According to a new report from Amnesty International, the inter­na­tion­al trend away from the death penal­ty gen­er­al­ly con­tin­ued in 2012. The num­ber of coun­tries in which death sen­tences were imposed fell from 63 to 58. The num­ber of coun­tries that have com­plete­ly abol­ished the death penal­ty stood at 97. Ten years ago, this fig­ure stood at 80. In total, 140 coun­tries world­wide have end­ed the death penal­ty in law or in prac­tice. However, 3 coun­tries – India, Pakistan, and the Gambia – returned to car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions in 2012 after many years of hav­ing none. The U.S. car­ried out the same num­ber of exe­cu­tions in 2012 as in 2011, but in few­er states. There were 43 exe­cu­tions across nine states. The five coun­tries that car­ried out the most exe­cu­tions in 2012 were China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said, ​“In many parts of the world, exe­cu­tions are becom­ing a thing of the past. Only one in 10 coun­tries in the world car­ries out exe­cu­tions. Their lead­ers should ask them­selves why they are still apply­ing a cru­el and inhu­mane pun­ish­ment that the rest of the world is leaving behind.”

(L. Smith-Spark, ​“Report: China, U.S. in top 5 for exe­cu­tions world­wide,” CNN, April 10, 2013). Read Amnesty’s Report. View a video depic­tion of the facts. See International. Read more Studies on the death penalty.

Citation Guide