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Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. 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, 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. Since the mid-19th century many countries have abolished or discontinued the practice. In 2022, the five countries that executed the most people were, in descending order, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Belarus. At least one execution was carried out in the country in 2022.
Capital punishment in France is banned by Article 66-1 of the Constitution of the French Republic, voted as a constitutional amendment by the Congress of the French Parliament on 19 February 2007 and simply stating "No one can be sentenced to the death penalty". The death penalty was already declared illegal on 9 October 1981 when President François Mitterrand signed a law prohibiting the judicial system from using it and commuting the sentences of the seven people on death row to life imprisonment. The last execution took place by guillotine, being the main legal method since the French Revolution; Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian citizen convicted of torture and murder on French soil, was put to death in September 1977 in Marseille.
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 carried out 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 was abolished in Ukraine in 2000. In 1995 Ukraine entered the Council of Europe and thus was obliged to abolish the death penalty. The Verkhovna Rada introduced amendments to the then-acting Criminal Code in 2000, according to which "death penalty" was withdrawn from the list of official punishments of Ukraine. Ukraine carried out its last execution in 1997 according to Amnesty International.
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 in Malawi is a legal punishment for certain crimes. The country abolished the death penalty following a Malawian Supreme Court ruling in 2021, but it was soon reinstated. However, the country is currently under a death penalty moratorium, which has been in place since the latest execution in 1992.
Capital punishment is no longer a legal punishment in Rwanda. The death penalty was abolished in the country in 2007.
Capital punishment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a legal penalty; however, the nation has not carried out any executions since 2003, meaning that the country experienced a de facto moratorium on the death penalty from their latest executions in 2003 until March 2024.
Capital punishment in Burkina Faso has been abolished. In late May 2018, the National Assembly of Burkina Faso adopted a new penal code that omitted the death penalty as a sentencing option, thereby abolishing the death penalty for all crimes.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Grenada. Despite its legality, there have been no executions since 1978. Grenada is considered "abolitionist in practice", and is currently the only country in the Americas in this category. There is currently one person on death row in Grenada, as of August 30, 2021. During its United Nations Universal Periodic Review on January 27, 2020, Grenada informed the UN that it was a de facto abolitionist state with a de facto moratorium in effect since 1978, and that it would not carry out any executions. Abolishing capital punishment in law was part of one of the amendments during the failed 2016 Grenadian constitutional referendum. Grenada voted against the United Nations moratorium on the death penalty in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and most recently, in 2020. Grenada is not a signatory to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Liberia. However, Liberia is classified as a state that is "abolitionist in practice." Liberia last executed in 2000.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Uganda. The death penalty was likely last carried out in 1999, although some sources say the last execution in Uganda took place in 2005. Regardless, Uganda is interchangeably considered a retentionist state with regard to capital punishment, due to absence of "an established practice or policy against carrying out executions," as well as a de facto abolitionist state due to the lack of any executions for over one decade.
Capital punishment was a legal penalty in Zambia until 2022. Despite its former legality, the country had not carried out any execution since 1997. Zambia was considered "Abolitionist in Practice".
Capital punishment was abolished in the Republic of the Congo in 2015. The country carried out its last execution in 1982. Before the abolition of the death penalty, the Republic of the Congo was classified as "Abolitionist in Practice." The Republic of the Congo is not a state party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Capital punishment was abolished in Guinea-Bissau in 1993. The country carried out its last execution in 1986. In February 1993, the National People's Assembly (Guinea-Bissau) passed an amendment to the constitution which abolished the death penalty for aggravated murder and treason.
Capital punishment was abolished in Namibia in 1990. The last execution was carried out in 1988, under the rule of South Africa.
Ethiopia retains capital punishment while not ratified the Second Optional Protocol (ICCR) of UN General Assembly resolution. Historically, capital punishments was codified under Fetha Negest in order to fulfill societal desire. Death penalty can be applied through approval of the President, but executions are rare.
References
- ↑ "Zambia, Central African Republic Move to Abolish Death Penalty". Death Penalty Information Center.
- ↑ "The Central African Republic is the 24th African state to abolish the death penalty". Ensemble contre la peine de mort. June 15, 2022.
- ↑ "Central African Republic Becomes 24th African State to Abolish the Death Penalty". WCADP. June 3, 2022.
- ↑ Death sentences and Executions 2021 Amnesty International
- ↑ "Central African Republic Archives". Amnesty International.
- ↑ "Capital crimes include: aggravated murder..." May 24, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-05-24.
- ↑ "Central African Republic and the Death Penalty".
- ↑ "Central African Republic and the Death Penalty".
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