La Death penalty: current situation, from an international perspective

Abstract

The present investigation focuses on the current situation of death penalty, at global level. For this, the different treatments that are given by the States to this sanction are studied, as well as the States that practice each of them. First, an approximation is made to the current use of death penalty in the world, in order to know in which countries it is used and is in force, and in which countries it is not. Second, it is studied the international legal framework that determines the application of this penalty, which has been elaborated fundamentally within international organizations, such as the United Nations Organization. From a methodological point of view, rigorously updated and specialized sources in the field have been used. After conducting this investigation, there have been found a great diversity of situations, in which it is found the application of this sanction, as well as the different legal instruments, fundamentally of international character, used to regulate it. Hence, it can be concluded: on the one hand, the current trend in the world to abolish death penalty; and on the other hand, the position of some retention states in maintaining this sanction as a valid penalty, which in its application is effective and apparently is far from being abolished.