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The death penalty
WORLD & U.S. DEATH PENALTY MAPS.
COUNTRIES ABANDONING THE DEATH PENALTY.
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Status of the death penalty worldwide as of 2006-OCT: 1
 | Blue: Abolished for all crimes |
| Yellow-Green: Abolished for crimes except those committed in exceptional circumstances (e.g. crimes committed in time of war) |
| Orange: Abolished in practice |
| Reddish-brown: Legal form of punishment for heinous offenses |
Of the "reddish-brown" states, China is the only one that has a broad range of capital crimes, including tax fraud, minor drug offenses and non-violent theft.
It is important to realize that capital crimes vary greatly around the world. In some states of the U.S., the death penalty is restricted to multiple murderers. Engaging in pre-marital sex or changing one's religion can be a capital offense in other countries.
Status of the death penalty in the U.S. as of 2007-DEC-31: 1
Notes:
| Blue states have no death penalty statute. |
| Yellow-green states have a death penalty statute but have not executed anyone since 1976. |
| Reddish-orange
states have executed people since 1976. |
| The Kansas Supreme Court declared that the death penalty is constitutional by a 5-4 vote on 2006-JUN-26. |
| New Jersey abolished the death penalty on 2007-DEC-18 -- the first state in 40 years to do so. |
Countries that have executed people during 2007:
| Countries with 25 or more executions: Iraq (29), Iran (265), Pakistan (29), Saudi Arabia (156), USA (42). |
| Countries with 2 to 25 executions: Afghanistan (15), Bangladesh (6), China (13), Japan (9), North Korea (8), Singapore (2), Somalia (3), Sudan (2), Syria (5), Yemen (7). |
| Countries with 1 execution: Belarus, Botswana, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kuwait. |
Unfortunately the quality of this data is poor because most of the countries that execute people are dictatorships with few human rights; their governments frequently do not release complete data.
Most countries use mercifully quick methods of killing prisoners. Techniques include hanging victims by first allowing them to free-fall until the rope breaks their neck and kills them, shooting, beheading, lethal injection, and in one case in Tennessee: the electric chair. Only a few predominately Muslim countries are known to execute prisoners by torturing them to death.
| In Iran a method that is often used in public hangings involves hoisting the prisoner into the air or removing a box that they are standing on until they eventually strangle to death. |
| Estimates of the number of stonings in Iran alone vary from 2 to many hundreds during 2007. Here, the victim is immobilized by having their bodies buried up to their neck. They are then pelted with stones until they expire. The stones are carefully chosen so that they are large enough to inflict considerable damage and pain, yet not large enough to kill the person quickly. 6 |
Countries that have recently abolished the death penalty:
As of the end of 2006, 86 countries no longer have the death penalty. This is a increase from 16 in 1977. Only three industrialized democracies still execute people: Japan, South Korea, and some states in the U.S.
| Year | Abolished death penalty for all crimes | Abolished death penalty for ordinary crimes |
| 1976 | Portugal | Canada |
| 1978 | Denmark | Spain |
| 1979 | Luxembourg, Nicaragua, Norway | Brazil, Fiji, Peru |
| 1981 | France, Cape Verde | |
| 1982 | Netherlands | |
| 1983 | Cyprus, El Salvador | |
| 1984 | Argentina | |
| 1985 | Australia | |
| 1987 | Haiti, Liechtenstein, German Democratic Republic | |
| 1988 | ||
| 1989 | Cambodia, New Zealand, Romania, Slovenia | |
| 1990 | Andorra, Croatia, Czech & Slovak Federal Republic,Hungary, Ireland, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé, Principe | Nepal |
| 1991 | Slovenia, Croatia | |
| 1992 | Angola, Switzerland | Paraguay |
| 1993 | Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong | |
| 1994 | Italy | |
| 1995 | Mauritius, Moldova, Spain | South Africa |
| 1996 | Belgium | |
| 1998 | Bulgaria, Lithuania | |
| 1999 | Bermuda | |
| 2000 | Poland. | |
| 2001 | Chile | |
| 2002 | Europe (See note), Serbia, Yugoslavia, Cyprus. Moratorium on executions in the Philippines. | Turkey |
| 2003 | Kenya has an informal moratorium on executions. | |
| 2004 | Turkey | |
| 2005 | Mexico, Liberia | |
| 2007 | State of New Jersey, Rwanda |
Notes:
| Russia and many more countries not listed above retain capital punishment statutes on their books, but have not executed criminals in many years. Kenya, for example, executed its last prisoner on death row in 1984; Russia in 1996. A UN Economic and Social Council report lists the current status of the death penalty in most of the countries of the world. 2 | ||||||
| 2000: The state of New Hampshire voted to repeal capital punishment. But governor Jeanne Shaheen (D) vetoed it. | ||||||
| 2002: The 45-member Council of Europe allowed capital punishment in the past, for certain crimes during wartime. Thirty-six members of the council voted to abandon the death penalty at a meeting during 2002-MAY. This became effective on 2003-JUL-4. | ||||||
| 2003:
| ||||||
| 2004: Taiwan's parliament studied the abolition of the death penalty in 2004 but took no action. 1 The government has promoted abolition, but has not implemented it because public opinion is about 80% in favor of executions. The number of executions has dropped from 32 in 1998 to three in 2004, three in 2005, and none in 2007. 5 | ||||||
| 2007:
| ||||||
| 2008: The Nebraska legislature debated whether to abandon the death penalty, but decided to retain it. |
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References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
- "Image: Death Penalty World Map," Wikipedia, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/This image is posted here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License You can read a copy of the license at: "Text of the GNU Free Documentation License." We wish you the best of luck understanding the legalese. We have tried several times to make sense out of it without notable success.
- "Taiwan moves to abolish death penalty, recognise gay marriages," Radio Australia, 2003-OCT-27, at: http://www.abc.net.au/
- "Status of the international covenants on human rights: Question of the death penalty," UN Economic and Social Council, 1998-JAN-16, at: http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/ This lists the current status of the death penalty, worldwide.
- "New government eyes abolition of death penalty," The Toronto Star, Toronto ON, 2003-JAN-14.
- Rich Chang, "Nation keeps death penalty, but reduces executions." Taipei Times, 2006-JAN-02, at: http://www.taipeitimes.com/
- Richard Clark, "Overview of the death penalty worldwide in 2007," at: http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/
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Copyright © 1995 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1995-JUN-8
Last updated 2008-MAR-29
Author: B. A. Robinson
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