Overview of the use of capital punishment in several countries
Maintain the death penalty in both law and practice
Abolished in practice (no execution in over 10 years and under a moratorium)
Abolished in law, except in exceptional circumstances, such as war
Completely abolished
Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as a punishment for a crime. It has historically been used in almost every part of the world. By the 2020s, many countries had abolished or discontinued the practice.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In 2022[update], the 5 countries that executed the most people were, in descending order, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States.[8]
53 (27%) maintain the death penalty in law and practice.
23 (11%) permit its use but have abolished it de facto: per Amnesty International standards, they have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or practice of not carrying out executions.[10]
10 (5%) have abolished it for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as during war), most recently Ghana (2023).
In Africa, many countries maintain the death penalty in law. Some such countries, such as Algeria and Cameroon, have moratoriums and have not used it for over a decade, making them abolitionist in practice. In Nigeria, some states are de facto abolitionist while others are retentionist.
In Caribbean countries, the death penalty exists at least de jure, except in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which abolished it in 1969 and 1987, respectively. Grenada is abolitionist in practice; its last execution was in 1978. The last execution in the Caribbean, and the last in the Americas outside the United States, was in Saint Kitts and Nevis, in 2008. In Central and South America, the death penalty exists in Belize and Guyana, though it has not been used since 1985 and 1997. In Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru, executions are legal in some circumstances, such as war crimes, and were abolished for civil crimes. In 1976, Canada abolished the death penalty for non-military offences; in 1999, it abolished it for military offences. In 2005, Mexico abolished the death penalty; in 2009 Argentina abolished it.
Asia
China is the world's most active user of the death penalty; according to Amnesty International, China executes more people than the rest of the world combined, each year.[21] In December 2015, Mongolia repealed the death penalty for all crimes,[22] and in June 2022, Kazakhstan abolished it completely.[23]
India rarely executes criminals, carrying out just 30 executions since 1991.[24] India most recently executed 4 perpetrators of a gang rape and murder case in March 2020.[25]
Japan sometimes executes criminals, carrying out 130 executions since 1993. Japan most recently executed Tomohiro Katō in July 2022.[26]
According to a 2017 report by the National Human Rights Commission from Myanmar, over 700 prisoners in 26 prisons across the country had death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.[27]
Singapore resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year moratorium due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Singapore came under scrutiny for executing drug traffickers in several high-profile cases, including Nagaenthran Dharmalingam who was hanged in April 2022,[28] and Tangaraju Suppiah who was hanged in April 2023.[29] In July 2023, a convicted drug trafficker named Saridewi binte Djamani was executed, becoming the first female offender hanged in Singapore in 19 years, after the 2004 hanging of Yen May Woen.[30] Singapore's first execution for murder since 2019 was carried out in February 2024, when Bangladeshi painter Ahmed Salim was hanged for murdering his ex-girlfriend in 2018.[31]
The European Union holds a strong position against the death penalty; its abolition is a key objective for the Union's human rights policy. Abolition is also a pre-condition for entry into the European Union. In Europe, only Belarus continues to actively use capital punishment.[32][33][34][35]
Capital punishment has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, the latter of which has a moratorium and has not conducted an execution since 1996. The absolute ban on the death penalty is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) and two widely adopted protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and is thus considered a central value. Of all present European countries, San Marino, Portugal and the Netherlands were the first to abolish capital punishment; Romania banned it even earlier in 1864, but it was much later reintroduced from 1936 to 1990; in Italy the nationwide ban on the death penalty dates from 1889 (capital punishment had previously not been in force in Tuscany alone since 1859, and even earlier for short periods starting from 1786), but it was then reintroduced during the fascist regime; now only Belarus still uses capital punishment. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU member state to abolish capital punishment in wartime.[36]
Russia retains the death penalty in law, but there has been a moratorium since 1996, making it de facto abolitionist. The last execution on Russian territory was in Chechnya in 1999. Of the other former Soviet republics, only Belarus and Tajikistan have not formally abolished capital punishment, and only Belarus uses it in practice. In 2000, Ukraine abolished the death penalty completely.
Oceania
The Kingdom of Tahiti (when the island was independent) was the first legislative assembly in the world to abolish the death penalty in 1824. Tahiti commuted the death penalty to banishment.[37] Nearly all countries in this region have abolished the death penalty as a form of punishment, and the last country that still has it in law (Tonga) has not used it since 1982 and is considered de facto abolitionist. Australia abolished the death penalty completely in 1985.
Human Development Index
There are 65 sovereign states with a very high human development according to the 2021/2022 Human Development Report.[38] Of these:
3 (5%) permit its use, but have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions: South Korea, Brunei, and Russia.
2 (3%) have abolished it for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as during war): Israel and Chile.
As of 2022, 36 of the 40 countries and territories that are classified by the IMF as developed countries (advanced economies), including the non-UN-members Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan,[40] have completely abolished the death penalty. Only the United States, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and Israel for crimes under exceptional circumstances (such as during war).
Asia (13 countries): Afghanistan (unknown), Bangladesh (4), China (unknown), Iran (596+), Iraq (unknown), Japan (1), Kuwait (7), North Korea (unknown), Saudi Arabia (146), Singapore (11), Syria (unknown), Vietnam (unknown), Yemen (1)
Africa (3 countries): Egypt (unknown), Somalia (19), South Sudan (2)
Precise numbers are not available for many countries, so the total number of executions is unknown. Other countries, like Burma and Libya, have conducted extrajudicial executions.
12 (22%) maintain the death penalty in both law and practice.
14 (26%) permit its use but have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy of not carrying out executions.
4 (7%) have abolished it for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as during war).
24 (44%) have completely abolished it.
Many African countries have carried out no executions for over 10 years, but are not believed to have an abolitionist policy or established practice.
Nigeria is only retentionist in the northern states that use sharia law, and in some southern states such as Imo. Many southern states are abolitionist in practice due to a moratorium that has been in place since 2004.
The countries in Africa that most recently abolished the death penalty are Ghana (2023), Zambia (2022) and Equatorial Guinea (2022) for ordinary crimes,[clarification needed] Zimbabwe (2024), Central African Republic (2022) and Sierra Leone (2021) for all crimes.
Executions in Africa in 2019: Botswana (1), Egypt (29+), Somalia (13+), South Sudan (7+).[43][44]
Firing Squad, shooting. Death penalty for treason; espionage; aggravated murder; castration resulting in death; arson (or destruction using explosive devices) of buildings, vehicles or harvests resulting in death; intentional destruction of military equipment resulting in death; attempts to change the regime or actions aimed at incitement; destruction of territory; sabotage to public and economic utilities; massacres and slaughters; participation in armed bands or in insurrectionary movements; counterfeiting; terrorism; acts of torture or cruelty; kidnapping; aggravated theft; some military offences; poisoning; attempting a death-eligible offense; some cases of recidivism and perjury leading to a death sentence pronounced.[45] Currently under a moratorium. On 20 December 2012, Algeria co-sponsored and voted in favour of the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.[46]
On 6 July 2012, Benin acceded to the Second Additional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which makes Benin abolitionist.[48] The decision was upheld by the Constitutional Court in January 2016 although the death penalty is still present in statutes.[10]
Hanging, and state also has power to determine method of execution by offense committed. Death penalty for murder; espionage; treason; attempt on the life of the head of state; mutiny; desertion in the face of the enemy, aggravated piracy and terrorism. Persons excused from capital punishment are pregnant women, teenagers who were younger than 18 at time of crime, and the mentally ill.[50]
Death penalty abolished in revised 2009 criminal code. Extrajudicial executions are still commonplace.[55] Despite having abolished capital punishment, Burundi voted against the UN Moratorium on the Death Penalty in 2016.
Hanging, firing squad, shooting. Death penalty for secession; espionage; treason; terrorism; aggravated murder; premeditated murder; violent theft leading to death or causing grievous bodily harm; abduction of a minor resulting in the death of that minor; assault on a state employee with intent to kill; attempt of a death-eligible crime and conspiracy to commit a death-eligible crime; plundering by gangs using force during times of war and incitement to war.[57][58] In February 2014, the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, commuted all persons condemned to the death penalty to life in prison. The decree commuted their sentences to 25 years incarceration.[59] However, death sentences have continued to be handed down as of 2016[update].[60]
Capital punishment was abolished in 2014,[63] but then reintroduced the following year for acts of terror.[64] In April 2020, Chad's Parliament unanimously abolished the death penalty for terrorism.[65][66]
Firing squad. Death penalty for aggravated murder, murder, rape (if it results in the death of the victim), barbaric actions including torture, and aggravated rape.[68] Persons excluded from capital punishment are pregnant women, women with small children, teenagers who were under 18 at the time of the crime, and the mentally ill.
