Overview of the death penalty worldwide in 2011.

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

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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