Roger Hood

Carolyn Hoyle

The fifth edition of this highly praised study charts and explains the progress that continues to be made towards the goal of worldwide abolition of the death penalty. The majority of nations have now abolished the death penalty and the number of executions has dropped in almost all countries where abolition has not yet taken place. Emphasising the impact of international human rights principles and evidence of abuse, the authors examine how this has fuelled challenges to the death penalty and they analyse and appraise the likely obstacles, political and cultural, to further abolition. They discuss the cruel realities of the death penalty and the failure of international standards always to ensure fair trials and to avoid arbitrariness, discrimination and conviction of the innocent: all violations of the right to life. They provide further evidence of the lack of a general deterrent effect; shed new light on the influence and limits of public opinion; and argue that substituting for the death penalty life imprisonment without parole raises many similar human rights concerns. This edition provides a strong intellectual and evidential basis for regarding capital punishment as undeniably cruel, inhuman and degrading. Widely relied upon and fully updated to reflect the current state of affairs worldwide, this is an invaluable resource for all those who study the death penalty and work towards its removal as an international goal.

A Worldwide Perspective

The Death Penalty

The fifth edition of this renowned work charts the progress towards the goal of worldwide abolition of the death penalty internationally. The authors make a powerful case for abolition, regarding capital punishment as cruel, inhuman, and degrading.

Mai Sato

This book reveals what happens to applications for post-conviction review when those in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland who believe they are wrongfully convicted apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the only body that can refer a case back to the Court of Appeal once appellants opportunities for direct appeal are exhausted. While the Court is obliged to hear all such referrals, the Commission can only refer a case where it believes there is a real possibility that the Court will quash the conviction. The first empirical study of all stages of decision-making within the Commission, this book starts from the premise that the test applied by the Commission (the real possibility test) is not inflexible. Though created by statute and refined through case law, it must be determined on a case-by-case basis, drawing too on cultural and structural variables, alongside fresh evidence gathered by the Commission. Through in-depth analysis of case files and interviews, Hoyle and Sato scrutinize the Commissions operational practices, its working rules and assumptions, considering how these influence its understanding of the real possibility test. Situating their rich empirical data within a framework of the Commissions social, organizational, and legal contexts, this book demonstrates that in its open-ended investigations there is considerable scope for discretion; for thorough exploration of all possible avenues or for choosing a more superficial consideration of a case. It emerges that while structured internal guidance, drawing heavily on Court jurisprudence, shapes decision-making, creating consistency in approach, there remains some variability across cases, over time, that can be accounted for by the different professional backgrounds and personalities of Commission staff.

Wrongful Convictions and the Criminal Cases Review Commission

Reasons to Doubt

Richard P. Young

Roderick Hill

Traditionally, a police caution has involved nothing more than an officer warning an offender that any future offending may result in a court appearance. Under new procedures, inspired by similar programmes in New Zealand and Australia, victims and others affected by an offence, will be invited to meet the offender in the presence of a police officer. The officer facilitates a discussion of the harm caused by the offence and how it might best be repaired. The aim is to promote behavioural change on the part of the offender as well as to enable victims and others affected by an offence to have their questions answered and to receive an apology and/or compensation where appropriate.

An Evaluation of the Thames Valley Police Initiative in Restorative Cautioning

Proceed with Caution

Mary Bosworth

Critically examining criminology's conceptual foundations, aims, methods, boundaries, and impact, this collection of specially-commissioned essays by leading international criminologists examines the current state of the discipline. It is essential reading for all academics and advanced students of criminology.

What is Criminology?

Roger G. Hood

The 4th edition edition of this classic study has been thoroughly revised to provide up-to-date information on the scope and practice of capital punishment and the movement, backed by international organizations and human rights treaties, to abolish the death penalty worldwide. As in previouseditions, it draws on Roger Hood's experience as consultant to the United Nations for the Secretary General's five-yearly surveys of capital punishment as well as the latest information from non-governmental organizations and the academic literature.Not only have more countries - such as the Phillipines - abolished capital punishment, but amongst those that retain the death penalty, fewer have been carrying out executions. Legal challenges to the mandatory imposition of capital punishment have been successful, as has the movement to abolish thedeath penalty for those who commit a capital crime when under the age of 18. Of particular interest is the situation in China, where all death sentences are to be reviewed by the People's Supreme Court. Support for capital punishment is waning in the USA, where concern is mounting as evidence ofconviction of the innocent grows, and where there have been renewed challenges to the constitutionality of the death penalty.Despite the many advances towards world-wide abolition, this book reveals many human rights abuses where the death penalty still exists. These include the wide range of crimes still subject to capital punishment in some countries, the lack of protection from police abuse, unfair trials, lack ofaccess to qualified defence counsel, terrible conditions and excessive periods of time spent on 'death row', and public and painful forms of execution. Roger Hood and Carolyn Hoyle engage with the latest debates on the realities of capital punishment, especially the claim that the death penalty is a uniquely effective deterrent to murder and other serious crimes. This edition brings up-to-date the discussion of whether capital punishment can everbe administered equitably, without discrimination or error, and, for the first time, considers the alternatives to capital punishment, especially the problems associated with a mandatory sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This edition also considers the role andinfluence of victims' families and victim interest movements.

Criminology is a booming discipline, yet one which can appear divided and fractious. In this rich and diverse collection of 34 essays, some of the worlds leading criminologists respond to a series of questions designed to investigate the state, impact and future challenges of the discipline: What is criminology for? What is the impact of criminology? How should criminology be done? What are the key issues and debates in criminology today? What challenges does the discipline of criminology face? How has criminology as a discipline changed over the last few decades? The resulting essays identify a series of intellectual, methodological and ideological borders. Borders, in criminology as elsewhere, are policed, yet they are also frequently transgressed; criminologists can and do move across them to plunder, admire, or learn from other regions. While some boundaries may be more difficult or dangerous to cross than others it is rare to find an entirely secluded locale or community. In traversing ideological, political, geographical and disciplinary borders, criminologists bring training, tools and concepts, as well as key texts to share with foreigners. From such exchanges, over time, borders may break down, shift, or spring up, enriching those who take the journey and those who are visited. It is, in other words, in criminologys capacity for and commitment to reflexivity, on which the strength of the field depends.

Carolyn Hoyle

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