InBrief

Did you know that in Japan, offenders on death row are only informed of the date of their execution on the morning the sentence is due to be carried out? Did you know there are 29 countries that maintain a mandatory death penalty for specified offences, or that Iran is the only country to execute an individual by pushing them from an unknown height? These facts and more can be obtained from the website Death Penalty Worldwide, which seeks to "provide legal practitioners and scholars with critical information about the legal framework and practical application of capital punishment in all nations throughout the world".

Established in 2011 by Professor Sandra Babcock, the director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Cornell University Law School, DPW also advocates for the implementation of international human rights standards in death penalty trials and publishes reports and training manuals for professionals involved with death penalty cases throughout the world.