Hanging, shooting. Death penalty for murder, aggravated murder, treason, destruction of military facilities resulting in death, imposing superstitious trials by ordeal resulting in death, terrorism, armed robbery, drug trafficking and drug possession during wartime, espionage, misappropriation by a public prosecutor of seized or confiscated goods in time of war, some military offences, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.[71]
Hanging/firing squad. Death penalty for rape (if the victim is also kidnapped); murder; treason; terrorism; espionage; perjury causing wrongful execution[73] and organized drug trafficking. Those excused from the death penalty are: women with small children, women who are pregnant, teenagers who were under 18 at the time of the crime, and the mentally ill.[74] In Egypt, it is believed that at least 1,700 people were executed under the death penalty, and 1,413 death sentences alone were issued between 2007 and 2014.[74] Since the beginning of 2015, there have been reports of at least 354 death sentences carried out; however, numbers are not totally reliable due to the government's secrecy.
On 19 September 2022, PresidentTeodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo signed a new penal code into law that abolished the death penalty for most crimes; however, statutes still permit the death penalty for some military offenses.[76][77]
Hanging, shooting. Last execution when part of Ethiopia was 1989. Death penalty for murder, armed robbery, espionage, treason, economic crimes, military offenses, war crimes and genocide. At least one execution may have been carried out between 1999 and 2008, but this remains unconfirmed.[78]
Firing squad. Death penalty for murder, robbery resulting in death or permanent disability of the victim, armed robbery, terrorism, some economic crimes, espionage, treason, certain military offences, armed conspiracy, war crimes, genocide, attempted capital offenses, certain economic crimes in time of war and outrages against the constitution[82]
Hanging, firing squad. Death penalty for treason, murder and terrorism.[86] Capital punishment was abolished in 1993 but was reinstated by Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council in August 1995[87] In February 2018, Gambia announced a moratorium on the death penalty.[88] In September 2018, it ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In May 2019, it commuted 22 death sentences to life imprisonment.[89]
Firing squad, hanging. Death penalty for high treason. In 2023, Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty for all other crimes.[90] The repeal of the death penalty is not retroactive; at least one death sentence was handed down after abolition for a crime that occurred before the repeal went into effect.[91]
Hanging. Death penalty for terrorism; terrorism acts; high treason; murder, armed robbery,[94] treason, military offenses and administering an oath purported to bind a person to commit a capital offense.[95] On 3 August 2009, the death sentences of all 4,000 death row inmates were commuted to life imprisonment, and government studies were ordered to determine if the death penalty has any impact on crime. In 2017 the Supreme Court of Kenya struck down the mandatory death penalty as unconstitutional.
Hanging. Death penalty for aggravated murder, armed robbery, terrorism, "mercenarism" resulting in death, hijacking, treason and espionage.[99] Liberia acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, abolishing the death penalty, on 16 September 2005; it re-introduced elements of it in July 2008.[100][101]
Firing squad, shooting. Libya executed more people (18) in 2010, than any other African state. Current laws allow capital punishment for high treason; attempt to forcibly change the form of government; premeditated murder; aggravated murder; terrorism; drug trafficking; robbery resulting in death; espionage and military offences such as assisting the enemy or undermining the defense or the territorial integrity of the State[103][104] Extrajudicial killings are commonplace in Libya.[105] Amnesty International said that Libyan human rights organizations reported 31 executions from 2018 and 2020, but this is not confirmed.[106]
Abolished 10 December 2014.[107] Earlier, on 24 September 2012, Madagascar had signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[108]
Executions by firing squad. Death penalty for aggravated murder; terrorism; violent robbery, armed robbery or gang-robbery; arson; kidnapping; treason; espionage; certain military offenses; crimes against humanity; genocide; assaulting on-duty state employees with the intention of causing death; poisoning or mass poisoning of water supplies; committing torture or barbarous acts in the course of a serious offense and attempting a death-eligible crime.[111] Currently, no individual has been executed since 1980, making Mali a de facto abolitionist country.
Death penalty for homosexuality, sodomy,[112]apostasy[113] (no recorded executions), blasphemy,[114] adultery, murder, aggravated murder, terrorism, torture, rape, armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, arson, accomplice to a death-eligible crime, assaulting a judge or public official in the course of his duties resulting in his death, kidnapping resulting in death, abandoning a child or an incapacitated person causing his/her death, espionage, treason, perjury causing wrongful execution, some cases of repeat offences and the voluntary destruction of buildings, bridges, dams or roads causing deaths.[115]
Death penalty for terrorism,[94] treason, espionage, corruption, perjury causing wrongful execution and aggravated murder.[116] In December 2013, a parliamentary opposition group filed a bill to abolish the death penalty in Morocco. The MP who introduced the bill said he was "optimistic" about the bill passing "in view of the current reform movement in Morocco".[117]
Executions by firing squad. Death penalty allowed for aggravated murder; castration resulting in death; kidnapping a minor resulting in death; terrorism; robbery; treason; espionage; genocide; crimes against humanity; attempt or conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and certain war crimes; torture; human trafficking; poisoning; harboring criminals; perjury leading to a person being sentenced to death; attempting to commit a death-eligible offense and recidivism in case of most serious offenses.[118] Abolitionist de facto as the last execution took place in 1976.
Death penalty for murder; blasphemy; homosexuality; adultery; treason; rape; robbery; incest; assisting the suicide of a person legally unable to consent; perjury in a capital case causing wrongful execution; terrorism; terrorist acts; some military offences; sodomy;[120] kidnapping and practice of indigenous beliefs in states applying Shariah law.[121] Each of the 36 states has its own laws. Northern (majority Muslim) states also apply Sharia law. Some Southern states of Nigeria are de facto abolitionist since they have imposed a moratorium on the death penalty since 2004,[122] while others continue to carry out executions.
Since some of the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide fled to countries that refuse to extradite suspects to countries that use capital punishment, the Rwandan parliament voted to abolish capital punishment in 2007.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is only partly recognised, and claimed in whole by Morocco. The Sahrawi constitution which applies only in the Polisario-held territories in the far east and extreme south of the Western Sahara bans the death penalty.
Hanging, firing squad or stoning. Somalia is the only African state that carries out public executions. The Transitional Federal Government laws allowed for execution (in the limited area of the country it used to control) for murder, terrorism, treason, espionage, homosexuality, some military offences, blasphemy, apostasy and adultery.
The last execution by the South African government was on 14 November 1989. An execution occurred in the internationally unrecognised "homeland" of Venda in 1991.[56] Capital punishment was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court on 6 June 1995 in the case of S v Makwanyane and Another. In 1997 the Criminal Law Amendment Act formally removed the invalidated provisions from the statute-book, and made provision for the resentencing of prisoners previously sentenced to death.[126] On 25 May 2005 the Constitutional Court ordered that all remaining death sentences in the country be set aside and the prisoners resentenced as soon as possible.[127]
Death penalty for treason; insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism resulting in death; perjury in a capital case leading to wrongful execution; murder; attempted murder causing injury by a person sentenced to life for a previous murder; brigandage with murder; and drug dealing under aggravated circumstances.[129]
Garrotte. Death penalty for waging war against the state,[131] prostitution, drug trafficking, treason, perjury in a capital case causing wrongful execution, espionage, acts that may endanger the independence or unity of the state, murder, armed robbery, abetting the suicide of an individual unable to give legal consent, terrorism, rape and incest committed by a married offender.[132]
Death penalty for murder; terrorism; terrorism acts; violence and aggression; attacks against the external security of the state; kidnapping and sequestration resulting in death; treason; espionage; rape; arson; military offenses; attempt of a death-eligible offense and assault on a judge on duty, with threat or use of a weapon.[136] On 6 January 2014, the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) voted for maintaining capital punishment in the upcoming constitution in Tunisia. The votes were by 135 yes out of a total of 174.[137] Since 2015, it has been possible to give the death penalty for terrorism.
