March 30
GLOBAL: An Examination of the Death Penalty Process, with Special Emphasis on Capital Trials Research and Markets has announced the addition of Capital Punishment, Volumes I and II to their offering. Along with the right to make war, the death penalty is the ultimate measure of sovereignty and test of political power, and capital trials are today the moment when that sovereignty is most vividly on display. This volume brings together articles examining the death penalty process, with particular emphasis on capital trials. It highlights the various actors and officials involved in deciding who lives and who dies at the hands of the state, what they do and how they do it. It examines the families of murder victims, lawyers, judges, juries and appellate courts. Each plays a distinctive, and some a controversial role in the death penalty process, bringing different perspectives to bear on decisions made in the process. Topics Covered Volume I: Actors - Victims: Paul Cassell (1999), Barbarians at the gates? A reply to the critics of the victims rights amendment. Markus Dirk Dubber (1993), Regulating the tender heart: when the axe is ready to strike Susan Bandes (1996), Empathy, narrative and victim impact statements Wayne Logan (1999), Through the past darkly: a survey of the uses and abuses of victim impact evidence in capital trials Austin Sarat (1999), Vengeance, victims and the identities of law Lynne N. Henderson (1984-85), The wrongs of victims rights. Actors in the Death Penalty Process - Lawyers: Stephen B. Bright (1994), Counsel for the poor: the death sentence not for the worst crime but for the worst lawyer Jonathan R. Sorenson and James N. Marquart (1990-91), Prosecutorial and jury decision-making in post-Furman Texas capital cases James M. Doyle (1996), The lawyers art: 'representation' in capital cases Austin Sarat (1996), Narrative strategy and death penalty advocacy Michael Mello (1987-88), Facing death alone: the post-conviction attorney crisis on death row. Name index. Volume II: Actors - Judges: Stephen B. Bright and Patrick J. Keenan (1995), Judges and the politics of death: deciding between the Bill of Rights and the next election in capital cases. Actors - Juries: William J. Bowers, Marla Sandys and Benjamin D. Steiner (1998), Foreclosed impartiality in capital sentencing: jurors predispositions, guilt-trial experience and premature decision making Theodore Eisenberg and Martin T. Wells (1993), Deadly confusion: juror instructions in capital cases Benjamin D. Steiner, William J. Bowers and Austin Sarat (1999), Folk knowledge as legal action: death penalty judgments and the tenet of early release in a culture of mistrust and punitiveness Stephen P. Garvey (1998), Aggravation and mitigation in capital cases: what do jurors think? Joseph L. Hoffman (1995), Wheres the buck? Juror misperception of sentencing responsibility in death penalty cases. Actors - The Supreme Court: Margaret Jane Radin (1979-80), Cruel punishment and respect for persons: super due process for death Robert Weisberg (1983), Deregulating death Robert A. Burt (1987), Disorder in the court: the death penalty and the constitution Franklin E. Zimring (1992), Inheriting the wind: The Supreme Court and capital punishment in the 1990s Carol S. Steiker and Jordan M. Steiker (1995), Sober second thoughts: reflections on 2 decades of constitutional regulation of capital punishment. Name index. For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c35026 (source: Businesswire) LEBANON: Lebanon drops death penalty against PLO head A Lebanese military court on Thursday dropped a death penalty against the head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the country. Lebanon had sentenced Sultan Abou al-Ainein to death in absentia in 1999 on charges of forming an armed gang and the illegal possession of weapons. He turned himself in to Lebanese authorities earlier on Thursday after receiving a promise from the government that verdict would be reviewed, PLO official Khaled Aref told Reuters. The military court in Beirut dismissed all the charges and arrest warrants against Abou al-Ainein. "He (Abou al-Ainein) turned himself after meeting several ministers who promised that the sentence will be reviewed," Aref said. Lebanese leaders meeting at "national dialogue" talks agreed earlier this month to disarm Palestinian militants based outside the country's 12 squalid refugee camps and pledged to improve the living conditions of Palestinians in Lebanon. (source: Independent Online) CANADA/IRAN: Former Miss Cda defends Iranian on death row A former Miss Canada is attempting to bring international attention to the plight of an 18-year-old woman sentenced to death in Iran. Nazanin Afshin-Jam, a B.C. resident who won the Miss Canada pageant in 2003, has never met the Iranian woman whose life she is trying to save. "This is not just a case of an Iranian woman. This is a case of humanity," Afshin-Jam told CTV Vancouver. In early January, an Iranian court sentenced the 18-year-old, who is also named Nazanin, to death by hanging because she confessed