigm, identifying the main concerns raised by recent State practice, and making a few concluding observations setting the respective findings into the larger perspective. It argues that the resort by States to targeted killings in the conduct of hostilities can neither be wholly condemned nor be welcomed without reservation. While the reduction of the conduct of hostilities to pinpoint operations against selected individuals may seem to limit the devastating effects of warfare to a greater extent than could ever have been anticipated in military history, this should not divert attention from the fact that armed conflicts remain inter-collective confrontations that are unlikely to be brought to an end, but may even be stirred-up and protracted, by individualized attacks alone.
Nils Melzer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199533169
- eISBN:
- 9780191714511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533169.003.0016
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Public International Law
This chapter discusses the three requirements that must be met to ensure that that the resort by States to the method of targeted killing remains subject to the rule of law. First, it must be ...
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This chapter discusses the three requirements that must be met to ensure that that the resort by States to the method of targeted killing remains subject to the rule of law. First, it must be ascertained that international law provides clear and binding normative standards allowing the objective determination of the lawfulness of concrete targeted killings (normative requirement). Second, the rule of law requires that the observance of such normative standards be effectively ensured in practice (procedural requirement). Third, in order for the applicable normative standards to be perceived as legitimate, it must be ensured that they accurately reflect the values prevailing in the societies which they are designed to govern (moral basis).Less
This chapter discusses the three requirements that must be met to ensure that that the resort by States to the method of targeted killing remains subject to the rule of law. First, it must be ascertained that international law provides clear and binding normative standards allowing the objective determination of the lawfulness of concrete targeted killings (normative requirement). Second, the rule of law requires that the observance of such normative standards be effectively ensured in practice (procedural requirement). Third, in order for the applicable normative standards to be perceived as legitimate, it must be ensured that they accurately reflect the values prevailing in the societies which they are designed to govern (moral basis).
Franklin E Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199685776
- eISBN:
- 9780191765773
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199685776.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Comparative Law
This chapter addresses the issue of whether and to what extent Asia is different from other areas of the world where the struggle over capital punishment has played out. It first describes the ...
More
This chapter addresses the issue of whether and to what extent Asia is different from other areas of the world where the struggle over capital punishment has played out. It first describes the variety of death penalty policies in Asia early in the twenty-first century and then considers the possible reasons why policies are different in many Asian nations than in Europe or elsewhere. It suggests two modest changes that may improve the prospects for progress towards abolition of capital punishment in Asia: a non-governmental organization (NGO) that is both indigenous to and focused on the region, and a special emphasis on the early prohibition of state killing as an instrument of political conflict.Less
This chapter addresses the issue of whether and to what extent Asia is different from other areas of the world where the struggle over capital punishment has played out. It first describes the variety of death penalty policies in Asia early in the twenty-first century and then considers the possible reasons why policies are different in many Asian nations than in Europe or elsewhere. It suggests two modest changes that may improve the prospects for progress towards abolition of capital punishment in Asia: a non-governmental organization (NGO) that is both indigenous to and focused on the region, and a special emphasis on the early prohibition of state killing as an instrument of political conflict.