Death penalty for murder; terrorism; kidnapping; rape; homosexuality; robbery if the offender uses or threatens to use a deadly weapon, resulting in death or causing "grievous harm" to anyone; smuggling if the offender uses or threatens to use a deadly weapon, resulting in death or causing "grievous harm" to anyone; treason and some military offences.[139][140] In 2009, the Supreme Court upheld a 2005 Constitutional Court ruling that although the death penalty was constitutional, its use as a mandatory punishment for certain crimes was not.[141] In 2019 mandatory death penalty was abolished by law.[142]
In 2022, president Hakainde Hichilema signed into law a bill abolishing the death penalty for most crimes, though capital punishment still remains in military statutes.[143][20][77]
Death penalty for murder; high treason; terrorism; some military offences; attempted murder, incitement or conspiracy to commit murder; war crimes and genocide.[145] A bill to abolish the death penalty has been proposed, and it received cabinet approval in February 2024.[146]
13 (37%) maintain the death penalty in both law and practice.
1 (3%) permits its use, but has not used it for at least 10 years and is believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
5 (14%) have abolished it for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as during war).
16 (46%) have completely abolished it.
Many Caribbean countries have carried out no executions for over 10 years, but are not believed to have an abolitionist policy or established practice.
As of 2024, the United States is the only country in the Americas to conduct executions for civil purposes.[147][2][3][4][5][6][7] Capital punishment applies nationwide on the federal level, for certain federal crimes. Some states have retained capital punishment for state offences, while other states are abolitionist. Of the fifty states and one federal district, 20 have abolished capital punishment entirely.[citation needed] 2 states are abolitionist in practice for state crimes.[citation needed] 5 states have imposed formal moratoriums and one state has imposed an informal moratorium, but these states cannot be considered abolitionist in practice for state crimes, as the moratoriums have been in place for under a decade.[citation needed]
Outside of the United States, the last execution elsewhere in the Americas was in Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2008.
The countries in the Americas that most recently abolished the death penalty are Suriname (2015), Argentina (2009), and Bolivia (2009). Guatemala abolished the death penalty for civil cases in 2017.
Executions in the Americas in 2019: United States (22).[148]
Hanging. Death penalty for murder and treason.[149] Currently, no individual is under the sentence of death, as the last death sentence in the country was commuted in 2016.[150]
Constitution of 1853 states "The penalty of death for political offences, all kinds of torture, and flogging, are forever abolished."[151] And was completely abolished by the Penal Code of 30 April 1922.[152]
Despite this it was reinstated on several occasions:
Between 6 September 1930 by martial law until 20 February 1932.[152]
Between 2 June 1970[155][156] and abolished on 27 May 1973.[157]
Between 25 June 1976[158] and finally abolished on 9 August 1984.[159]
On 26 August 2008, a new Code of Military Justice was promulgated that abolished death penalty. The new Code came into effect six months later, on 26 February 2009.[160][161]
Hanging. Death penalty for treason; piracy; murder. Currently no individual is under the sentence of death, as the last death sentence in the country was commuted in 2016.[150]
Death penalty for murder; terrorism; participating in a mutiny; treason and espionage.[162] Presently under review before the IACHR[citation needed] despite strong national support.[163][164]
Death penalty for murder, except where extenuating circumstances can be proved,[165] aggravated murder, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, some military offences and treason.[166]
Hanging (in the past, for civil offences), firing squad (military offences). Brazil has always maintained the death penalty in wartime as part of its Military Code but, after Brazil became a Republic in 1889, capital punishment for civil offenses or for military offences committed in peacetime was abolished by the first republican Constitution, adopted in 1891. The penalty for crimes committed in peacetime was then reinstated during two periods (from 1938 to 1946 and from 1969 to 1978), but on those occasions it was restricted to acts of terrorism or subversion considered "internal warfare".[168][169][170][171]
The current Constitution of Brazil (1988) expressly forbids the use of capital punishment, except for military offences committed during a war duly declared by Congress.[172] The last person to suffer the death penalty in Brazil was executed in 1876, during the Imperial era. After 1876, Emperor Pedro II adopted in practice an abolitionist policy, by directing that all death sentences be submitted by the Courts to the Imperial Government for examination regarding commutation (even without a request for pardon or commutation from the person condemned), and by granting commutations for all death sentences that were passed. For more information see Capital punishment in Brazil.
Abolished in 1976 for murder, treason, and piracy (last execution in 1962, last sentence in 1976); abolished 1999 for military offences (last execution in 1945).
Shooting. Death penalty remains applicable to military personnel for war crimes and crimes against humanity during wartime. Abolished for all other cases in 2001.
Abolished in 1910 by Constitutional reform. Prohibited by the Colombian Constitution of 1991: "The right to life is inviolable. There will be no death penalty."
Firing squad. Death penalty for murder, attempted murder, hijacking, acts of terrorism, treason, espionage,[176] political offenses,[clarification needed] child rape, molestation of a child under 12 years of age with aggravating factors, rape of an adult with aggravating factors, rape of an adult that results in death, illness or grievous bodily harm, robbery with aggravating factors, drug offenses, production of child pornography, child trafficking, child prostitution, child corruption, piracy, working as a mercenary, apartheid, genocide, pedophilia. While there have been no executions since 2003, and the last death sentences were commuted by the Supreme Court in 2010, with nobody sentenced to death since then, there is no formal or informal moratorium or abolitionist policy, making the country still retentionist.[177][178][179]
Lethal injection. Until 2017, death penalty for murder, espionage, treason, drug trafficking, kidnapping, torture, and terrorism. Abolished for civil cases in 2017.
Death penalty for terrorist acts;[184] murder, treason and armed robbery, piracy, drug trafficking, and terrorist offences resulting in death. While the constitution states that the death penalty is not a mandatory punishment, many provisions of the criminal code suggests that the death penalty may be mandatory for these crimes as no alternatives to such sentence of death is found under any law.
Methods vary by state, federal, and military policy, but include lethal injection, electric chair, firing squad, gas chamber and inert gas asphyxiation. Federal law provides the death penalty for many homicide-related crimes, espionage, treason, terrorism, murder, robbery (when it results in death), and extreme cases of drug trafficking (when it involves homicide).[193][194] 27 of the 50 states currently have the death penalty, though some are under moratorium or have not conducted any executions in decades. Of the non-state territories, American Samoa still has capital punishment as a local statute,[195] and the others have abolished it. The Supreme Court has severely limited the crimes that the death penalty can be a punishment for. It has also abolished the death penalty for crimes committed by a person under the age of 18. Sentences of death may be handed down by a jury or a judge (upon a bench trial or a guilty plea).
27 (63%) maintain the death penalty in both law and practice.
5 (12%) permit its use for ordinary crimes,[clarification needed] but have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
1 (2%) has abolished it for all crimes except those committed under exceptional circumstances (such as during war).
10 (23%) have completely abolished it.
The information above does not include Taiwan, which is not a UN member. Taiwan practices the death penalty by shooting, and conducted one execution each in 2016, 2018, and 2020.[citation needed]
Hong Kong and Macau are listed below (they abolished the death penalty before their handover to China), but they are not included in the figures above as they do not have UN membership separate from China. This makes China retentionist only in the mainland.[citation needed]
On 25 July 2022, because of Myanmar's civil war between the military junta (who rule most areas of the country) and the civilian government it overthrow, the junta carried out executions making it the first executions since 1988, making the country retentionist in areas controlled by the Tatmadaw. Under the civilian government (who internationally and according to the UN remain the legal government) and in areas controlled by it the country continues to be abolitionist in practice.[196]
Iraq also has a regional variety of retentionism and abolitionism, as Iraqi Kurdistan is de facto abolitionist for ordinary crimes[clarification needed] due to a moratorium that has been in place since 2007. The rest of Iraq (the majority of the country) is fully retentionist.[citation needed]
Indonesia has an informal moratorium and Malaysia a formal one, both in place since 2018. In April 2023, legislation abolishing the mandatory death penalty was passed in Malaysia.[39]
The countries in Asia that most recently abolished the death penalty are Kazakhstan (2021), Mongolia (2017), and Uzbekistan (2008).
