Death Penalty Panel Discussion at Harvard Law School

“The Death Penalty: Hanging by a Thread?”

A panel discussion with leading experts on the death penalty

Monday, June 25, 2012

5-6:30 pm

Griswold Hall 110

Harvard Law School

Forty years ago, the US Supreme Court handed down Furman v. Georgia, which led to the de facto moratorium on the death penalty for four years. The US is one of the few industrialized democracies which permits the death penalty. Globally, judicial execution is prohibited in the vast majority of countries; increasingly the long confinement of prisoners on death row is viewed as a form of torture. This panel discussion will explore these and other dimensions with leading experts on the death penalty:

Christof Heyns, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; University of Pretoria

Juan Méndez, United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; American University, Washington D.C.

William A. Schabas, Professor of International Law, University of Middlesex, London

Carol Steiker, Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law, Special Advisor for Public Service, Harvard Law School

Lloyd Barnett, Member of the Inter-American Institute on Human Rights

Nigel Rodley, Chair, Human Rights Center, University of Essex; Member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee