World Day Against the Death Penalty: Talk and Q&A

World Day Against the Death Penalty: Talk and Q&A

Beyond Murder; Trends in Capital Charges for Crimes Less than Murder

We're delighted to be joined for our World Day Against the Death Penalty event by incredible expert speakers, who will be speaking on the trends in use of the death penalty for crimes that do not involve intentional killing.

Professor Jon Yorke, Birmingham City University

Jon Yorke is Professor of Human Rights and the Director of the BCU Centre for Human Rights at Birmingham City University. He is an expert on the death penalty and international law. He is a member of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Pro-Bono Lawyers Panel, in which he advises the British government on death penalty matters. He has advised the European Union and the Council of Europe on death penalty issues and has presented on the death penalty in the United Nations. He is a founding member of the International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, and he has been published widely on death penalty issues. He is a former recipient of the Andrew Lee Jones scholarship

Margot Ravenscroft, Executive Director, Amicus

Margot joined Amicus in 2007 after working for the Bar Pro Bono Unit. Previously she worked in California at the offices of Clarence & Dyer LLP on death penalty appeals alongside white collar crime matters. On returning to the UK she continued in the field working pro bono on Jamaican capital cases while working in re-insurance litigation at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP. She also served on the National Pro Bono Committee and on the organising committee for the UK's first Pro Bono Conference. She has been working in capital work primarily in the USA for the past two decades, writes and presents on death penalty issues alongside heading up Amicus.

After the talk, our Anti-Death Penalty Project committee will launch their lead campaign for 2025/26, focused on this same topic - capital crimes for crimes less than murder.