In 2019, Asia had the world's five leading practitioners of capital punishment: China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Executions in Asia in 2019: Bahrain (3), Bangladesh (2), China (1000+), Iran (256+), Japan (3), North Korea (Unknown), Pakistan (20+), Saudi Arabia (184+), Singapore (4), Syria (Unknown), Vietnam (Unknown), Yemen (7+).[197][41]
Hanging; shooting; stoning.[199] Taliban Shariah allows capital punishment for: murder if the family of the victim deems death to be the appropriate punishment;[200] terrorism-related offenses; treason; espionage; adultery; rape; child rape; homosexuality; sodomy; apostasy (unknown whether Muslims who do not pray five times a day are considered apostates); blasphemy; and giving false witness resulting in the execution of an innocent.[201]
Although playing music, singing, and dancing are officially punishable only by corporal punishment, there have been occasions where the Taliban executed people for these offenses nevertheless.[202][203]
Children as young as 10 years old have been executed by the Taliban for helping Afghan allies,[204] a pregnant police officer was also executed.[205]
Hanging and firing squad are used. Death penalty for premeditated murder; aggravated murder; rape, sexual assault or statutory rape; kidnapping; rape of child; arson; assault; deliberately obstructing funerals or memorial services; certain crimes against property, transportation or agriculture under aggravating circumstances; terrorism; plotting to topple the regime; collaborating with a foreign hostile country; threatening the life of the Emir; defiance of military orders in time of war or martial law; perjury causing wrongful execution; treason; drug trafficking and espionage.[207]
Hanging. Death penalty for murder;[209] drug offences;[210] kidnapping and trafficking in children for immoral or illegal purposes; human trafficking; kidnapping a person (especially children or women) to force him/her to engage in prostitution and expose him/her to sexual exploitation/slavery; terrorism; rape; armed robbery; sedition; sabotage; hijacking planes; military offences such as abetting mutiny, cowardice or desertion; attempted dowry murder; abetting or conspiring to commit capital offenses; perjury causing wrongful execution; espionage;[211] treason[212] and war crimes.
Hanging is used. Last execution when a protectorate of Britain was in 1957. Death penalty for murder; unlawful possession of firearms and explosives; possession of heroin or morphine of more than 15grams, cocaine of more than 30grams, cannabis of more than 500grams, syabu or methamphetamine of more than 50grams, or opium of more than 1.2kg;[213] terrorism; abetting the suicide of a person unable to give legal consent; arson; kidnapping; abetting a successful mutiny; treason and perjury resulting in the conviction of an innocent defendant of a capital offense.[214] A new penal code was introduced in April 2014 and introduced the death penalty for male same-sex adultery if one of the parties is Muslim (by stoning); rape; adultery; apostasy; sodomy; extramarital sexual relations for Muslims; insulting any verse of the Quran and Hadith; blasphemy and declaring oneself a prophet or non-Muslim.[213][215]
Shooting (firing squad); lethal injection. On 25 February 2011, China's newly revised Criminal Law reduced the number of crimes punishable by death by 13, from 68 to 55.[217][failed verification] Laws allow capital punishment for severe cases of embezzlement; rape (particularly of children); severe cases of fraud; bombing; flooding; rioting under aggravating circumstances; separatism; armed rebellion; collaborationism; political dissidence; subversion; terrorism; spreading poisons/hazardous substances; people trafficking; forcing a person to engage in prostitution (especially children, often after kidnapping or rape); piracy; theft; drug trafficking; corruption; arson; aggravated assault; aircraft hijacking resulting in death; producing or selling tainted food or fake medicine resulting in death or serious medical injury; participating in an armed prison riot or jailbreak; murder; aggravated murder; burglary; kidnapping; robbery; armed robbery; espionage; treason; poaching; military offences (like insubordination, cowardice); sabotaging electricity, gas, fuel, petroleum, weapons, flammables, explosives and military communications/installations; illegal possession, transport, smuggling, or selling of explosives or firearms; illegally manufacturing, selling, transporting or storing hazardous materials; trafficking or smuggling nuclear materials and endangerment of national security. Even the higher sections of Chinese society are not exempt from the death penalty, as billionaire Liu Han was executed 9 February 2015.[218][219]
Hanging, shooting can be used in the military court-martial system. Death penalty for murder; instigating a minor's or a mentally ill's suicide; treason; terrorism; a second conviction for drug trafficking; aircraft hijacking; aggravated robbery; espionage; kidnapping; being a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit a capital offence; attempted murder by those sentenced to life imprisonment if the attempt results in harm to the victim; perjury causing wrongful execution;[222] aggravated rape/gang-rape; drug smuggling under aggravated circumstances; abetting sati, mutiny and its abetting; causing explosions which can endanger life or property and a few military offences like desertion. Military offences may be punished with a firing squad.
Firing squad. Death penalty for murder; high treason; espionage; some acts of corruption which damage national economy or finances; aggravated gang-robbery; extortion with force or threat of force; terrorism; some military offences; genocide; crimes against humanity; piracy resulting in death; drug trafficking and developing, producing, obtaining, transferring or using of chemical weapons. President Joko Widodo issued an informal moratorium on executions in 2018 due to outrage over the 2015 and 2016 executions, but there are no plans towards abolition[223][109][224] 8 people including overseas nationals executed on 29 April 2015.[225]
Hanging, shooting or stoning. Iran performs public executions. Iran is second only to China in the number of executions it carries out—executing hundreds every year.[226][227] Current laws allow the death penalty for murder; armed robbery; drug trafficking; kidnapping; rape; burglary; child molestation; sodomy; homosexuality; incestuous relations; fornication; prohibited sexual relations; sexual misconduct; prostitution;[228][229] rebellion; plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime; political dissidence; sabotage; arson; espionage; treason; terrorism; joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; certain military offenses (e.g. cowardice, assisting the enemy); apostasy; adultery; blasphemy; counterfeiting; smuggling; speculating; disrupting production; recidivist theft; extortion; immoral attitude; recidivist consumption of alcohol; producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics or sanitary items that lead to death when consumed or used; producing and publishing pornography; using pornographic materials to solicit sex; recidivist false accusation of capital sexual offenses causing execution of an innocent person;[230] "enmity against God" and "corruption on earth." Secret executions are widespread in the country, so that exact numbers for each year are difficult to obtain and different figures are provided by various organizations.
