ABSTRACT
This chapter examines that the case study of the death penalty in Malawi demonstrates the challenges of implementing international principles in a domestic context. It discusses how the mandatory death penalty has been abolished in much of the Caribbean and Africa through the incorporation of international and foreign human rights jurisprudence into domestic law. The chapter also discusses how, in the wake of its demise, mitigating evidence has affected capital sentencing. It reviews the Kafantayeni judgment and its implementation. The chapter describes the population sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in Malawi and the mitigating factors these prisoners' cases present. It explores how the principles underpinning Kafantayeni might be put into practice. The chapter examines factors considered in re-sentencing offenders originally sentenced to the mandatory death penalty. The UN Commission on Human Rights has called upon countries to avoid executing any person suffering from a mental disorder or disability.
