Death row phenomenon : a fate worse than death : torture on death row from psychological and legal perspective
Abstract
The conditions on death row globally are characterised by an emphasis on high security, isolation and a limitation of resources. Under these deplorable conditions death row inmates are deteriorating mentally and physically. Internationally, the notion “death row phenomenon” had emerged in an attempt to conceptualise a claim that confining death row inmates in such conditions is unlawful and constitutes torture or inhuman treatment. Twenty-seven years since the doctrine first entered the international realm, there is still no agreement on what constitutes the phenomenon. This absence of clear-cut lines leaves ambiguous of when death row detention becomes unlawful. This paper seeks to answer whether it is possible to detain inmates on death row without triggering the death row phenomenon. After examining various psychological studies on the effects of death row confinement and current divergent approaches to finding detention unlawful, the thesis concludes that the psychological anguish from
awaiting execution is inherent in death row, and therefore it is impossible to confine inmates on death row without breaching the norm prohibiting torture or inhuman treatment.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/20.500.11825/174Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The death of the city councillor Marielle Franco through the lenses of necropolitics : how the assassination of an elected Brazilian woman is moving with the structures of power and revealing a state that is complicit in with the death of a human rights defender
Ferreira, Lidiane : Dias (2020)The death of the city councillor and human rights activist Marielle Franco in 2018 is a complex political crime that exposed all the scars of a country that has not adequately dealt with its past. The concept of Necropolitics, ... -
"Silent holocaust: bioethics and morality against the culture of death" : womens freedom of choice or embryos right to life?
Garcia Penate, Maria Victoria (2013)Today the world is witnessing the violation of some human values e.g. the respect of others life. With the scientific and technological progress, international instruments are necessary. For this reason, the Convention on ... -
Death by algorithm : public opinion and the lethal autonomous weapons debate
Hale, Sophie (2018)Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), branded “killer robots”, are expected to revolutionise warfare and have been the subject of hotly debated international discussions. Officially, they do not exist yet, but already ...