Hanging. Death penalty for murder; endangering national security; distributing drugs; rape; incest; espionage; treason;[232] joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; robbery; armed robbery; theft; burglary; kidnapping; attacks on transport convoys; arson; rioting; killing police guards and military officers; intentionally causing a flood or attempting to cause a flood; damaging or sabotaging public structures; war crimes, crimes against humanity; genocide; financing and execution of terrorism.[233] Suspended in June 2003 after 2003 invasion; reinstated August 2004.[234][235] A total of 447 people were executed between then and the end of March 2013, with 129 in 2012 alone.[236]Iraqi Kurdistan is abolitionist in practice for all ordinary crimes[clarification needed] (remains retentionist for crimes in exceptional cases) since a moratorium has been in place since when Kurdistan president Masoud Barzani issued it in 2007.[237]
Hanging. Death penalty for murder; treason and crimes against the State. Judges usually impose death penalty in case of multiple homicides; death sentence for a single murder is not particularly common. Between 1946 and 2003, 766 people were sentenced to death, 608 of whom were executed. For 40 months from 1989 to 1993 successive ministers of justice refused to authorise executions, which amounted to an informal moratorium. No execution in 2020 (first time in nine years).[241]
Hanging, shooting. Death penalty for some cases of terrorism, murder, aggravated murder, rape, aggravated robbery, drug trafficking, illegal possession and use of weapons, war crimes, espionage and treason.[243] Executions resumed in 2014 after a hiatus.[244]
Hanging. Death penalty for drug trafficking; rape; murder; aggravated murder; kidnapping; piracy; torture; human trafficking; terrorism; certain military offences; national security crimes;[250] espionage; treason and perjury causing execution of an innocent person[251]
Death penalty for murder; hostage-taking; kidnapping; committing acts of robbery against the State or against "collective assets"; obstructing an officer in the performance of his public duties and causing his death or causing him physically disabled; trafficking in women or children resulting in death, lifetime incapacity or infection by HIV/AIDS of the victim; terrorism; drug trafficking; disrupting industry, trade, agriculture or other economic activities with the intent of undermining the national economy; drug possession; treason and espionage.[254][255]
Hanging; firing squad. Death penalty for murder;[257] aggravated murder; rape; child rape; terrorism; gang-robbery or gang-assault involving torture; arson against certain types of structures or sabotage of communications, transportation or industrial facilities causing death; aggravated assault involving torture; life-eligible crimes with recidivism; importing nuclear/toxic wastes; polluting rivers or waterways with harmful substances; some military offences (e.g. desertion); espionage and treason.[258]
Hanging. Death penalty for trafficking in dangerous drugs; discharging a firearm in the commission of a scheduled offense; accomplices in case of discharge of firearm; offenses against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's person; murder; kidnapping; burglary; robbery; terrorism and treason. Discretionary for weapons trafficking; abetting mutiny; perjury causing wrongful execution;[260] consorting with a person carrying or having possession of arms or explosives; waging or attempting to wage war or abetting the waging of war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, a Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri[261] A plan to abolish the death penalty was revoked on 13 March 2019.[262][263] In April 2023, mandatory death penalty was abolished. A moratorium on executions remains, but execution remains legal.[39]
Last execution when a colony of Britain was in 1952. Death penalty for murder,[264] terrorism, treason, adultery and apostasy. 60-year moratorium lifted in 2014.[265]
President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj instituted a moratorium in 2010, systematically commuting all death sentences. On 5 January 2012, "a large majority of MPs" adopted a bill that aims to abolish the death penalty. After two years under the official moratorium, the State Great Khural formally signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[266] This makes Mongolia abolitionist because under Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Covenant, "No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed," and "Each State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction." Unlike in countries that retain capital punishment officially but have abolished it in practice, this made Mongolia abolitionist in both law and practice. However some dead laws that were still symbolically binding referenced capital punishment. These non-binding laws were removed from statutes by a 2015 Act, which took effect on 1 July 2016, making some people claim 2015 or 2016 as the year of abolition.[267][268] Mongolia is one of the last Eastern Bloc states (not including Eastern Europe) to abolish the death penalty. Some even claim that it was abolished in 2017 as the death penalty was formally abolished on 1 July 2017.[269]
Death penalty for murder, terrorism, participating in a gang robbery if one of the robbers commits murder, abetting a successful mutiny, assault by a person under a life sentence which causing harm, assault with the intention to murder which causing only harm, perjury causing wrongful execution,[270] high treason[271] and drug trafficking.[272]
Myanmar carried out no executions between 1988 and 2022; it is now retentionist again.[196][273][274] While Myanmar courts do hand down death sentences pro forma in particularly egregious cases, most recently in the 2018 case of Myo Zaw Oo who was convicted of the rape and murder of a government worker,[275] the sentences in practice are not carried out and are in effect life sentences. There have been three major amnesties (1989, 1993, 1997) in which the government commuted death sentences to life sentences or less, and simultaneously reduced life sentences to 10 years. However, prisoners held for political crimes, or crimes against the state are typically excluded from such amnesties.[274]
Prior to the military coup of 2021 Myanmar was regarded as "abolitionist in practice" by both Amnesty International[276] and Death Penalty Watch.[273] This was jeopardised on 1 February 2021 when the military overthrew the democratic government in a coup. On 14 March, the military declared martial law in selected regions of two largest cities (Yangon and Mandalay) and furthermore announced the introduction of a suite of new laws and penalties for insurrection and protest, including capital punishment.[277] On 9 April 2021 state broadcaster Myawaddy TV announced that 23 protesters had been charged with murder, and pursuant to s496 of the criminal code, would face execution. The date of the execution was not announced, and it currently (as of 10 April) is unknown whether or how the sentences will be carried out. At least 17 of the convicted were tried in absentia[278] and it is unclear how many have since been apprehended.
While this would put Myanmar in the "retentionist" category, the legitimacy of the military government and the recently imposed martial laws are contested by the deposed government (known as the NUG) who claim sole legislative authority. The international community thus far have not decided whether the military junta or NUG is the legitimate government, and as such it is not clear whether these executions carried out by the military would be seen by the international community as lawful applications of the death penalty, or extrajudicial killings carried out by armed forces. Amnesty International now (2022) recognises Myanmar's retentionist status, but notes that "Following Myanmar military's issuance of Martial Law Order 3/2021, the authority to try civilians was transferred to special or existing military tribunals where individuals are tried through summary proceedings without right to appeal. These courts oversee a wide range of offences including those punishable with the death penalty. Under international law and standards, executions carried out following unfair trials violate the prohibition against arbitrary deprivation of life, as well as the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment."[279]
As of 3 June 2022, it was reported that a total of 113 people had been sentenced to death by the junta for their roles in the counter-military revolution.[280] On the same date, the junta confirmed the death warrants of four of the prisoners Hla Myo Aung, Ko Aung Thura Zaw, the long-time democratic activist Ko Jimmy, and the rapper and former NLD lawmaker Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw.[280] With the confirmation of the death warrant, responsibility to determine whether, how, and when to proceed to executions fell to the Prison Department.[280] It was announced by the junta that the executions were carried out on 23 July 2022.[281] As the military junta is not recognized by the UN, the seats at the UN seats continue to be filled by diplomats of the deposed government and because of this Myanmar for the first time voted in favour of abolition in the 2022 UN resolution on abolishing the death penalty.
Khit Thit Media reported via their Facebook page that the military handed down a further eleven death sentences on 30 November.[282]
In addition, executions are carried out within the de facto autonomous Wa State. Wa state (officially the Wa Self-Administered Division) is nominally a semi-autonomous division located in two disconnected regions within Shan State. As such it is in principle subject to the laws, enforcement, and judicial system of Myanmar. However, in reality, the Wa State is controlled entirely by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) - an ethnic armed organisation (EAO) previously in open rebellion against the Myanmar government and military. While in recent years the UWSA has reached a détente with the Myanmar central authority, the Myanmar legal system does not apply in practice within Wa State. To wit, death sentences are handed down and carried out regularly, most recently in 2020.[283] Wa State imposes the death penalty only for murder[284] and executions are carried out by gunshot to the back of the head.
An other de facto autonomous region, Mong La (officially: Shan State Special region 4) on the Myanmar-Chinese border under the control of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) is also reputed to carry out executions much like Wa State.[285]
The death penalty was abolished in 1946 for ordinary crimes[clarification needed] but was reinstated between 1985 and 1990 for cases of murder and terrorism.[286] Completely abolished since 1997 by Constitution.
Various methods are used, including the firing squad, hanging or decapitation. North Korea performs mainly private, but also performs some public executions. Current laws allow the death penalty for drug offences; plots against national sovereignty; circulating "harmful" information; political dissidence; terrorism; espionage; treason against the Motherland or against the people; murder; murder of a North Korean police guard; watching South Korean and foreign websites, media or movies; listening to South Korean and foreign radio broadcasts; kidnapping; rape; assault; burglary; insubordination; inappropriate words; armed robbery; violation of Juche customs; human trafficking; illegal border crossing; committing massacres; bank robbery; grand theft; making illegal international calls without a phone card; producing and/or watching pornography; embezzlement; currency counterfeiting; black market smuggling/trafficking; damaging or deliberately destroying state property; destroying military facilities or technology; taking unauthorized photographs; unauthorized religious activity; returning home from foreign countries after becoming a defector and prostitution.[288][289] There have been at least 64 carried out death sentences in 2016, and in 2017 five North Korean minister-level officials were executed; it is not known whether these officials were executed due to a judicial sentence or a direct order of Kim Jong-un.[290] No official numbers can be known because of the secrecy surrounding the topic of capital punishment within the state.
Death penalty for murder, drug trafficking, arson, piracy, terrorism, kidnapping, recidivism of aggravated offenses punishable by life imprisonment, leading an armed group that engages in spreading disorder (such as by sabotage, pillage or killing), espionage, treason and perjury causing wrongful execution.[292][293]
Hanging. Death penalty for murder, aggravated murder, drug smuggling, terrorism, arms trafficking, armed robbery resulting in death, certain military offenses (e.g. cowardice, assisting the enemy, abetting a successful mutiny), kidnapping, rape, gang rape, perjury in a capital case leading execution of an innocent person, hijacking, sabotage of the railway system, stripping a woman's clothes, a scheduled offence likely to create terror or disrupt sectarian harmony, acts to strike terror or create a sense of fear and insecurity resulting in death, unlawful assembly, treason, espionage, adultery, homosexuality and blasphemy.[295][296] Six-year moratorium lifted in 2014 after the Peshawar school massacre.
