The Death Penalty in ASEAN: Steadfastly Retentionist?

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview and recent data on the use of capital punishment within the ASEAN region—such as is available—and notes the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the use of capital punishment in the region. The legal and judiciary systems of the ASEAN Member States (AMS) are introduced examining the right to life and where the death penalty is stipulated. Whilst acknowledging that the death penalty is not explicitly banned by international human rights law, the chapter highlights the global trend towards abolition and contrasts this with AMS preference for retention. It examines why the death penalty remains popular/acceptable in the region and exposes trends that indicate its use is declining (e.g. moratoriums, reducing the extent of “most serious” crimes, decreasing criminal acts that carry a mandatory death sentence). The chapter also highlights examples of criminal injustices related to the death penalty in ASEAN retentionist states and concludes that although regional changes indicate less reliance on the death penalty, retention is still prominent. It questions whether the convenient politics of growing authoritarianism in the region and the wish to be seen as ‘tough on crime’ is thus bucking the inclination towards abolition in ASEAN.