The political economy of capital punishment

Wynarczyk, Peter

doi:10.1111/1468-0270.00141

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The strongest opponents to the abolition of the death penalty in UN debates have been Singapore and Egypt, who have led the charge against several EU efforts to universalize and strengthen 124 Perry 2007: 37-51. 125 Palmer and Henderson 1998;Wynarczyk 1999. Studies that conclude that the death penalty deters crime include Ehrlich 1975;Wolpin 1978.…”

Section: The Death Penalty In International Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Civil Rights in International Law: Compliance with Aspects of the “International Bill of Rights”

Simmons¹

2009

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

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Abstract:International law has developed what many might consider a constitutional understanding of individual civil rights that individuals can claim vis-a-vis their own governments. This paper discusses the development of aspects of international law relating to civil rights, and argues that if this body of law is meaningful we should see evidence of links between acceptance of international legal obligation and domestic practices. Recognizing that external forms of enforcement of civil rights is unlikely (because not generally in the interest of potential "enforcers"), I argue that international civil rights treaties will have their greatest effect where stakeholders -local citizens -have the motive and the means to demand treaty compliance. This is most likely to be the case not in stable autocracies, where such demands are likely to be crushed, nor in stable democracies, where the motive to mobilize is attenuated due to rights saturation, but in transitional countries where the expected value of mobilization is maximized. Thus, I test the hypothesis that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is likely to have its greatest positive effects in transitional countries -those that have had some fleeting experience with democratic governance. This proposition is tested quantitatively with indicators for freedom of religious practice, fair trials and the death penalty. The proposition is weakly supported by extremely stringent statistical models that control for the endogeneity of the treaty commitments, country and year fixed effects, and other obvious influences on civil rights practices. I conclude that the International Bill of Rights has the power to influence the direction of rights practices in fluid political situations, but cannot magically transform autocracies into liberal guarantors of civil liberties. Still, these effects are important, and the most we can expect from scraps of paper which the international community has been reluctant to enforce.

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Section: The Death Penalty In International Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Civil Rights in International Law: Compliance with Aspects of the “International Bill of Rights”

Simmons¹

2009

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

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“…This might be for reasons of either retribution or deterrence, which are the two major justifications employed by defenders of the death penalty besides expressing moral indignation about the punishable offence (Ehrlich 1977;Hood 1998;Wynarczyk 1999;Galliher and Galliher 2002). The latter, i.e.…”

Section: Other Determinants Of Death Penalty Abolitionmentioning

confidence: 99%