Since the end of the 1970s, the number of states that practice the death penalty has decreased dramatically throughout the world. Today 112 states they are completely abolitionist, out of a total of 144 countries who have abandoned capital punishment in law or practice. Exist 55 nations who keep it in force, but those who carry out death sentences are a third. However, the number of executions is increasing globally. According to the latest data from Amnesty internationalin 2023 there was the highest number of executions (1,153) for almost a decade, with a sharp increase recorded in the Middle East.
Amnesty International data is drawn from official statistics, media reports and information submitted by individuals sentenced to death or their families. For this reason, the organization specified that the figure does not include thousands of death sentences believed to have been carried out in ChinaWhere data is not available due to state secrecy. But the significant increase in the last 12 months was mainly due to Iran, where killings almost doubled compared to the previous year, mainly due to spikes in drug-related crimes. Iranian authorities have also been accused of torturing and killing protesters during the crackdown on protests over the death of Masha Aminithe young Iranian who died on September 16, 2022 because she did not wear the veil correctly. A report commissioned by the United Nations accused Iranian security forces of “crimes against humanity”. On the death penalty front, steps backwards were also recorded in United States of America and in theSub-Saharan Africa.
Despite the negative signals, the trend line at a global level remains comforting. In 2023 there were executions in 16 states, the lowest number ever recorded by Amnesty international. Unlike 2022, no executions were carried out in Japan, Myanmar, South Sudan And Belarusthe only country in Europe that continues to allow capital punishment (in Russia there is a moratorium).
The prospects of abolition
Several countries, therefore, are taking encouraging steps, but global abolition will have to wait. “The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, which most countries have fortunately consigned to history,” he tells us Alba Bonetti, president of Amnesty international Italy. “The real question now It’s not ‘if’ it will be abolished everywhere in the world, but ‘when’. Even if the finish line is visible, probably it will still take decades before only a handful of hardline states will continue to apply it. Thanks to our efforts, countries such as Andorra, Ireland, Mozambique, Nigeria, Hungary and many others have abolished it. But there is still a lot of work to do”.
Second Elisabetta Zamparuttitreasurer of the association “Let no one touch Cain“, “The abolitionist trend is indisputable. It is an ongoing historical process that our association has contributed to accelerating politically through the battle that led to the approval of the Resolution for the universal moratorium on capital executions by the UN General Assembly. Now let’s see a progression concentration in a nucleus of resistant countries to abolition, predominantly illiberal, almost as if to mark a desire to withdraw from the international community. China, which held the world record for the number of executions, introduced reforms that helped reduce the use of capital punishment. Iran, which today holds the record for executions in relation to its population, continues to use it massively, as do Saudi Arabia and other fundamentalist countries.” For Zamparutti, however, the battle for abolition must be conducted with different tools: “The trend grows and accelerates the more there is knowledgeotherwise the risk is to settle on an idea of vindictive justice. They are needed transparency, public debates, comparisons of the different positions. We must also get rid of the ‘gallows’ paradigm of a punishment that today has one predominant afflictive function”. On the site nobodytocchicaino.it In addition to news on the death penalty from all over the world, information on individual countries and the texts of UN documents are available.
Between judicial errors and discrimination
“Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders,” he wrote Albert Camus in the essay Reflections on the guillotine (1957). Today, although international law allows the death penalty in very limited circumstances, some States continue to use it even for crimes that do not directly and intentionally result in death, such as blasphemyL’adultery hey drug-related crimes. Yet evidence suggests that the death penalty has little or no effect on deterring or reducing crime. There is also evidence that death sentences were applied in a discriminatory manner against minorities on the basis of ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. The death penalty was also not exempt from serious errors judicial. For these reasons, in many countries the public opinions are becoming increasingly opposed to this solution, pushing governments to review their positions.
A few days ago, following the publication of Amnesty’s annual report, Mgr Vincenzo Pagliapresident of the Pontifical Academy for Life, he has declared: “The hope is that the example will spread, and that those countries that have abandoned the death penalty, either through abolition or moratorium, can inspire those who still practice it.” It was May 9th Pope francesco, in the Bull announcing the Holy Year for 2025to define the death penalty as a “provision contrary to the Christian faithwhich destroys any hope of forgiveness and renewal”, inviting Pastors and believers to ask “courageously” for its abolition.
What’s moving in the world
The United States and the Japan they are the only two G7 countries to maintain the death penalty. But in 2023, Japan carried out no executions and imposed “only” three new death sentences. Instead, in the USA the annual total of convictions and executions was the highest since 2019 and 2018 respectively, even though reflects historically low trends. Many observers believe that the death penalty is gradually disappearing in the United States. On the other hand, the support of American citizens it is at its lowest levels ever. Since 2000, the Gallup crime survey has questioned the fairness of the application of the death penalty in the USA. For the first time, the October 2023 survey reports that more Americans believe the death penalty is applied unfairly (50%) than fairly (47%).
Meanwhile, the death penalty has entered the American presidential elections on several occasions. Donald Trump argued that the death sentences for drug dealers they will solve the drug problem in the United States. Texas Republicans, during a recent convention, voted on a platform calling, among other things, to equate abortion with murder, which in the State is punishable by up to 99 years in prison but can also lead to a capital sentence. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania the State Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty For Kevin Dowlingconvicted of the murder of a woman in 1995.
A few days ago the Parliament of Tongaabolitionist country de factohas rejected the proposal to use capital punishment as a deterrent for drug crimes, has reported Rnz. The votes against the proposal were 38 and 8 in favour. In the country the death penalty remains in the codes, but has not been applied for more than 40 years. In May in Zimbabwe They were held public hearings for the bill on the abolition of the death penalty. In Nigeriahowever, the bill that makes the importation and distribution of hard drugs (for example cocaine and heroin) crimes punishable by death is was approved by the Senate and now awaits approval from the House of Representatives.
Growing support for the UN resolution
In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty with a view to total abolition. In each of the eight sessions of the General Assembly – the resolution is biennial – the UN approved new versions of the text, with the vote of December 15, 2022 which received 125 yes, 37 against and 22 abstentions. For the first time, three African countries that had abstained in previous votes (Ghana, Liberia and Uganda) they expressed a favorable opinion. The United States, along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, China and Vietnam voted no. The next resolution on the moratorium, the tenth, will be adopted next December And, according to many observers, the objective will be to reach the approval of 2/3 of the UN member states. “This will be an important step,” he wrote Marco Impagliazzo in an editorial on the Community of Sant’Egidio website“because it’s not just a matter of reiterating a principle: since that was established ethical and political standard at the UN every performance is perceived as heavier, going against the feelings of a large part of the world.”
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