The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 death penalty in law and in practice in the countries examined. Recognizing the highly complex and multi-layered nature of death penalty abolition, it seeks to provide an overview of key elements and stakeholders in selected countries in which capital punishment was abolished in the more recent past. The information was gathered through in-depth desk research as well as interviews with selected experts on abolition processes from the OSCE region. For the purposes of this short thematic section, focus will be put on six factors that became evident as influential in abolition processes across numerous states: political leadership, the role of civil society organizations, the role of religious groups and of victims’ families, the development of public opinion and the impact of international interventions. 1. Political leadership The importance of political leadership for the abolition of capital punishment in any state cannot be over-emphasised. The country examples studied all demonstrate that abolition of the death penalty requires significant political will on the part of the government. Domestic political leadership that is supportive of abolition is particularly effective where these individuals publicly speak out against the death penalty and highlight concerns associated with its use. In fact, the provision of information and transparency on the use of the death penalty to the public, arguably, is part of public duty and democratic governance.13 The importance of having a governor who actively pursued abolition of the death penalty was reportedly a crucial factor for eventual abolition in Virginia.14 Governor Northam had called for an end to capital punishment in a state-wide address in January 2021 and would not sign any death warrants.15 On various occasions, he emphasised some of the most worrying aspects relating to the reality of the death penalty, 13 In the two retentionist countries in the OSCE region, a lack of transparency with regard to the application of the death penalty only exacerbates many assumptions about the death penalty that are often not true. United Nations Digital Library, Report of the Secretary-General, “Question of the death penalty”, UN Doc. A/HRC/45/20, 13 August 2020, para 22: “It remains difficult to obtain up-to-date and accurate global figures on the application of the death penalty. Belarus, China and Viet Nam continue to classify data on the use of the death penalty as a State secret, and little to no information is available on some countries. […] In the United States, research was undertaken on laws and policies that make information about executions inaccessible to the public, pharmaceutical companies and prisoners.” 14 Madeleine Carlisle, Why It’s So Significant Virginia Just Abolished the Death Penalty, TIME, 24 March 2021. 15 Interview with Joseph T. Flood, former Capital Defender for Northern Virginia, 28 May 2021; Governor Northam Delivers State of the Commonwealth Address, 13 January 2021. 14