Commutations of sentence and acts of clemency
Archive theme
A death sentence can be turned into a prison sentence by an act of clemency: commutation, pardon, amnesty, remission. These rest with heads of state, courts and clemency boards, and not infrequently arrive within hours of an execution.
For the association they are a concrete front: every commutation is a life, and the countries that grant many of them are often the ones closest to a moratorium in fact. This page collects the news on commutations, pardons and acts of clemency.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2024EthiopiaDEATH PENALTY
ETHIOPIA PARDONS 178 DEFENSE FORCE MEMBERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Ethiopia’s Defense Force announced on September 10, 2024 that it has pardoned 178 ethnic Tigrayan members of the Ethiopian Defense Force, who were sentenced to death by court martial in connection with the November 2020 attack on the Northern Command in t
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Morteza Yousefi executed on September 11 in Nowshahr
SEPTEMBER 10, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: ODISHA HC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY IN TRIPLE MURDER CASE
The Odisha High Court on Wednesday commuted death sentence of one Nabin Dehury to imprisonment for life till his natural death without remission or commutation.
AUGUST 16, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Trump and Harris records on criminal justice policy
AUGUST 8, 2024UtahDEATH PENALTYUSA - Utah. Taberon Dave Honie, 48, Native American, was executed
AUGUST 7, 2024OklahomaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Parole Board votes for clemency for Emmanuel Littllejohn
AUGUST 6, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: ODISHA COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR KILLING WIFE FOR GIVING BIRTH TO SECOND GIRL CHILD
A court in Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar on August 1, 2024 sentenced a man to death for repeatedly stabbing his wife to death and attempting to murder his six-year-old daughter by slitting her throat two years ago.
JULY 31, 2024BelarusDEATH PENALTYBELARUS: PRESIDENT LUKASHENKO PARDONS GERMAN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH ON TERRORISM CHARGES
Belarus’ authoritarian leader on July 30, 2024 granted a pardon to a German citizen who had been sentenced to death on terrorism charges.
JULY 31, 2024FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. White woman who wrongfully accused ‘Groveland Four’ of rape dies at 92
Norma Padget falsely accused 4 Black men of rape in 1949
JULY 24, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: KERALA HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF PATHANAMTHITTA MAN WHO KILLED NEPHEWS AGED 3 & 7
The Kerala High Court has commuted the death penalty imposed upon Thomas Chacko (aka Shibu) of Keekozhur, Ranni, to 30 years of rigorous imprisonment without remission for murdering his nephews aged 3 and 7 over a property dispute, Manorama Online reporte
JULY 10, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: FEDERAL COURT COMMUTES MAN'S DEATH SENTENCE TO 38 YEARS JAIL FOR MURDERING TRANSVESTITE
A former scrap metal dealer’s death sentence for killing a transvestite 15 years ago has been commuted to 38 years in jail by the Federal Court, Bernama reported on July 4, 2024.
JULY 8, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: DEATH SENTENCE FOR INDONESIAN CLEANER’S MURDERER COMMUTED TO 35 YEARS JAIL
The Court of Appeal of Putrajaya on June 24, 2024 commuted the death sentence imposed on a 41-year-old man to 35 years in jail for murdering an Indonesian house cleaner in 2017 after she allegedly badmouthed him.
JULY 1, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - DPIC Releases Report on Politicization of the Death Penalty
JUNE 27, 2024OklahomaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Richard Rojem, 66, White, was executed
- JUNE 26, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: FEDERAL COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE OF FORMER BUSINESSMAN FOR MURDER OF UUM GRADUATE 18 YEARS AGO
The Federal Court in Putrajaya on May 29, 2024 upheld the death sentence of a former businessman for the murder of a female marketing executive 18 years ago.
JUNE 26, 2024TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Ramiro Gonzales, 41, Hispanic, was executed
- JUNE 16, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Activists ask Biden to commute all federal death sentences
Trump could execute 40 prisoners in second term 'bloodbath'
- JUNE 16, 2024IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Khamenei pardons, reduces sentences of 2,654 inmates
But no death row prisoners
JUNE 13, 2024NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: PLATEAU, OGUN, KADUNA GOVS PARDON 164 PRISONERS
In commemoration of Democracy Day on June 12, 2024, the Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, granted pardon to 13 inmates serving various jail terms in the state.
JUNE 11, 2024MissouriDEATH PENALTYUSA - Missouri. David Hosier, 69, White, was executed
7th prisoner executed in the U.S. this year
JUNE 6, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Maryland. Kenneth J. Lighty gets 2 life sentences at resentencing
Federal sentence
- MAY 30, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: JAPANESE HAS DEATH SENTENCE REDUCED TO 30-YEAR PRISON TERM
Malaysia's top court commuted the death sentence imposed on a Japanese woman for drug trafficking to 30 years in prison on May 29, 2024, following a judicial reform that eliminated mandatory capital punishment for illicit drug trade and several other seri
MAY 29, 2024IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: UTTARAKHAND HC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN WHO RAPED HIS 5 YEAR OLD COUSIN SISTER MULTIPLE TIMES
The Uttarakhand High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man convicted of repeatedly raping his five-year-old orphaned cousin, Lawbeat reported on May 28, 2024.
- MAY 27, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: WOMAN'S DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED TO 33 YEARS IN JAIL FOR MURDER
The Federal Court on May 20, 2024 commuted the death sentence of a woman who murdered her close friend by stabbing her seven times to 33 years in jail.
MAY 22, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: SIBU MAN HAS DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED TO 40 YEARS’ JAIL IN 2013 TRIPLE MURDER
A 54-year-old man was spared the gallows on May 13, 2024 after the Federal Court commuted his death sentence for the 2013 murders of his wife and two children in Sibu to 40 years in prison.
MAY 22, 2024BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN: KING TAKES ACTIVISTS BY SURPRISE WITH PARDON FOR AT LEAST 1,500 PRISONERS
Bahrain has unconditionally released more than 1,500 prisoners, including political detainees, in the biggest royal pardon since the 2011 Arab spring uprising, The Guardian reported on April 9, 2024.
MAY 9, 2024TaiwanDEATH PENALTYTAIWAN: MAN'S DEATH PENALTY COMMUTED TO LIFE SENTENCE AFTER FOUR RETRIALS
A Kaohsiung man's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on May 7, 2024 by the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court, after his case was retried for the fourth time.
- MAY 8, 2024OhioDEATH PENALTY
Ohio - Stanley Fitzpatrick Death Sentence Overturned
Under new law on severe mental illness
MAY 8, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: APPEALS COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE FOR 2 TURTLE EGG COLLECTORS
The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya on May 7, 2024 commuted the death sentence imposed on two turtle egg collectors to 12 years imprisonment for causing the death of their colleague who was trying to break up a fight eight years ago.
MAY 8, 2024United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - The Events in the Lives of Women on U.S. Death Row
Article of New Cardozo Law Review