Capital Punishment Current Status
Capital Punishment World Trends Current Status
By the early 21st century, for the first time in history, most of the world’s nations had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice-that is, executions were not carried out or a moratorium was imposed on the death penalty so that capital punishment was effectively not practiced. As of 2007, 133 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and only 64 countries retained the death penalty and continued to execute.
None of the countries in Western Europe utilize capital punishment, nor do most countries in South America. Asian countries and Islamic nations tend to practice capital punishment. The majority of countries in Africa also authorize the death penalty.
In general, industrial democracies have abolished the death penalty, while nonindustrialized nations are much more likely to retain capital punishment. Only two advanced industrial democracies, the United States and Japan, retain the death penalty. A number of newly industrialized Asian nations, such as South Korea, also practice capital punishment. Dictatorships and other forms of totalitarian governments tend to be highly active in conducting executions.
Although the trend has been that fewer countries allow executions, any worldwide trend in the number of executions conducted cannot be reliably established. According to Amnesty International, a total of 1,591 prisoners were executed in 25 countries in 2006. Five nations-China, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, and the United States-conducted 91 percent of these executions. However, information about executions is somewhat unreliable because not all executions are reported and not all reported executions can be confirmed.
The worldwide trend toward abolition of capital punishment will likely continue. Among industrialized nations, those that have abolished the death penalty have shown no tendency to reverse this policy, and transnational agreements in Western Europe now support abolition of capital punishment. Only major political instability could be expected to reverse the trend in Europe, Canada, and South America. Among nations that have retained capital punishment, pressure to reduce or eliminate the death penalty appears to be increasing. China and the Islamic nations of Asia and the Middle East are likely to continue executions. (1)
The Capital Punishment World Trends contents in this legal Encyclopedia also includes: Capital Punishment World Trends, Early Efforts Against the Death Penalty, Capital Punishment World After 1945 and Capital Punishment Current Status.
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