The Transformative Influence of International Law and Practice on the Death Penalty in the United States
No region of the world has been more vocal and persistent in its opposition to U.S. death penalty practice than Europe, which has itself become a death penalty free zone. The chapter will examine the actions taken by European legislative and judicial bodies against U.S. practice of the death penalty, as well as those of the other regional treaty bodies, with particular attention to the Inter American human rights system, in which the U.S. reluctantly participates. It then will examine U.S. interactions with its treaty partners in the area of extradition, where death penalty policy is acted out in the exchanges of prisoners, both accused and convicted, between countries. Finally, the chapter will conclude with an analysis of the impacts on the capital sentencing of foreign nationals in the U.S. courts, particularly as a result of the U.S. executive branch and courts' efforts at compliance with the judgment of the International Court of Justice in the Avena case, involving 51 Mexican nationals on death row in the U.S.