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According to Amnesty International over half of the countries in the world -- a total of 118 -- have now abolished the death penalty, either in law or in practice. Of these, 83 have abolished the death penalty for all crimes and 13 have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes, such as wartime crimes. A further 22 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice -- although they retain the death penalty in law they have not executed anyone for the past 10 years or more and this appears to be an established policy. A total of 78 countries and territories retain and use the death penalty, although the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller. In 2003, 28 countries carried out executions, with 84% taking place in China, Iran, the USA and Vietnam. People were sentenced to death in 63 countries. |
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