John Gunn (2004), 'The Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Death Penalty' , Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 32, pp. 188-91.

To an American audience, it may seem surprising that the topic of capital punishment is noncontroversial within the British medical profession. The World Medical Association and the British Medical Association also give advice to doctors to have little or nothing to do with procedures that will kill patients against their wishes. Indeed, in all European countries, capital punishment is against the law, because there is an overarching directive from the Council of Europe, insisting that it be abolished as a cruel punishment that infringes the Convention of Human Rights within Europe.