Hamas performs vigilante public executions.[298][299][300] Indeed, suspected political dissidents, such as accused Israel collaborators, are frequently executed, often in the street or public squares in front of large crowd to serve as warnings for people, and sometimes without trial.[301] Death penalty for aggravated murder; murder; terrorism; treason; espionage; military offenses and some offenses resulting in death like vandalism; medical violations; felony; disobedience; violence or sedition.[302] The State of Palestine has ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[303]
Abolished in 1987 under the present Constitution, re-introduced in 1993, re-abolished on 24 June 2006 under Republic Act No. 9346. The House of Representatives voted to reinstate the death penalty for drug crimes in March 2017,[305] but it was stalled in the Senate.[306]
Execution by firing squad. Death penalty for espionage;[308] threat to national security;[309] apostasy (no recorded executions); homosexuality; blasphemy;[310] murder; aggravated murder; violent robbery; arson; torture; kidnapping; terrorism; rape; drug trafficking; extortion by threat of accusation of a crime of honor; perjury causing wrongful execution and treason.[311]
Decapitation, firing squad, stoning. Saudi Arabia performs public executions. Current Islamic laws allow the use of capital punishment for many violent and nonviolent offenses which includes aggravated burglary, treason, espionage, as well as homosexuality, adultery; murder; blasphemy; apostasy;[313] drug trafficking; rape; armed robbery;[314] some military offences; witchcraft; sexual misconduct and terrorism. Method most often used is beheading with a scimitar, although the firing squad is sometimes used. Bodies may be put on public display.
Hanging. Death penalty for terrorism; murder; treason; perjury causing wrongful execution; kidnapping; certain firearm offenses; gang-robbery resulting in death; genocide; arms trafficking; piracy; attempted murder by a convict under a life sentence; drug trafficking in more than 15grams of heroin or morphine, 30grams of cocaine or 500grams of cannabis and some military offences.[316][317]
Hanging and firing squad. Death penalty for murder (over two victims), aggravated murder, arson resulting in death, piracy, terrorism, kidnapping resulting in death, rape resulting in death, rebellion, drug trafficking, conspiracy with foreign countries, robbery-homicide, recidivist violent robbery and treason.[319] There has been an unofficial moratorium on executions since PresidentKim Dae-jung took office in February 1998.[320]
Death penalty for murder; treason; perjury causing an innocent person to be executed; rape; armed robbery; drug trafficking; kidnapping with the use of a gun; extortion committed with the use of a gun; human trafficking offenses committed with the use of a gun; attempting murder with the use of a gun; causing harm with the use of a gun; assault on a public servant with the use of a gun and some military offences.[321] Moratorium since 1976.
Hanging is used for normal executions, and for military personnel, shooting is used. Syria performs public executions. Current laws allow the death penalty for treason; espionage; murder; arson resulting in death; attempting a death-eligible crime; recidivism for a felony punishable by forced labor for life; terrorism; political acts and military offences such as bearing arms against Syria in the ranks of the enemy, insubordination, rebellion, desertion of the armed forces to the enemy and acts of incitement under martial law or in wartime; violent robbery; subjecting a person to torture or barbaric treatment during the commission of gang-robbery; rape. Certain crimes are considered to deserve an automatic death sentence punishment: membership in the Muslim Brotherhood; joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; drug trafficking; political dissidence and falsification of material evidence resulting in a third party being convicted for a drug offense and sentenced to death.[323] Extrajudicial killings are commonplace in Syria.[324] Persons excused from death row are women with small children, pregnant women, the mentally ill, the intellectually disabled, and teenagers who committed the crime under the age of 18 at the time.[323] Since the start of the civil war, it cannot be known clearly how many people have been put on death row. As of 2014[update], Syria did have an execution per capita rate of 1 for every 3,000,000 persons.[323]
Gun shot to heart at close range with a single gun. Lethal injection is also a legal form of execution, although there are no known instances of it being used. The condemned person lies on a mattress where doctor marks where heart is; the executioner shoots at the marked place on the condemned back. Condemned are sedated prior to execution. If the condemned person decides to be an organ donor, then the shot is aimed to the rear of the head at the brain stem.[326] Crimes punishable by death are: aggravated murder, murder, other offences resulting in death, drug trafficking, drug possession, treason, military offences, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.[326] Those excluded from capital punishment are: the elderly, pregnant women, women with small children, the mentally ill, and teenagers under the age of 18 at the time of the crime. As of 2006[update], the mandatory death penalty minimum was taken away. By the end of 2012, there were a recorded number of 120 prisoner executions.
Firing squad. Death penalty for murder with aggravating circumstances; rape with aggravating circumstances; terrorism; biocide; genocide.[327] Moratorium introduced 30 April 2004 by President Emomali Rahmon, which means instead of capital punishment, the individual shall receive a life in prison. Persons excluded from death row are: the elderly, women, pregnant women, intellectually disabled, the mentally ill, and teenagers who were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.[328]
Lethal Injection, Death penalty for 35 crimes including regicide; sedition or rebellion; offenses committed against the external security of Thailand; murder or attempted murder of a foreign head of state or a member of the royal family; bribery; high treason; espionage; terrorism acts; terrorism; arson; rape; murder; aggravated murder; drug trafficking; kidnapping; robbery resulting in death; certain military offences; illegal use of firearms or explosives. For a full list see here (PDF)
Firing squad. The death penalty is rarely enforced, and is a legal form of punishment for murder; aggravated murder; drug trafficking;[330] successfully inciting the suicide of a mentally ill person; arson resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; acts of indecent assault resulting in death; disposal of nuclear waste in the environment; rape of a minor; treason; apostasy; aggravated robbery; terrorism; joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; espionage and perjury causing wrongful execution.[331][332]
Lethal injection. Death penalty for treason; taking action to overthrow the government; espionage; rebellion; banditry; terrorism; sabotage; hijacking; destruction of national security projects; undermining peace; war crimes; crimes against humanity; manufacturing, concealing and trafficking in narcotic substances "in a manner contrary to state regulations when the offence is committed in particularly serious circumstances"; certain military offences; manufacturing or trading fake goods such as food or medicines; murder; rape; robbery; embezzlement; fraud and receiving bribes above a certain amount.[336][337]
Shooting, stoning. Yemen performs public executions. Current laws allow the death penalty for murder;[338] adultery;[339] homosexuality;[112][340] apostasy[113] (no recorded executions); blasphemy;[341] drug trafficking; perjury causing wrongful execution; kidnapping; rape; sexual misconduct; violent robbery; banditry; terrorism; destruction of property leading to death; prostitution; certain military offenses (e.g. cowardice, desertion); espionage and treason.[342]
1 (2%) maintains the death penalty in both law and practice.
1 (2%) permits its use for ordinary crimes,[clarification needed] but has not used it for at least 10 years and is believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
47 (96%) have completely abolished it.
Abolition of death penalty is a pre-condition for entry into the European Union, which considers capital punishment a "cruel and inhuman" practice and "not been shown in any way to act as a deterrent to crime".[343]
Since 1999, Belarus has been the only recognized country in Europe to carry out executions. 2009, 2015, 2020 are the first three years in recorded history when Europe was completely free of executions.
The countries in Europe that most recently abolished the death penalty are Bosnia and Herzegovina (2019), Latvia (2012), and Albania (2007).
Executions in Europe in 2019: Belarus (2+).[197][344]
Shooting, Belarus is the only country in Europe to use capital punishment. Laws allow capital punishment for acts of aggression; murder of a representative of a foreign state or international organization with the intention to provoke international tension or war; international terrorism; genocide; crimes against the security of humanity; murder with aggravating circumstances; terrorism; terrorist acts; treason that results in loss of life; conspiracy to seize power; sabotage; murder of a police officer; murder of a border patrol officer; use of weapons of mass destruction; and violations of the laws and customs of war.[348]
*None since independence in 1991 (1977, before independence)
2019 (for all crimes in Republika Srpska) 1998 (for all crimes in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for all peacetime crime in Republika Srpska)
The final execution in the present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina took place in 1977,[349] when then Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was still one of the constituent republics of Yugoslavia. It was abolished in 1998 by the Constitution, although the death penalty remained present in the Constitution of Republika Srpska, where it was endorsed in the Article 11, which said: "Human life is inviolable. Death may only be used for capital crimes."[350] The Supreme Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina had abolished the death penalty in the Republika Srpska in 2019, making Bosnia and Herzegovina, in practice, the last country in Europe, except for Belarus and Russia, to fully abolish the death penalty on all of the levels of its judiciary.[351]
The last execution in Bulgaria took place on 4 November 1989, days before the downfall of Todor Zhivkov, which heralded the end of the communist regime. It was the year's 14th shooting of a convicted prisoner.
