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Today, two-thirds of the world's nations have abolished the death penalty, either officially or in practice, due mainly to the campaign to end state executions led by Western European nations. Will this success spread to Asia, where over 95 percent of executions now occur? Do Asian values and traditions support capital punishment, or will development and democratization end executions in the world's most rapidly developing region? David T. Johnson, an expert on law and society in Asia, and Franklin E. Zimring, a senior authority on capital punishment, combine detailed case studies of the death penalty in Asian nations with cross-national comparisons to identify the critical factors for the future of Asian death penalty policy. The clear trend is away from reliance on state execution and many nations with death penalties in their criminal codes rarely use it. Only the hard-line authoritarian regimes of China, Vietnam, Singapore, and North Korea execute with any frequency, and when authoritarian states experience democratic reforms, the rate of executions drops sharply, as in Taiwan and South Korea. Debunking the myth of "Asian values," Johnson and Zimring demonstrate that politics, rather than culture or tradition, is the major obstacle to the end of executions. Carefully researched and full of valuable lessons, The Next Frontier is the authoritative resource on the death penalty in Asia for scholars, policymakers, and advocates around the world.
This book investigates whether the global trend toward the abolition of the death penalty will extend to Asia, where the vast majority of the world's state executions currently occur. Authors David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring, both established experts in law and criminology, utilize a combination of detailed case studies and cross-national data to challenge the notion that Asian cultural values necessitate capital punishment. They argue that political structures, specifically the presence of authoritarian regimes, are the primary drivers of execution rates rather than deep-seated cultural or traditional beliefs.
What You Will Find
Scholars and policymakers frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of political development and penal policy in Asia. Readers often note the rigorous empirical approach and the clarity with which the authors dismantle common misconceptions regarding cultural justifications for state-sanctioned violence.
Page Count:
543
Publication Date:
2009-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
019988756X
ISBN-13:
9780199887569
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