PENALTY

AFTERWORD
It is vital that we encourage people to join the movement to end the
death penalty, which negates the right to life and raises important
human rights concerns.
No judiciary is mistake-free. In practice, the decision to put someone
to death is often arbitrary, and the odds are often stacked against the
poor, the powerless, and people who belong to racial, religious, ethnic
or sexual minorities. An alarming body of evidence also indicates that
even well-functioning legal systems have sentenced to death men and
women who were subsequently proved innocent. When a miscarriage
of justice results in someone being put to death, the state becomes a
murderer. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the death penalty
deters crime. The real deterrent is not the severity of punishment but its
certainty. We need to focus resources and policy on strengthening the
justice system—not on the brutal and arbitrary practice of executions.
“CONSIDER THE FACTS WITH AN OPEN MIND.”
—Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
The global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty has accelerated
remarkably in recent years, and today most countries either have
abolished it or observe a moratorium. Distressingly, among the states
that do continue to execute people, several use this penalty for offences
that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes,” after legal
proceedings that clearly violate human rights standards for a fair trial.
I urge every reader to consider the facts with an open mind. To me,
the arguments are convincing and decisive: On every level—from
principle to practice—the death penalty is wrong.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
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