Death sentences
Archive theme
A death sentence is not the same thing as an execution: years can pass between the two, and the sentence may be overturned on appeal, commuted, or never carried out. Counting them separately measures two different things: how far a state resorts to capital punishment, and how far it actually applies it.
This page collects the news on death sentences handed down around the world, on the later stages of appeal, and on the sentences upheld or overturned. Executions have a page of their own.
Latest news
- APRIL 16, 2001North CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
Study Finds Evidence of Racial Bias in North Carolina...
Study Finds Evidence of Racial Bias in North Carolina Death Penalty the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the death penalty in North Carolina was released on April 16 by researchers from the University of North Carolina
- APRIL 16, 2001IranDEATH PENALTY
Five drug-traffickers, sentenced to death by a revolution...
Five drug-traffickers, sentenced to death by a revolution court were hanged in public in the northeastern city of Birjand
- APRIL 12, 2001AlgeriaDEATH PENALTY
Two men were sentenced to death by the Tébessa criminal...
Two men were sentenced to death by the Tébessa criminal court, 630km from Algiers, for the murder of a business man in January 2000
- APRIL 7, 2001AlgeriaDEATH PENALTY
A court sentenced to death Fouad Boulemia, 29, who...
A court sentenced to death Fouad Boulemia, 29, who had been found guilty of the murder of Abdelkader Hachani, a leading member of the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front, in Algiers in 1999
- APRIL 7, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three people were sentenced to death for their part...
Three people were sentenced to death for their part in a contract killing ordered by a local Communist Party boss which led to two more deaths than planned
- APRIL 6, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Relatives of the 58 Chinese migrants who died suffocated...
Relatives of the 58 Chinese migrants who died suffocated in a lorry on ferry-crossing to the United Kingdom were expressing hopes that the driver who deliberately closed the air vent, Perry Wacker, would be sentenced to death
- APRIL 6, 2001OhioDEATH PENALTY
In Toledo, Ohio, this afternoon, the same 3-judge panel...
In Toledo, Ohio, this afternoon, the same 3-judge panel that gave Joseph Green the death penalty in 1998 sentenced him to life in prison without parole
- APRIL 5, 2001IndonesiaDEATH PENALTY
Indonesian court sentenced to death three Christian...
Indonesian court sentenced to death three Christian mob leaders for inciting clashes with Muslims in which hundreds died in the eastern island of Sulawesi
- APRIL 4, 2001MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
A woman witchdoctor, Mona Fandey, her husband and assistant,...
A woman witchdoctor, Mona Fandey, her husband and assistant, sentenced to death for the grisly murder of a Malaysian lawmaker, lost their final chance for a pardon as the Pahang Pardons Board rejected clemency
- MARCH 30, 2001TexasDEATH PENALTY
A jury sentenced to death Daniel Acker, 29, after finding...
A jury sentenced to death Daniel Acker, 29, after finding him guilty of capital murder in the strangulation death of his girlfriend, 32-year-old Marquetta George, last March
- MARCH 28, 2001South CarolinaDEATH PENALTY
5 York County deputies had to restrain Bobby Lee Holmes...
5 York County deputies had to restrain Bobby Lee Holmes when Circuit Court Judge John Hayes sentenced him to die
- MARCH 22, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Osaka District Court sentenced to death Hisashi...
The Osaka District Court sentenced to death Hisashi Eto, a 58-year-old former driver for murdering a man and his wife in 1997 and robbing cash from their home in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture
- MARCH 21, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Hiroki Fukawa, a...
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Hiroki Fukawa, a 35-year-old man to death for murdering and attempting to rob Shin Yamada, 91, and her daughter Hiro, 65, in their home in Edogawa Ward on April 19, 1999 to pay off his hostess girlfriend's club
- MARCH 21, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Urawa District Court sentenced to death Gen Sekine...
