ADF project: 'Abolitionist in practice: Challenging the death penalty in countries which do not execute'
In academic and media coverage of the death penalty, attention is most often drawn to those states that retain the practice and carry out executions, or those that have gone through the process of abolishing it. Yet between the two lies a less visible group of states: those that retain the death penalty in law but do not carry out executions. Once a retentionist state reaches a period of 10 years without an execution, it is classified by the UN as ‘abolitionist de facto’ (ADF).
Over the past few years, the Death Penalty Research Unit (DPRU) and the Death Penalty Project (DPP) have been undertaking research and policy engagement in various ADF countries. Thanks to a grant provided by the University of Oxford’s Public Policy Challenge Fund, the DPRU and the DPP undertook a collaborative research project (2023-25) examining the concept of ADF status and the challenges faced by policymakers in ADF states.
This project originated in the identification, while working in ADF jurisdictions, of a significant knowledge gap in relation to these countries’ relationship with the death penalty, leaving those intent on influencing policy towards abolition in ADF states with limited intellectual tools to shift penal policy in this area.
The implications of ADF status
As of 2025, there are 42 states worldwide that can be categorised as ADF on the basis of the 10-year rule. Though there are a few ADF states in Asia, the vast majority are in Africa (20 states) or the Caribbean (13). Countries can remain ADF for many decades: the median time without an execution is 33 years, while in some cases this is much longer (67 years for Brunei, 72 for the Maldives).
Although executions are not carried out in ADF states, death sentences can still be imposed. Of 50 states identified as ADF by the UN in 2018, 36 had imposed at least one death sentence in the previous decade. This means that individuals still live on death row, in some cases leading to death row populations of several hundred prisoners.
Furthermore, the cessation of executions, even for as long as 10 years, should not be taken automatically as a signal that a state is firmly allied to the abolitionist cause. The punishment’s existence in law can readily be translated into reality in response to political instability or heightened fear of crime, such that the practice of executing offenders can be revived after decades without use.
Even if executions do not resume, the retention of death penalty laws can be impactful and can shape criminal justice systems more widely, for example by influencing individuals’ likelihood of pleading guilty to avoid a capital conviction, and also can serve important symbolic and political functions within a country.
Prisoners convicted of capital offences in ADF states nonetheless experience the realities of life on death row, in conditions which can differ from those of the general prison population and often involve additional degradations and stigmatisation, as well as facing enduring uncertainty about their fate.
The concept of ADF status
Conceptualisations of what it means for a state to be ADF have been heavily shaped by the idea that ADF status constitutes a temporary phase preceding full abolition. Early UN reports on the death penalty in the 1960s considered ADF countries as ‘on the road’ to abolition, following a long but distinctive pattern through ADF status.
However, many countries’ experiences counter this assumption that abolition in law is preceded by an ADF phase. Over the period from 1989 to 2014, only 25 of the 58 countries that abolished the death penalty preceded this with a 10-year period of ADF.
Recent scholarship has argued that for some countries, rather than constituting a ‘stepping stone’ towards abolition, ADF status can become ‘increasingly stable’ – more entrenched – over time. This highlights the importance of understanding the varied factors which may shape states’ ADF status, and the need for research on this issue to further expand these potential different meanings.
Final project report
The DPRU and the DPP's collaborative research project on ADF status culminated in the publication of a report on the concept of ADF status and the experiences of ADF states over the past 40 years, titled Between Retention and Abolition: Making Sense of a Death Penalty without Executions.
This report was published in September 2025, thanks to the receipt of additional funding from the Council of Europe. It is available to read in full via the DPP website.
Photo credit: Henry Mühlpfordt via Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA.