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24 Austl. J. Asian L. 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/ajal24 and id is 1 raw text is: 


Australian Journal  of Asian Law, 2023, Vol 24 No 1, Article 01: 1-5


Death Penalty in Asia Special Issue: Introduction

Tim   Lindsey* and Helen Pausacker' (editors)



In most communities,  the death penalty is an emotive and contested issue that can trigger intense
controversy, particularly among policymakers, lawyers, religious leaders, human rights activists and
scholars. This is because it involves both the taking of human life and state-sanctioned violence, and
because the 'ultimate punishment', if applied in error, can never be reversed or compensated for. Its
use can therefore lead to profound religious, ethical and political debates and protests - and even
social division.
    This is certainly true in Asia, where use of the capital punishment remains widespread. d(espite
a world\wide Irendto abolish it andl. in recenI decndes. a shil towards abolition in a small number ol
.Asian countries. In lact. in 2021. .\sian countries (excludling China) handed down at least one-third
of the 28.670 death sentences worldkwide. The figure fior .sia would be much higher with  (China
included. but the opaqueness  of that country's criminal justice system means the true extent of
execut ions there remains unknown.
    In any case, a brief glimpse at the olillowing map shows the prevalence of the (denh penally in
\sian jurislictions.


     SRetentionist countries (58)  Abolitionist countries except crimes committed under exceptional circumstances (6)
     Abolitionist in practice countries - no executions in the last 10 years (34)  Completely abolished in 102 countries

Figure 1: Countries with the death penalty1





    Tim Lindsey is Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society (CILIS), Redmond Barry Distinguished
    Professor and Malcom Smith Professor of Asian Law at the University of Melbourne Law School. He is also an Executive
    Editor of the Australian Journal of Asian Law (AJAL).
*   Helen Pausacker is Deputy Director of CILIS and an Executive Editor of AJAL.
1   This map has been reproduced from istock by Getty Images.

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