The Urawa District Court sentenced to death Gen Sekine a 59-year-old dog breeder for murdering four people in 1993 and Hiroko Kazama, 44, his former wife for participating in the murder of three of them
- MARCH 21, 2001ThailandDEATH PENALTY
A Thai national has been sentenced to death for murder...
A Thai national has been sentenced to death for murder in the US by the superior court of Arizona, the Foreign Ministry said
- MARCH 16, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Han Xuegong given the death penalty at a public hearing...
Han Xuegong given the death penalty at a public hearing by the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing because he was convicted of murder and illegal gun possession
- MARCH 13, 2001KuwaitDEATH PENALTY
Kuwait's Cassation Court handed a sentence of life...
Kuwait's Cassation Court handed a sentence of life in prison to Alaa Hussein, a former Kuwaiti military reservist, found guilty of treason for heading a puppet government under Iraq's occupation
- MARCH 9, 2001FloridaDEATH PENALTY
A former death row inmate was resentenced to death...
A former death row inmate was resentenced to death for a Jacksonville murder at a grocery store seven years ago
- MARCH 4, 2001MalawiDEATH PENALTY
Four death row inmates escaped from the Zomba Maximum...
Four death row inmates escaped from the Zomba Maximum Security Prison
- MARCH 2, 2001VietnamDEATH PENALTY
Seven men were sentenced to death for drug trafficking...
Seven men were sentenced to death for drug trafficking and circulating counterfeit U
- MARCH 1, 2001TexasDEATH PENALTY
John Alba was sentenced to death for the 2nd time for...
John Alba was sentenced to death for the 2nd time for the 1991 fatal shooting of his wife
- FEBRUARY 28, 2001CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY
9 months after he confessed to a 2-month robbery spree...
9 months after he confessed to a 2-month robbery spree that ended in the murder of 2 people, David Scott Daniels was formally sentenced to die by lethal injection
- FEBRUARY 19, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Two women were sentenced to death because they were...
Two women were sentenced to death because they were found to be living in the same residence as husband and wife, they were thus found guilty of "unnatural" behaviour according to Sharia law, which the Somalian Penal Code bases itself on
- FEBRUARY 17, 2001TennesseeDEATH PENALTY
Texas parolee Robert Leach, 38, was sentenced to death...
Texas parolee Robert Leach, 38, was sentenced to death for killingSarah McBride, 69, on July 8, 1999
- FEBRUARY 17, 2001PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Abdul Jabbar and Shafiq, were sentenced to death for...
Abdul Jabbar and Shafiq, were sentenced to death for spying for India by an anti terrorism court
- FEBRUARY 16, 2001ZimbabweDEATH PENALTY
Judge George Smith sentenced Givemore Muoni Katsande,...
Judge George Smith sentenced Givemore Muoni Katsande, 41, a veteran of the pre-1980 liberation struggle and retired army general, to death for murdering Tinashe Chakwenya, 25, a police officer, near the town of Marondera in April 2000
- FEBRUARY 14, 2001TexasDEATH PENALTY
A man with a lengthy criminal record was sent to death...
A man with a lengthy criminal record was sent to death row a 2nd time for the 1980 slaying of a grocery clerk
- FEBRUARY 14, 2001ThailandDEATH PENALTY
Corrections Department director-general Siva Saengmanee...
Corrections Department director-general Siva Saengmanee said that relatives of condemned prisoners may be invited to witness lethal injections
- FEBRUARY 11, 2001Palestinian TerritoriesDEATH PENALTY
A Palestinian military court sentenced to death a Palestinian...
A Palestinian military court sentenced to death a Palestinian security officer, Hassan Mohammed Hassan Musalam, 55, to death by firing squad
- FEBRUARY 9, 2001TajikistanDEATH PENALTY
The Tajik Supreme Court imposed a death sentence on...
The Tajik Supreme Court imposed a death sentence on Dzhakhongir Ruziyev, the former head of the Tajik precious stones committee and his [unidentified] nephew