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Overview of the death penalty worldwide in
2011.
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The
reported use of the death penalty worldwide increased during 2011, there being
at least 598 executions in 16 countries (up from 427 executions in 18 countries
during 2010). These are reported and verified
judicial executions, but there will have been unreported ones in China, North Korea
and Yemen.
Details of executions are very hard to verify in these countries because of the
official secrecy surrounding them. It is
also difficult to be certain of numbers for Egypt
and Iraq,
as not all executions are reported or confirmed and names are not given. Figures for Iran are also hard to verify, with
some sites listing far more executions than those announced in the Iranian
media, from which my information comes. Iran has had a
major increase in the use of the death penalty during 2011, particularly for
drug offences with 251 of the 340 hangings I recorded being for drug crimes.
Quasi judicial executions have taken place in the parts of Afghanistan still
controlled by the Taliban and in Somalia controlled by rebel forces but these
are excluded from the above figures.
The USA executed 43
men in 13 states during 2011, down from 46 in 2010. 78 people were sentenced to death in the USA this year,
the lowest figure for many years. There
were 3,222 inmates on death row on April 1, 2011. Illinois
abolished the death penalty from July 1st, 2011 and the governor of Oregon has placed a
moratorium on executions during his tenure.
California and Kentucky remain in a state of paralysis with
the death penalty, both being unable to carry out executions at present. California
has the largest number of inmates on death row in the USA with 720 at
year end.
The
countries in which verifiable judicial executions took place during 2011 were
(method in brackets) :
|
Country
|
Totals
|
|
Afghanistan
|
2
|
|
America (USA)
(LI)
|
43
|
|
Bangladesh (H)
|
2
|
|
Belarus (S)
|
2
|
|
China (LI + S)
|
35
|
|
Dubai (S)
|
1
|
|
Egypt (H)
|
1
|
|
Iran (H)
|
340
|
|
Iraq (H)
|
68
|
|
North Korea (S)
|
2
|
|
Palestine (H + S)
|
3
|
|
Saudi Arabia (B)
|
76
|
|
Singapore
|
4
|
|
Somalia (H)
|
9
|
|
Sudan (Darfur) (H)
|
5
|
|
Taiwan (S)
|
5
|
|
|
598
|
|
Method
|
Beheading
(B)
|
Electric
chair (E)
|
Hanging
(H)
|
Lethal
injection (LI)
|
Shooting
(S)
|
|
Totals
|
76
|
0
|
430
|
43+
China
|
11+
China, North Korea, Yemen
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For the monthly update of the names, dates and
crimes of those executed click
here.
Countries
with and without the death penalty.
At the end of 2011, 58 countries retain the death
penalty, although only 18 of them used it during the year. 95 countries have abolished it completely,
while a further 44 are abolitionist in practice, having had no executions in
the preceding decade. No executions have been reported in Japan, Malaysia,
Singapore or Vietnam during
2011, all of which retain the death penalty and have prisoners on death row.
Methods
used.
Hanging
was used for at least 430 executions with 415 men and fifteen women being
hanged in nine countries. These being Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Egypt, Iran, Iraq,
Palestine, Singapore,
Somalia and the Sudan (Darfur).
Public and private hangings took place in Iran, all the rest were in
private. Iran uses either a short drop
or hoists the prisoner into the air with a hydraulic crane jib (used at least
for public hangings). It is not known
what method Afghanistan and Sudan use. The
other countries listed gave the prisoner a calculated drop.
Saudi Arabia publicly beheaded
73 men and three women for murder, rape, sorcery and drug offences during 2011,
up from 26 men in 2010. Saudi Arabia is the only country that uses
beheading.
All US executions
in 2011 were carried out by lethal injection.
It is also used in China,
with over half of the 404 Intermediate Peoples’ Courts having adopted this
method. Beijing
moved to lethal injection in early 2010.
Lethal injections are carried out either in purpose built execution
chambers or in specially equipped mini-busses. Often the execution method is
not reported in China.
Vietnam
is to switch from firing squad to lethal injection from the 1st of July 2011. Guatemala and Thailand are the only other
countries that use lethal injection and neither carried out an execution in
2011.
Executions
by shooting were carried out in the Belarus,
China, Dubai,
North Korea, Palestine, Taiwan
and probably in Yemen. Dubai and Palestine use a conventional firing squad whilst Yemen
lays the prisoner on the ground and a single executioner shoots them through
the heart with an automatic rifle. It is thought that in Belarus, China
and Taiwan
the executioner fires a single shot to the back of the prisoner’s head. It is
unknown how North Korea
carries out shooting executions. Some provinces in China continue to use shooting
which is carried out by a single bullet to the back of the head, but more than
half of Chinese provinces have moved to lethal injection.
Women.
At
least 22 women were reported
executed in five countries during 2011. At least 10 were hanged in Iran, two hanged in Somalia,
three hanged in Iraq, three
beheaded in Saudi Arabia and
at least six given a lethal injections in China.
Click here for details
of females executed in 2011.
Juveniles.
There
is at least one report of a judicial execution of a juvenile in 2011, in Iran, although
the authorities there claim he was 18 according to their calendar. It thought
that there are juveniles on death row in Iran,
Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Juveniles are defined as persons under 18 at the time the crime was committed
who are exempted from the death penalty under International Law.
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