A recent arti­cle in The Economist high­lights con­tin­u­ing long-term inter­na­tion­al trends away from the death penal­ty. Since December, three coun­tries — Fiji, Madagascar, and Suriname — have abol­ished the death penal­ty, increas­ing the num­ber of abo­li­tion­ist coun­tries to above 100. In December, 117 coun­tries vot­ed to sup­port a United Nations res­o­lu­tion for an inter­na­tion­al mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. The arti­cle notes a few out­lier coun­tries, includ­ing the United States and China, in which exe­cu­tions per­sist and that there has been a rise in exe­cu­tions in por­tions of the Muslim world. In the U.S., how­ev­er, death sen­tences were down and numer­ous met­rics point to the decline of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. ​“Of the 31 states that still have the death penal­ty, half have exe­cut­ed no one since 2010…In 1994 80% of Americans said they endorsed the death penal­ty in prin­ci­ple. The Pew Research Centre reck­ons that few­er than 60% do so today — and notes that young Americans are less keen than their elders.” Even in China, which car­ries out more exe­cu­tions than any oth­er nation, the use of the death penal­ty is on the decline. ​“The num­ber is a state secret but the Dui Hua Foundation, an American NGO, reck­ons there were about 2,400 [exe­cu­tions] in 2013, the last year it has been able to track. Campaigns against cor­rup­tion and ter­ror­ism mean the fall may not have con­tin­ued last year. But the long-term trend is steeply down. In 1983 24,000 peo­ple are thought to have been exe­cut­ed.” (Click image to enlarge.)

(“On the way out — with gris­ly excep­tions,” The Economist, July 4, 2015; Image by The Economist.) See International.

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