The Death Penalty in Africa: Foundations and Future Prospects

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction to the Death Penalty in Sub-Saharan Africa

   • Andrew Novak

   Pages 1-8

3. Capital Punishment in Precolonial African Society

   • Andrew Novak

   Pages 9-23

4. Executions and State Power during the Colonial Period

   • Andrew Novak

   Pages 24-40

5. The Politicization of the Death Penalty after Independence

   • Andrew Novak

   Pages 41-56

6. An Opening: The Death Penalty in an Era of Democratization

   • Andrew Novak

   Pages 57-74

7. The Operation of the Modern Death Penalty in Africa

   • Andrew Novak

   Pages 75-89

8. Conclusion: The Future of the Death Penalty in Africa

   • Andrew Novak

   Pages 90-98

9. Back Matter

   Pages 99-122

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In recent years the death penalty has sharply declined across Africa, but this trend belies actual public opinion and the retributivist sentiments held by political elites. This study explains capital punishment in Africa in terms of culturally specific notions of life and death as well as the colonial-era imposition of criminal and penal policy.

• Africa
• capital punishment
• death penalty
• independence

"Despite its political and cultural significance, Africa has been an under-researched continent in the study of the death penalty. The Death Penalty in Africa: Foundations and Future Prospects fills this gap in scholarship through an eloquent account of the origins, key features and dynamics of the death penalty in Africa. This timely book deserves much attention from anyone interested in the history and future of the death penalty."

- Sangmin Bae, Northeastern Illinois University, USA, and the author of When the State No Longer Kills: International Human Rights Norms and the Abolition of Capital Punishment

• George Mason University, USA

  Andrew Novak

Andrew Novak is an adjunct professor of criminology, law, and society at George Mason University, USA, where he teaches international and comparative criminal justice. He is also the author of The Global Decline of the Mandatory Death Penalty: Constitutional Jurisprudence and Legislative Reform in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

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