Death Penalty

Methods of Execution Worldwide

(Countries in italics are abolitionist de facto, underlined countries are abolitionist for ordinary crimes only.)
Afghanistan- firing squad, hanging, stoning
Albania- firing squad, hanging
Algeria- firing squad
Antigua and Barbuda- hanging
Armenia- firing squad
Bahamas- hanging
Bahrain- firing squad
Bangladesh- firing squad, hanging
Barbados- hanging
Belarus- firing squad
Belize- hanging
Benin- firing squad
Bermuda- hanging
Bolivia- firing squad
Bosnia-Herzegovina- firing squad
Botswana- hanging
Brunei Darussalam- hanging
Burkina Faso- firing squad
Burundi- firing squad, hanging
Cameroon- firing squad, hanging
Central African Republic- firing squad
Chad- firing squad
Chile- firing squad
China (People's Republic)- firing squad, lethal injection
Comoros- firing squad
Congo (Democratic Republic)- firing squad, hanging
Congo (Republic)- firing squad, beheading
Cote d'Ivoire- firing squad
Cuba- firing squad
Dominica- hanging
Djibouti- firing squad
Egypt- hanging, firing squad
El Salvador- firing squad
Equatorial Guinea- firing squad, hanging
Eritrea-
Ethiopia- firing squad,
Gabon- firing squad
Ghana- firing squad
Grenada- hanging
Guatemala- lethal injection
Guinea- firing squad
Guyana- hanging
India- hanging
Indonesia- firing squad
Iran- firing squad, hanging, stoning
Iraq- firing squad, hanging
Israel- hanging
Jamaica- hanging
Japan- hanging
Jordan- firing squad, hanging
Kazakhstan- firing squad
Kenya- hanging
Korea (North/Democratic People's Republic)- firing squad, hanging
Korea (South/ Republic)- hanging
Kuwait hanging, firing squad -
Kyrgyzstan- firing squad
Laos-
Latvia- firing squad
Lebanon- firing squad, hanging
Lesotho- hanging
Liberia- firing squad, hanging
Libya- firing squad, hanging
Madagascar- firing squad
Malawi- hanging
Malaysia- hanging
Mali- firing squad
Mauritania- firing squad
Mongolia- firing squad
Morocco- firing squad
Myanmar- hanging
Niger- firing squad
Nigeria- firing squad, hanging
Oman-
Pakistan- hanging, stoning
Palestinian Authority- firing squad, hanging
Papua New Guinea- hanging
Philippines- lethal injection
Qatar- hanging, firing squad
Russian Federation- firing squad
Rwanda- firing squad
St. Christopher and Nevis- hanging
St. Lucia- hanging
St. Vincent and The Grenadines- hanging
Saudi Arabia- beheading, stoning
Senegal- firing squad
Sierra Leone- firing squad, hanging
Singapore- hanging
Somalia- firing squad
Sri Lanka- hanging
Sudan- hanging, stoning, crucifixion, firing squad
Suriname- firing squad
Swaziland- hanging
Syria- hanging, firing squad
Taiwan (Republic of China)- firing squad, lethal injection
Tajikistan- firing squad
Tanzania- hanging
Thailand- firing squad
Togo- firing squad
Tonga- hanging
Trinidad and Tobago- hanging
Tunisia- hanging, firing squad
Turkey- hanging
Turkmenistan- firing squad
Uganda- firing squad, hanging
Ukraine- firing squad
United Arab Emirates- firing squad, stoning, beheading
United States of America- lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, firing squad
Uzbekistan- firing squad
Vietnam- firing squad
Western Samoa-
Yemen- firing squad
Yugoslavia (Federal Republic)- firing squad
Zambia- hanging
Zimbabwe- hanging

Method of Execution practiced in...
firing squad 73 countries (sole method in 45 countries)
hanging 58 countries (sole method in 33 countries)
stoning 6 countries
lethal injection 5 countries (sole method in 1 country)
beheading 3 countries
electrocution 1 country
lethal gas 1 country

The Case Against capital punishment:

No society has the right to take a life. Murder is murder, even if the State is committing the crime. capital punishment hurts the family of the prisoner more than the prisoner him or her self. In countries where capital punishment is practiced, it is often the poor, the uneducated and the minority groups who die, not the worst offenders. There is no evidence that capital punishment acts as a deterrent to prevent further crimes. Murders tend to be spur of the moment crimes, they are not rational acts and therefore the offender does not think about the consequences. capital punishment lowers all those involved to the level of the murderer. Courts are reluctant to convict if capital punishment is the likely outcome. There is always the possibility of error. It is too late after someone is dead to find this out.

The Case in Favor of capital punishment

Society must protect its individuals, even if this means that one must die to protect others. Society has always had the right to kill, as it does when it wages war. The Bible says "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Taxpayers should not have to support criminals living in comfort for years. Often, "life imprisonment" means only a short time, then the criminal is released and is free to offend again. Justice demands that criminals receive a punishment in keeping with their offence. Therefore a person who takes a life should lose their life. capital punishment is the only penalty severe enough to make criminals think twice before committing major crimes. The chance of error is very small given a thorough and fair justice system. Facts and figures

It is interesting to consider some facts and figures related to the death penalty. According to Amnesty International more than half the countries in the world have now abolished the Death Penalty in law or in practice. More than two countries a year on average have abolished the death penalty in law since 1976. Of those who retain the death penalty many have not used it for many years. Once abolished the death penatly is rarely introduced. Since 1985 twenty-five countries have abloished the death penalty while only four have re-introduced it. Of those four Nepal has since re-abolished the death penalty and there have been no executions in the other three. During 1996 4,272 prisoners are known to have been executed in 39 countries but more than 3,500 of these cases were in China. AI point out that the real figure is certainly much higher than this. In the USA 45 prisoners were executed in 1996 and more than 3000 were under sentence of death at the end of that year.

Here is a look the somewhat arbitrary history of the death penalty

Places	Offenses	Punishments
Hebrew	transgressions affecting whole community	stoning mob beating
Babylon	selling bad beer adultery sex with mother accepting pawns from slaves, minors perjury in murder trials unproveable murder claim kidnapping a boy helping slaves escape looting not capturing rebels in your bar a non-temple priestess in a bar poor house carpentry father's carpentry kills a boy stealing sacred property inability to pay for stolen property robbery of a free person the ususal	drowning burning
Assyria	being a bad barber	the ususal
Egpyt	injuring a cat	the ususal
Greece	transgressions affecting whole community	stoning mob beating forced suicide
Rome	singing unruly songs Christianity immorality in vestal virgins	the usual beheading feeding to lions gladiator battles crucifixion
India	stealing a royal elephant	the ususal
Middle Ages Europe		the usual hanging drawing and quartering disemboweling mangling on wheels boiling alive pressing under weights forced suicide
early America		the usual firing squad hanging
late America	murder	treason gas chamber lethal injection electric chair modern Afghanistan and Iran murder drinking adultery throat slitting et. al.

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