to stabbing and killing a man who she said was trying to rape her and her niece. Nazanin, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was with her 16-year-old niece when she said three men pushed them to the ground and tried to rape them. She testified to taking a knife and stabbing one of the men in the hand. When the men continued to attack the girls as they tried to escape, she said, she stabbed one of the men in the chest. She said that she was defending herself and her niece and had no intention of killing the man. "She's not a criminal -- she's the victim," Afshin-Jam said. The former Miss Canada and aspiring singer is not along in her efforts. Negar Azmudeh, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, has also taken up the girl's cause, alleging that this case demonstrates the unjust treatment of women in Iran. Azmudeh told CTV Vancouver had Nazanin been killed by a man, he would likely not receive a death sentence: "Because the value of his life would be twice as much as Nazanin's." Amnesty International is also lobbying for Nazanin's release. In the past, Iran has bowed to international pressure. In 1997, a woman who was sentenced to death by hanging for shooting a police officer who allegedly tried to rape her was later released. However, there are also cases where young women have suffered the death penalty. In 2004, a 16-year-old was hung for committing "acts incompatible with chastity." "I think cases like this are illustrative of the fact there is a serious, serious human rights crisis in Iran; the death penalty, discrimination against women and a whole host of other concerns," said Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, told CTV Vancouver. "It really is time for the international community to put those issues right at the top of the agenda." Afshin-Jam has started an on-line petition and hopes that people around the world will also take up Nazanin's cause. "If enough people get involved in this and we all gather together and take action then she can be free." (source: CTC.ca) TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL----Public Statement AI Index: AMR 49/002/2006 (Public)---News Service No: 082 -- 30 March 2006 Trinidad and Tobago: Death sentence for police officer convicted of murder Amnesty International welcomes the recent conviction of a police officer for the murder of an 18 year-old man in January 2004. This is the 1st time since independence that a police officer has been convicted of murdering someone while on duty in Trinidad and Tobago. However, the organization is greatly alarmed that the officer has been sentenced to death. Although the conviction is a positive step in the fight for justice in cases of police killings in Trinidad and Tobago, the organization strongly condemns the passing of a sentence of death. It would be a terrible irony if this conviction for a state killing were to be punished by what in effect would be another state killing. Amnesty International urges the government of Trinidad and Tobago to commute this and all other current sentences of death and to declare a moratorium on executions as a first step towards total abolition of capital punishment. On 22 March 2006, Police Constable Dave Burnett was found guilty of murdering Kevin Cato on 25 January 2004. Kevin Cato was shot dead by PC Burnett at a Carnival dance in Chaguaramas at around 4 oclock in the morning. Ryan Solomon, 22, was also shot by the same officer but survived. According to eyewitnesses, an argument arose between Ryan Solomon and the police officer, who was on duty but not in uniform. According to Ryan Solomon, the police officer slapped him after he had bumped into him while dancing to music playing at the time. Solomon said he slapped the officer back who took out his gun and shot him and Kevin Cato. The police officer claimed he shot the men in self-defence but this was refuted by other eye witnesses. A few days after the killing, the officer from the Western Division was charged with murder. In February 2006, the case went to trial in the Fourth Criminal Court in Port of Spain. Amnesty International has documented a number of apparently unlawful killings by police officers and deaths in police custody. Such cases have rarely been fully investigated allowing those responsible to benefit from impunity. Kevin Catos mother reportedly told the press that she was glad that justice had been done but did not want the death penalty to be carried out. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally and in all circumstances and calls for this sentence to be commuted. The organization has great sympathy with the victims of crime and recognizes the duty of governments to tackle problems of law and order but believes that the death penalty is by nature ineffective, arbitrary and does not deter crime. Background Information The last executions in Trinidad and Tobago took place in June and July 1999 when 10 men were hanged. In recent years, a surge in the crime rate has prompted the government to seek the resumption of executions. (source: Amnesty International)
