What can 'restrictionist' strategies achieve in death penalty retentionist states?
Prof Anup Surendranath, Dr Mai Sato and Katie Campbell explored the topic worldwide.
Read the blog post by Neetika Vishwanath discussing the event!
@oxhrh.bsky.social
blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalt...
What keeps countries from moving from non-use of the death penalty to full abolition?
Throwback to late 2025, when we secured new funding from the @oxpolicyengaged.bsky.social to continue our work on ‘abolitionist de facto’ states.
#ThrowbackThursday #DeathPenalty #DPRU
Throwback to March 2025, when colleagues from DPRU and the @thedeathpenalty.bsky.social were shortlisted for the University of Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor’s Awards.
A good reminder of how sustained research and partnerships can carry weight beyond academia.
#ThrowbackThursday #DeathPenalty #DPRU
The DPRU's Carolyn Hoyle published an op-ed for Jewish News this week, addressing new legislation passed in Israel seeking to revive the use of the death penalty:
*NEW* DPRU Blog post:
Christine Savino argues that the dismissal of a capital-eligible charge in United States v. Mangione marks an important legal boundary against the arbitrary and politicised application of the federal death penalty in the US.
blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalt...
🚨 Record spike in drug-related executions
Executions for drug offences surged 97% in 2025, with 1,212+ people executed worldwide - the highest figure recorded since we began monitoring in 2007.
Punitive drug control is now driving nearly half of confirmed executions globally.
We are pleased to share our Annual Report 2024-25, with updates on our research projects, recent publications, and impact & engagement activities - with thanks to the many partner organisations worldwide that we collaborated with during this period:
www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news...
"Necropolitics and state-sponsored drug violence: the death penalty for drug offences in Indonesia" by Lucy Harry & Carolyn Hoyle (2026) via @ijdrugpolicy.bsky.social...does your country have the death penalty for drug offences?!?
Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Latest article with @dpruoxford.bsky.social ⬇️
Is Israel on the brink of normalizing executions? Prof. Ron Dudai (Ben-Gurion University & Oxford University) breaks down how a new death-penalty bill would create a two-tier system of life and death—targeting Palestinians while shielding Jews—
youtube.com/shorts/2nAo2...
DPRU Research Associate Sabrina Mahtani writes for The Guardian about her new research with Penal Reform International and Women Beyond Walls examining laws and practices which criminalise women due to poverty or status worldwide:
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
*NEW* DPRU Blog post:
Taqbir Huda argues that the death sentence recently imposed on the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina - while offering powerful symbolic and communicative censure - makes genuine legal accountability far less likely:
blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalt...
DPRU Research Associate Dr Ron Dudai writes for @972mag.com on a new bill in Israel which, if passed, would reinstate judicial executions
"Much is at stake — for Palestinians, for Israeli society, and for global efforts to abolish capital punishment."
www.972mag.com/israel-death...
How does the capital punishment process impact the families of victims of crime?
A new report by Dr Amelia Inglis, published by the Death Penalty Project (DPP), provides new evidence based on interviews with the families of murder victims in the U.S.
blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalt...
📖 Read the High Commissioner’s full remarks: www.ohchr.org/en/statement...
📑 Explore our new report: deathpenaltyproject.org/study-uncove...
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk said: “In total, nearly 3,000 death row inmates in [ADF] countries are often held in inhumane conditions without access to legal aid. They may live in solitary confinement for years, chained by fear, uncertainty & intolerable psychological torment."
🚨 This afternoon, at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, we unveiled our research on abolitionist de facto (ADF) countries — states that haven’t executed in 10+ years but still retain the death penalty in law.
Cruel punishments that extinguish hope have no place in Taiwan's democracy.
Following a visit to Taipei, our Co-Executive Director and researcher Catherine Appleton share their reflections on Taiwan's recent regressive steps in criminal justice policy 👇
url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/qvIxCLgR0f...
Did you know there are currently 42 countries that retain the death penalty, but have not carried out an execution in 10+ years?
Our new report with @dpruoxford.bsky.social examines the practices and rationales of these unusual states, finding 👇
Full report: deathpenaltyproject.org/knowledge/ab...
The Human Rights Council side event in Geneva will feature discussion of the report's findings from the DPRU and DPP team, with opening remarks from Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Clare Ovey, Director of Human Rights at the Council of Europe:
The Human Rights Council side event in Geneva will feature discussion of the report's findings from the DPRU and DPP team, with opening remarks from Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Clare Ovey, Director of Human Rights at the Council of Europe:
This Friday 26 September, the DPRU and the Death Penalty Project will publish our new report on the death penalty under abolitionist de facto (ADF) status, with a launch event at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
law.ox.ac.uk/content/news...
www.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalt...
See our new paper:
Daniel Pascoe and Mai Sato, 'The death penalty, due process violations, murder by decree and extra-legal killings: A typology of 'murder by governments''
Iran: 13 months into Pezeshkian’s presidency, the execution toll has surpassed 1,625.
Every execution in Iran is a call to action.
#StopExecutionsInIran
#نه_به_اعدام
#NoDeathPenalty
@drmaisato.bsky.social
@dpruoxford.bsky.social
@rdunhamdp.bsky.social
In a new article for the Journal of Human Rights Practice, DPRU Director Professor Carolyn Hoyle and the Death Penalty Project's Parvais Jabbar reflect on the collaborative process leading up to Zimbabwe's abolition of the death penalty in December 2024:
www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news...
In a new article for the Journal of Human Rights Practice, DPRU Director Professor Carolyn Hoyle and the Death Penalty Project's Parvais Jabbar reflect on the collaborative process leading up to Zimbabwe's abolition of the death penalty in December 2024:
www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news...
At the U.S. UPR pre-session 🇺🇳 @norwayingeneva.norway.no raised the important issue of the federal death penalty. Our U.S. Stakeholder report on the DP can be downloaded here bcuassets.blob.core.windows.net/docs/usa-upr... @norwaymfa.government.no @dpruoxford.bsky.social
"The death penalty in Kenya is literally a mental torture... The suffering is so severe, waiting for something that isn’t going to happen, that prisoners would demand to be executed."
Read Willis Nandi's blog post published by @dpruoxford.bsky.social: blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/death-penalt...
Our partners @thedeathpenalty.bsky.social are on this platform, if you’re interested in the #DeathPenalty … and why wouldn’t you be?!
🚨 We're recruiting a Fundraising Manager! The Death Penalty Project is on the lookout for an experienced fundraiser with a passion for human rights to develop and manage our new major donor and regular giving programmes.
For more information:🔗 www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/the-dea...