Life Imprisonment in Asia brings together thirteen new essays on life imprisonment in key jurisdictions in Asia. Each chapter consolidates what is known about the law and practice of life imprisonment in the jurisdiction and then explores particularly problematic aspects of the imposition or implementation of life sentences, including: the court's imposition of life sentences; their association with the death penalty; the treatment of life-sentences prisoners; release from life sentences. In the overview chapter, the editors contextualize this complex situation within a global framework and emphasize the urgent need for reforms to ensure that life sentences in Asia align with international human rights standards.
Life Imprisonment in Asia should be read by everyone who has an interest in just punishments for serious offences, not only in Asia, but throughout the world. It will be an invaluable tool for lawyers, criminologists, policy makers and penal reform advocates in the region and beyond.
Published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2023.
In their pioneering first global survey of persons serving life sentences, Dirk van Zyl Smit and Catherine Appleton advocate for a reevaluation of life imprisonment through a human rights framework. With nearly half a million individuals facing life in prison globally, the authors highlight the growing trend of using life sentences for crimes that traditionally would not warrant such harsh punishment.They argue that life imprisonment without parole can never be just, and contend that life imprisonment in many of the ways it is implemented worldwide infringes on the requirements of justice. The authors also examine jurisdictions without life imprisonment, suggesting the possibility of abolishing life sentences altogether. The book is an incomparable resource for lawyers, lawmakers, criminologists, policy scholars, and penal-reform advocates concerned with balancing justice and public safety.
Published by Harvard University Press in 2019.
Life Imprisonment has also been published in Spanish (with additional contributions by Luis Arroyo Zapatero and Beatriz López Lorca) as Cadena Perpetua Un análisis global desde los derechos humanos, Valenica: Tirant lo Blanch, 2022.
This important collection explores the human rights implications of life imprisonment, by addressing these two key questions: what is life imprisonment and what human rights are relevant to it? These questions are explored from the perspective of a range of jurisdictions, in essays that draw on both empirical and doctrinal research.
Under the editorship of two leading scholars in the field, this innovative and important work is a landmark publication in the field of penal studies and human rights.
Published by Hart/Bloomsbury Publishing in 2016.
School of LawUniversity of NottinghamUniversity Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD
+44 (0)115 846 8506 hrlc@nottingham.ac.uk