The Death Penalty

At the beginning of 2011, more than two thirds of the world had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, and only 58 countries actively retained it.

China, as usual, carried out by far the greatest number of executions in 2010 - the last year for which figures are currently available. The actual number is a state secret, but Amnesty International believes that it is between 2000 and 8000.

Outside China, at least 527 people were put to death in 22 countries during 2010 - with Iran (252+), North Korea (60+), Yemen (53+), USA (46) and Saudi Arabia (27+), USA (46) and the main contributors.

Methods of state execution include: beheading, electrocution, gassing, hanging, lethal injection, shooting, and stoning.

The death penalty is most commonly applied in cases of murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking. However, in China the list of offences which can result in execution includes (among many others) - tax evasion, fraud, bigamy, publication of pornographic material, and hacking and other cyber crimes. And blasphemy, apostasy, adultery, prostitution and homosexuality, among others, all attract the death penalty in a number of other states.

International law prohibits the execution of anyone who was under 18 years old at the time of the crime. However, a small number of countries, most notably Iran, continue to execute child offenders.

While it continues to be widely used, the death penalty has been in retreat across the globe over recent years. More than 90 countries have now outlawed the death penalty altogether, and more than two thirds of all states have abolished it either in law or in practice. And for each of the last three years, the United Nations General Assembly has passed a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards total abolition. While the resolution is non-binding, the majority supporting it has increased year on year (2010: 109 vs 41) and it adds further weight to the abolitionist movement.


More facts...

Most supporters of the death penalty believe that it is justified one or more of the following grounds: (i) as a means of retribution; (ii) as a deterrent to others; (iii) to prevent any danger of re-offending; (iv) because it's cheaper than keeping people in prison.

Opponents object to the death penalty on one or more of the following grounds: (i) killing someone is always wrong, and two wrongs can never make a right; (ii) there is no evidence of a deterrent effect (indeed the available evidence seems to show there is no such effect*); (iii) life without parole is just as effective a way to prevent someone reoffending as executing them; (iv) saving money can never be a justification for taking someoene's life; and (v) mistakes are bound to happen, and that means people being put to death for a crime they didn't commit.

More on the arguments for & against...
Join the debate on Squidoo...

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* In the US over recent decades, for example, the murder rate has tended to be higher in periods of fewer executions, and lower in years when more executions have been carried out. But the murder rate in executing states tends to be higher than in non-executing states - while the homicide rate in Canada has closely tracked that of the US in recent years even though it abolished the death penalty altogether in the 1970's.

Evidence in favour of deterrence...
Evidence against a deterrent effect...

"God alone can take life because He alone gives it..." "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
Mahatma Gandhi - "Father of India", political and spiritual leader


"I am for the death penalty. Who commits terrible acts must get a fitting punishment. That way he learns the lesson for the next time."
Britney Spears - American singer and entertainer


"What you do to these men [on California's Death Row], you do to God."
Mother Teresa of Calcutta - Roman Catholic nun & Nobel Peace Laureate


"We have a right to know that someone who rapes and murders a child or kills an innocent person in a drive-by shooting will never be able to do that again."
Sarah Palin - US politician and former candidate for Vice-President


"The state must not claim the right to take human life away, which belongs only to the Almighty."
Vladimir Putin - Russian leader and noted liberal (not!)


"I don't think you should support the death penalty to seek revenge. I don't think that's right. I think the reason to support the death penalty is because it saves other people's lives."
George W Bush - Former American President


"I am completely against any form of violence...And in the case of the death penalty we are actually faced with killing that is decided and carried out by a country's justice system. I think this quite immoral and wrong."
Tenzin Gyatso - Dalai Lama (Tibetan Buddhist leader)


"God will not tolerate sin. He condemns it and demands payment for it. God could not remain a righteous God and compromise with sin. His holiness and His justice demand the death penalty."
Billy Graham - Evangelical Christian preacher


"[the death penalty] is both cruel and unnecessary", "...the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil."
Pope John Paul II - former leader of the Catholic Church

Capital punishment is deadly serious - this online hangman game, Hang Monkey, is not!

Use your skill to save a life. Win, and the frog goes free. Lose, and he croaks!

Play the game...