Resources listing

Report

Sharia law and the death penalty

This report is designed for non-experts who want to understand more about Sharia law and Islamic jurisprudence as it relates to the death penalty. Sharia law is used in some countries as a reason to retain capital punishment. However, there are schools of thought among Islamic scholars stating that Sharia law creates stringent conditions for […]

Languages: English

Annual Report

PRI Annual Report 2014

PRI’s Annual Report 2014 highlights achievements at both international and country level in our 25th anniversary year which ran from April 2014 to April 2015. The process of revising the text of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners was completed in April 2014 at the fourth intergovernmental expert group meeting […]

Languages: English

Submission

Submission on UN Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 36 – Article 6: Right to life

This submission looks at various ways in which the right to life is violated by the death penalty and how existed safeguards against arbitrary death sentences and executions should be interpreted or strengthened in the light of other human rights developments in recent decades. It draws on insights from PRI’s publication Strengthening death penalty standards. […]

Languages: English

Submission

Statement to UN Crime Commission on quinquennial report of the UN Secretary General on the death penalty, May 2015

This joint statement by PRI, Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the Academic Council of the United Nations System (ACUNS) and others, was delivered to the 24th session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna in May 2015. It responds to the quinquennial […]

Languages: English

Submission

Submission to the OHCHR: Impact of the world drug problem on the enjoyment of human rights

The enforcement of overly punitive laws for drug offences has not only proven ineffective in curbing the production, trafficking, and consumption of illicit substances, but had many negative consequences, including overloading criminal justice systems, overwhelming the courts, fuelling prison overcrowding and exacerbating health problems. Focusing already limited resources on low-level offenders and drug users has […]

Languages: English

Briefing

Prison guards and the death penalty

How are prison officers affected by overseeing prisoners on death row or even participating in executions? What effects does it have in the short and the longer term? This short paper draws on research and interviews with prison guards to outline the psychological impact that guards who have worked with prisoners for many years on death row […]

Languages: English

Multimedia

Podcast: Global Prison Trends 2015

Sentencing trends … prison technology – opportunities and threats … architectural design and offender rehabilitation. A special podcast to accompany our new Global Prison Trends report. Guests include: Alison Hannah (PRI Executive Director) Bryan Stevenson (Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and PRI Board Member) Dr Marayca López (US corrections analyst and justice planner) Rob Allen (criminal […]

Languages: English

Report

Global Prison Trends 2015

This report is designed to describe key global trends in the use and practice of imprisonment and to identify some of the pressing challenges facing states that wish to organise their penitentiary system in accordance with international norms and standards. Topics include: Prison populations and rates of imprisonment Prison management Prison regimes New technologies Criminal justice, social policy and […]

Languages: English