Amnesty Reports Drop in Executions
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Saturday, April 28, 2007
More than nine in 10 of all known executions in the world took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the United States last year, but the global total dropped to 1,591, from 2,148 in 2005, according to an Amnesty International report released yesterday in Rome.
The United States, with 53 executions in 2006, is the only country in the Americas to have carried out the death penalty since 2003, the report noted. Concerning China, Amnesty said that it had counted more than 1,000 executions in 2006 but that the true number is believed to be closer to 8,000. Use of the death penalty remains a state secret in China, it added.
Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said it was a "continuing source of national shame that the United States remains on the list of the world's top executing countries."
Iran executed at least 177 people last year, Pakistan at least 82, and Iraq and Sudan at least 65 each, according to the report.
In 2006, the Philippines became the 99th country to abolish the death penalty. Others, such as South Korea, "stand on the brink of abolition," Amnesty said.
"Lawmakers are finally realizing that the death penalty is an ineffective crime prevention measure that drains resources away from the community and does little to deter violent crime," said Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, director of Amnesty International USA's program for abolishing the death penalty.
"There is also a growing awareness of the racial bias, arbitrariness and fallibility associated with the administration of the death penalty, and many are seriously questioning the wisdom of retaining such a system," she added.
