Life Imprisonment and Human Rights

Dirk van Zyl Smit is Professor of Comparative and International Penal Law at the University of Nottingham.Catherine Appleton is Senior Research Fellow in Law at the University of Nottingham.

In many jurisdictions today, life imprisonment is the most severe penalty that can be imposed. Despite this, it is a relatively under-researched form of punishment and no meaningful attempt has been made to understand its full human rights implications. This important collection fills that gap 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 will be a landmark publication in the field of penal studies and human rights.

A fascinating read for academics interested in penal theory and human rights.

IntroductionDirk Van Zyl Smit, Catherine Appleton and Georgie BenfordPart I: The Challenge of 'Life' in the Americas1. The Impact of Life Imprisonment on Criminal Justice Reform in the United StatesMarc Mauer and Ashley Nellis2. Life Imprisonment in Latin AmericaBeatriz López LorcaPart II: Life without Parole around the World3. Life without Parole in Australia: Current Practices, Juvenile and Retrospective SentencingKate Fitz-Gibbon4. Life Imprisonment and Human Rights in UgandaJamil Ddamulira Mujuzi5. A New Form of Life Imprisonment for India?Madhurima Dhanuka6. An Administrative Procedure for Life Prisoners: Law and Practice of Royal Pardon in the NetherlandsWiene van Hattum and Sonja Meijer7. Constitutionalising Life Imprisonment without Parole: The Case of HungaryMiklós Lévay8. A Right to Hope? Life Imprisonment in FranceMarion VannierPart III: Life Imprisonment and the European Convention of Human Rights9. The Paradox of Reform: Life Imprisonment in England and WalesCatherine Appleton and Dirk Van Zyl Smit10. Life Imprisonment in Belgium: Current Human Rights ChallengesSonja Snacken, Ineke Casier, Caroline Devynck and Diete Humblet11. Confusingly Compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights: The Release of Life Sentence Prisoners in IrelandDiarmuid Griffin and Ian O'DonnellPart IV: Countries without Life Imprisonment12. Punishment in Portuguese Criminal Law: A Penal System without Life ImprisonmentInês Horta Pinto13. The Abolition of Life Imprisonment in Brazil and its ContradictionsGiovanna Maria Frisso14. Long-term Imprisonment in Latin AmericaFrancisco Javier de León VillalbaPart V: The (Re)introduction of Life Imprisonment15. Life and Long-Term Imprisonment in the Countries of the Former YugoslaviaFilip Vojta16. The Right to Hope for Lifers: An Analysis of Court Judgments and Practice in PolandMaria Ejchart-Dubois, Maria Nielaczna and Aneta Wilkowska-Plóciennik17. Long-Term and Life Imprisonment in Spain: Release Procedures and TerrorismJon-Mirena Landa GorostizaPart VI: Life Imprisonment and Preventive Detention18. Constitutional Limits on Life Imprisonment and Post-Sentence Preventive Detention in GermanyAxel Dessecker19. Life without Parole for Preventive Reasons? Lifelong Post-sentence Detention in SwitzerlandAnna Coninx20. Life Imprisonment and Related Institutions in the Nordic CountriesTapio Lappi-Seppälä