How Domestic and International Forces Shaped Death Penalty Abolition, 1960–2005

Why This Topic Matters

The abolition of the death penalty is a major policy and human-rights milestone that reshaped criminal justice systems around the world in the late 20th century. Anthony McGann and Wayne Sandholtz analyze patterns of abolition between 1960 and 2005 to clarify why and when countries removed capital punishment from their legal codes—a question with implications for comparative politics, human-rights advocacy, and the study of policy change.

What McGann and Sandholtz Ask

The authors investigate the relative importance of domestic versus international influences on the timing and spread of death-penalty abolition. Key concepts include domestic political change (regime type, legal institutions, and internal politics) and international factors (transnational norms, treaties, and diffusion from neighboring or influential states).

How the Study Is Designed

McGann and Sandholtz compile cross-national information covering the period 1960–2005 and subject that information to comparative, cross-national analysis. The paper maps when and where abolition occurred and evaluates competing explanations by systematically comparing countries over time.

What the Analysis Does

• Documents temporal and regional patterns in abolition across the study period.
• Tests how well domestic explanations (political institutions and internal reform) and international explanations (norms, treaties, and diffusion) account for those patterns.
• Assesses variation across regions and over time to highlight where different explanations are more or less persuasive.

What This Means for Scholars and Policymakers

The paper provides a careful, cross-national account of death-penalty abolition that frames subsequent debates about the drivers of human-rights policy change. By separating domestic and international factors and tracing patterns from 1960 to 2005, McGann and Sandholtz offer a foundation for future research on policy diffusion, international pressure, and legal reform processes in comparative perspective.