Last capital punishment was performed on 29 January 1987 by the state firing squad while Croatia was still part of SFR Yugoslavia. Last executed convict was Dušan Kosić who killed Čedomir Matijević, his wife Slavica and their two daughters, Dragana and Snježana.[352][353] Capital punishment was abolished in 1990 according to the provision of the new Croatian constitution enected for the SR Croatia. Upon declaring independence in June 1991 newly formed Republic of Croatia declared Constitution from 1990 official and left the jurisdiction of the Yugoslav Federation consequently completely abolishing capital punishment. The death penalty is prohibited by the article 21 of the Croatian Constitution.[354]
Capital punishment for murder abolished in 1983. Completely abolished in 2016 by amendment to the Constitution removing references to capital punishment.
Last execution when part of Czechoslovakia was in June 1989. Abolished after the Velvet Revolution 1990 by the amendment to Constitution of Czechoslovakia. Upon independence on 1 January 1993 the Czech Republic became a new abolitionist state.
Last execution for common law crimes 1892. Last execution for war crimes 1950. Capital punishment was retroactively carried out 1945–50 for crimes related to the German occupation in World War II, repealed in 1951 and confirmed in 1993. A similar rule was active 1952–1978 in the civil penalty law for war crimes committed under extreme circumstances.
The last execution in Estonia has taken place on 11 September 1991 when Rein Oruste was shot with a bullet to the back of the head for the crime of murder.
Last peacetime execution 1825. Last wartime execution 1944. Capital punishment was abolished for civilian crimes in 1949 (all existing sentences commuted to life imprisonment) and for all crimes 1972. In 1984 the death penalty was explicitly outlawed in the Finnish Constitution.
The death penalty was initially abolished by the Directory in 1795 but re-introduced by Napoleon in 1810. It was re-abolished in law in 1981 and by Constitution in 2007.
The death penalty was abolished for most offenses in 1997, but the constitution stated that the Supreme Court had the power to impose the death penalty in exceptionally serious cases of "crimes against life". On 27 December 2006, President Mikheil Saakashvili signed into a law a new constitutional amendment totally abolishing the death penalty in all circumstances.
The self-proclaimed state of Abkhazia, which is claimed by Georgia, still retains the death penalty for wartime treason, but it has been under moratorium since 2007.
Abolished by the Basic Law since the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. However, US military authorities carried out seven executions on German territory in 1951, since they were, as an occupation force, not subjected to this.[355]German Democratic Republic (country which ceased to exist in 1990 and all of its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany) abolished the death penalty in 1987, the last execution was held in 1981.
Abolished completely with the Constitutional amendment of 2001 and then with the approval by Greek Parliament of the ratification of protocol 13 of the ECHR in 12/2004.
Last execution in 1830 when a colony of Denmark.[358] Abolished in 1928;[359] reintroduction made unconstitutional in 1995 by unanimous vote of Parliament.[360]
On 30 November 1786 the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (then independent, now a part of Italy) became the first state in the modern era to completely abolish the death penalty. However, it was later repeatedly reintroduced and re-abolished, until its definitive ban in 1859. From 1815 to 1859 only two people were executed by the grand ducal authorities. For a brief period between 1847 and 1848, upon its reversion to Tuscany, the Duchy of Lucca became the only Italian territory in which the abolition was in force. The short lived Roman Republic of Feb–July 1849 abolished the death penalty before being overthrown by French troops. When the Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1861, capital punishment remained in force in all the constituent states except Tuscany until it was abolished nationwide in 1889 – although it was maintained under military and colonial law. In 1926 Mussolini reintroduced the death penalty into Italian law. A total of 26 people (9 civilians and 16 soldiers) were executed during the Fascist regime, none from political reasons. It was re-abolished from the penal code in 1944. Art. 27 of the Constitution of the Italian Republic (1948) completely abolished it for all common military and civil crimes during peacetime. The death penalty was still, formally, in force in Italy in the military penal code, only for high treachery against the Republic or only in war theatre perpetrated crimes (though no execution ever took place) until it was abolished completely from there as well, in 1994. Article 27 of Italian Constitution was changed, in 2007, to impede the reintroduction of death penalty in time of war too.
No executions since independence from USSR in 1991.[365] On 23 September 2005 the Moldovan Constitutional Court approved constitutional amendments that abolished the death penalty.[366]
The self-proclaimed state of Transnistria, which is claimed by Moldova, still retains the death penalty but has observed a moratorium on executions since 1999.
Last execution when a part of Yugoslavia was on 29 January 1981.[367] Capital punishment abolished by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1995. When Montenegro declared independence in 2006 it became an abolitionist state.
Last execution for peacetime offences in 1860. Abolished for peacetime offences in 1870. Abolished in Netherlands by Constitution 1982. Last Netherlands overseas territory to abolish was Antilles in 2010.[368]
Abolished for peacetime offences in 1902, last execution for peacetime offences 1876. Last executions of wartime offenders conducted on 37 men convicted of treason or war crimes in WWII in 1945–48.
A criminal law reform including reintroduction of death penalty was proposed in 2004 by Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, but lost its first reading vote in the Sejm by 198 to 194 with 14 abstentions. It is said that this was only populism, since Poland had joined the European Union so there was no chance.[109]
Capital Punishment was abolished for political crimes in 1852, civil crimes in 1867 and war crimes in 1911.[369] In 1916, capital punishment was reinstated only for military offenses that occurred in a war against a foreign country and in the theater of war.[370] Capital punishment was completely abolished again in 1976.[371]
The last people to be convicted and executed in Romania were the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena Ceaușescu, during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Their accusations ranged from crimes against humanity to high-treason. Abolished in 1990 and banned by Constitution in 1991.
Shooting. There have been four brief periods when Russia has completely abolished the death penalty, in the 18th century Russian empress Elizabeth abolished it, but it was restored by the next emperor, Peter III of Russia; then, on 12 March 1917 to 12 July 1917 following the overthrow of the Tsar, 27 October 1917 to 16 June 1918 following the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, and 1947–1950 after the end of the Second World War (Joseph Stalin abolished it in 1947, but he had restored it in 1950, and for this short period, the strictest punishment in USSR was penal servitude in GULAG for 25 years). Currently the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation envisages the death penalty for five crimes: murder with aggravating circumstances, assassination attempt against a state or public figure, attempt on the life of a person administering justice or preliminary investigations, attempt on the life of a law-enforcement officer, and genocide.[373] On 16 April 1997 Russia signed the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, but has yet to ratify it. There has been a moratorium on executions since 1996; no executions have been in the Russian Federation since August 1996. In November 2009, the Constitutional Court extended the moratorium indefinitely pending ratification of the Sixth Protocol. The death penalty is still active by law.[10]
Last execution when a part of Yugoslavia was in 1992. Capital punishment abolished by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1995. When Serbia became independent in 2006 it became an abolitionist state.
Last execution when a part of Czechoslovakia was in 1989. Abolished 1990 by Constitution when still a constituent part of Czechoslovakia. Upon independence on 1 January 1993 Slovakia became a new abolitionist state.
Last execution when a part of Yugoslavia was in 1959. Abolished in Slovenian Yugoslav Republic 1989 by Constitution. Upon declaration of independence in 1991 Slovenia removed itself from the jurisdiction of the Federal Yugoslav capital punishment statutes effectively achieving complete abolition.
Capital punishment was abolished in 1874, but reinstated in 1879. It was practiced by a few cantons (nine executions up to 1940). Abolished by popular vote in 1938, except for wartime military crimes, for which it was abolished in 1992. Banned by the 1999 constitution.
Last execution in the UK was in 1964. The last execution on British Overseas Territory occurred in Bermuda in 1977. Abolished for murder in 1969 in Great Britain and 1973 in Northern Ireland. Abolished for all remaining offences (high treason, piracy with violence and offences under military jurisdiction) in UK in 1998. European Convention, 13th Protocol ratified in 2003 confirming total abolition.
Last execution on 9 July 1870. Mazzatello. Never used within the Vatican City itself and only carried out in the Papal States by local authorities where the sentences were handed out. From 1870 to 1929 the Vatican had no sovereign territories, and no death sentences were applied. Officially re-introduced in the Law Codes in 1927, only for papal murder. Abolished in 1969.
1 (7%) permits its use for ordinary crimes,[clarification needed] but has not used it for at least 10 years and is believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
13 (93%) have completely abolished it.
