During the past 15 years, the num­ber of African nations aban­don­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment has risen from one to 10, and anoth­er 10 nations have abol­ished the death penal­ty in prac­tice accord­ing to a recent tal­ly by Amnesty International. As this trend toward abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty con­tin­ues, few­er Africans than ever are being exe­cut­ed by their gov­ern­ments. The anti-cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment move­ment has been espe­cial­ly pow­er­ful in West Africa, where the num­ber of coun­tries in the Economic Community of West African States that have either banned exe­cu­tions or halt­ed them has risen to 10. Southern Africa, where the death penal­ty is now out­lawed in five coun­tries and at least two addi­tion­al nations have aban­doned it in prac­tice, has also shift­ed towards end­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Among the issues shap­ing Africa’s atti­tude toward cap­i­tal pun­ish­ments are inno­cence, the impact this pun­ish­ment has on those who car­ry out exe­cu­tions, and doubts about deter­rence. (New York Times, October 20, 2004). See International Death Penalty.

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