Against the Death Penalty: International Initiatives and Implications

Yorke (U. of Surrey, UK) presents 12 papers reviewing and analyzing the state of capital punishment abolition around the world. Opening papers discuss abolition efforts at the United Nations (including the General Assembly's resolution calling for a moratorium), the evolving human rights discourse of the Council of Europe, the contributions to the debate from the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, and death penalty litigation in the Caribbean. Other papers describe the state of the debate in the United States, China, South Korea, and Taiwan. The final pair of chapters contains a review and critique of abolition strategies and pose a challenge to life imprisonment as the proper alternative to the death penalty. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jon Yorke, Senior Lecturer in Law, BCU School of Law, Birmingham City University, UK