Only Tonga has not formally abolished capital punishment despite not using the practice since 1982.
The countries in Oceania that most recently abolished the death penalty are Papua New Guinea (2022), Nauru (2016), and Fiji (2015).
Last execution when a colony of Britain was in 1964. The death penalty for crimes under the Republic of Fiji Military Forces Act was abolished in Feb 2015. Abolished for other crimes 1979.
Abolished in New Zealand in 1941 for most crimes, reinstated in 1950, abolished again in 1961 for most crimes, and formally abolished for treason in 1989.
Last execution when under Australian administration in November 1957. The death penalty was abolished in 1970, five years before independence. It was reinstated in 1991, but never applied. It was abolished again in 2022.[389]
Last execution under New Zealand colonial rule in April 1952. Since independence in 1962 all death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The death penalty was formally abolished in 2004.
The table below lists in chronological order the 109 UN member or observer states that have completely abolished the death penalty. In the century after the abolition of capital punishment by Venezuela in 1863, only 11 more countries followed, not counting temporary abolitions that were later reversed. From the 1960s onwards, abolition accelerated: 4 countries abolished capital punishment in the 1960s (a record up to that time for any decade), 11 in the 1970s, and 10 in the 1980s. After the Cold War, many more countries followed: 36 countries abolished capital punishment in the 1990s, with 9 in 1990 alone, 23 in the 2000s, 11 in the 2010s, and 7 so far in the 2020s. Since 1985, there have been only 6 years when no country has abolished the death penalty: 2001, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2018 and 2023.
Note: When a country has abolished, re-instated, and abolished again (e.g. Philippines, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy) only the later abolition date is included. Countries which have abolished and since reinstated (e.g. Liberia, Malawi) are excluded. Dependent territories are considered being under the jurisdiction of their parent country – which leads to unexpectedly late abolition dates for the UK, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where Jersey (UK), the Cook Is (NZ), and the Netherlands Antilles, were the last territories of those states to abolish capital punishment, and all were later than the abolitions on the respective mainlands. References are in the continental tables above and not repeated here.
↑ Moratorium since 2018; mandatory death sentence abolished April 2023.[39]
Related Research Articles
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime, usually following an authorised, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Etymologically, the term capital refers to execution by beheading, but executions are carried out by many methods, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, electrocution, and gassing.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in China. It is applicable to offenses ranging from murder to drug trafficking. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. A survey conducted by TheNew York Times in 2014 found the death penalty retained widespread support in Chinese society.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Belarus. At least one execution was carried out in the country in 2022.
Capital punishment has been completely abolished in all European countries except for Belarus and Russia, the latter of which has a moratorium and has not conducted an execution since September 1996. The complete ban on capital punishment is enshrined in both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU) and two widely adopted protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, and is thus considered a central value. Of all modern European countries, San Marino, Portugal, and the Netherlands were the first to abolish capital punishment, whereas only Belarus still practises capital punishment in some form or another. In 2012, Latvia became the last EU member state to abolish capital punishment in wartime.
Capital punishment in the Philippines specifically, the death penalty, as a form of state-sponsored repression, was introduced and widely practiced by the Spanish government in the Philippines. A substantial number of Filipino national martyrs like Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, Thirteen Martyrs of Cavite, Thirteen Martyrs of Bagumbayan, Fifteen Martyrs of Bicol, Nineteen Martyrs of Aklan and Jose Rizal were executed by the Spanish government.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Pakistan. Although there have been numerous amendments to the Constitution, there is yet to be a provision prohibiting the death penalty as a punitive remedy.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Malaysian law.
Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia is a legal punishment, with most executions in the country being carried out by decapitation (beheading) – Saudi Arabia being the only country in the world to still use the method. In 2022, recorded executions in Saudi Arabia reached 196, the highest number recorded in the country for any year over the last three decades.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in South Korea. As of December 2012, there were at least 60 people on death row in South Korea. The method of execution is hanging.
Capital punishment in Nepal has been abolished.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Guatemala, and is carried out by lethal injection and, to a lesser extent, the firing squad. It is only in military codes of justice, and was abolished for civilian offences in October 2017.
Capital punishment in Afghanistan is legal and could be carried out secretly or publicly. The convict could be hanged or shot to death. Stoning, amputation, and flogging were also sometimes used as a method for punishment, especially during the late 1990s. Public executions have existed throughout Afghanistan's history. They have continued with the Taliban returning to power in August 2021. Some executions were recently condemned by the United Nations. The capital offenses in Afghanistan generally include heinous crimes such as mass murder and are governed by Sharia, along with civil laws.
Capital punishment is no longer a legal punishment in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
Capital punishment is legal in most countries of the Middle East. Much of the motivation for the retention of the death penalty has been religious in nature, as the Qur'an allows or mandates executions for various offences.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Yemen. Per capita, Yemen has one of the highest execution rates in the world. Capital punishment is typically carried out by shooting, and executions occasionally take place in public. In addition to being the only individual in the country with the authority to grant clemency, the President of Yemen must ratify all executions handed down by any court before they are carried out.
Capital punishment remains a legal penalty for multiple crimes in the Gambia. However, the country has taken recent steps towards abolishing the death penalty.
Capital punishment is no longer a legal punishment in Rwanda. The death penalty was abolished in the country in 2007.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Burkina Faso. It has been abolished for all offenses except war crimes, making the country "Abolitionist for Ordinary Crimes," along with Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Israel, and Peru. Before the partial abolition of capital punishment in 2018, capital punishment had been abolished de facto. The country carried out it last execution in 1989.
Capital punishment in Gabon was officially abolished for all crimes in 2010. Gabon's last execution took place in 1985. Prior to abolition, Gabon was classified as de facto abolitionist, or "abolitionist in practice," due to the length of time since their last execution.
↑ "Canadian's death sentence in China 'horrific', family says". BBC. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019. China is believed to execute more people annually than any other country, but is highly secretive about the number. Human rights group Amnesty International puts the figure in the thousands - more than the rest of the world's nations put together.
↑ Alexandre Juster, L'histoire de la Polynésie française en 101 dates: 101 événements marquants qui ont fait l'histoire de Tahiti et ses îles, Les éditions de Moana, 2016 ( ISBN9782955686010), p. 40
↑ "Acts Supplement"(PDF). The Southern Sudan Gazette. 1 (1). Ministry Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development. 10 February 2009. Archived from the original(PDF) on 12 September 2013.
↑ Pinkard, Eric (Fall 1999). "The death penalty for drug kingpins: constitutional and international implications". Vermont Law Review. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2012. In 1994 Congress enacted the Federal Death Penalty Act (FDPA) with provisions permitting the imposition of the death penalty on Drug Kingpins. The FDPA is unprecedented in American legal history in that the death penalty can be imposed in cases where the Drug Kingpin does not take a human life.
↑ "Iran executions see 'unprecedented spike' - Amnesty". BBC News Middle East. British Broadcasting Corporation. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015. Amnesty International said there is credible information that at least 743 people were executed in Iran in 2014. Officially 239 people were executed in Iran in 2014.
1 2 Bragadottir, Ragnheidur. "Dauðarefsingar á Íslandi"[Death penalties in Iceland] (in Icelandic). Akureyri, Iceland: Akureyri Art Museum. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2013. Árið 1928 var til meðferðar á Alþingi frumvarp til breytinga á almennum hegningarlögum. Þingmaður Dalamanna, Sigurður Eggerz, setti þá fram tillögu um afnám líflátsrefsinga. Var hún samþykkt án teljandi umræðna og var dauðarefsing þar með afnumin á Íslandi.
↑ Bragadottir, Ragnheidur. "Dauðarefsingar á Íslandi"[Death penalties in Iceland] (in Icelandic). Akureyri, Iceland: Akureyri Art Museum. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2013. Mannréttindasáttmáli Evrópu var lögfestur á Íslandi árið 1995 og eru ákvæði hans þar með orðin hluti af íslenskum rétti. Ári síðar var mannréttindaákvæðum stjórnarskrárinnar mikið breytt og þau aukin. Var þá m.a. sett í stjórnarskrána bann við dauðarefsingu, en þar segir nú að aldrei megi mæla fyrir um slíka refsingu í lögum.
↑ Roger Hood and Carolyn Hoyle (2008, 4th ed.). The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-922847-7) app. 1.
↑ "Decree-Law No. 6" (in Romanian). National Salvation Front Council. 7 January 1990. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
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