The Death Penalty As Cruel Treatment And Torture: Capital Punishment Challenged in the World's Courts

by William A. Schabas

William A. Schabas reviews the history of the philosophical and legal interpretations of this fundamental norm, and closely examines its impact on the way the world's courts are currently grappling with the issue of how to implement capital punishment. This is a fascinating study of evolving human rights norms that in turn have generated a rich body of international comparative case law favoring the progressive limitation and ultimate abolition of the death penalty.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

William A. Schabas is professor of international law at Middlesex University in London. He is also professor of international criminal law and human rights at Leiden University, emeritus professor human rights law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland Galway, and an honorary professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in Beijing and Wuhan University. He is the author of more than 20 books and 300 journal articles, on such subjects as the abolition of capital punishment, genocide and the international criminal tribunals. Professor Schabas was a member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in Human Rights and president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He serves as president of the Irish Branch of the International Law Association chair of the Institute for International Criminal Investigation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

From PHD Studies in Human Rights