Death Penalty

  • Issue

We know that, together, we can end the death penalty everywhere.

Every day, people are executed by the state as punishment for a variety of crimes – sometimes for acts that should not be criminalized. In some countries it can be for who you sleep with, in others it is reserved for acts of terror and murder.

Some countries execute people who were under 18 years old when the crime was committed, others use the death penalty against people who suffer mental problems. Before people die they are often imprisoned for years on “death row”. Not knowing when their time is up, or whether they will see their families one last time.

The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading. Amnesty opposes the death penalty at all times - regardless of who is accused, the crime, guilt or innocence or method of execution.

For 40 years, we have been working to end executions. When we began that work in 1977, only 16 countries had totally abolished the death penalty. Today, that number has risen to 104 - more than half the world's countries.

Hafez Ibrahim was about to be executed in Yemen in 2007 when he sent a mobile text message to Amnesty. It was a message that saved his life. “I owe my life to Amnesty. Now I dedicate that life to campaigning against the death penalty.”

Salil Shetty
The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it.
  • Amnesty holds an international conference in Sweden on the death penalty, leading to the Declaration of Stockholm, the first international manifesto calling on all governments to abolish the death penalty. This work contributes to our winning the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize.
  • We publish our first global statistical report on the death penalty. From this point, we become a key global authority on monitoring and reporting on death sentences and executions carried out by governments worldwide. - © Amnesty International
  • During the French presidential elections, Amnesty France engages in an intense mobilisation campaign directed at presidential candidates and others to abolish the death penalty in France. François Mitterrand wins the election and abolishes the punishment later that year. - © Getty Images
  • Thanks to the vocal support of Amnesty and others, the Sharpeville Six (pictured) are spared execution when their death sentences are commuted. The six South African protesters are later released in 1991 and 1992. - © Independent Print Limited
  • In November, Amnesty, along with other organizations and anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean (4th from left), delivers more than 5 million signatures to the UN, calling for a global freeze on executions. The UN adopts its first ever resolution on this in December. - UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras
  • As of September 2017, 105 countries around the world have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. With your help, we won’t need another 40 years to reach Amnesty’s goal of ending the death penalty for good - © REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR 40-YEAR FIGHT FOR ABOLITION

  • 1977
  • 1979
  • 1981
  • 1988
  • 2007
  • Today

The issue in detail

The death penalty breaches two essential human rights: the right to life and the right to live free from torture. Both rights are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948.

The following international laws explicitly ban use of the death penalty, except during times of war:

  • The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
  • Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights
  • The Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The European Convention on Human Rights (Protocol No. 13) bans use of the death penalty at all times, even during war.

Although international law says that the death penalty can be used for the most serious crimes, like murder, Amnesty believes that the death penalty is never the answer.

Execution methods

There are many and varied types of execution used around the world today, including:

• Beheading
• Electrocution
• Hanging
• Lethal injection
• Shooting in the back of the head and by firing squad

Key facts

104

countries had completely abolished the death penalty by the end of 2016

1,032

people were executed in 2016 (excluding China) – down 37% on 2015

1,000S

of people were likely executed in China, but the numbers remain classified

The Problem

Irreversible and mistakes happen. Execution is the ultimate, irrevocable punishment: the risk of executing an innocent person can never be eliminated. Since 1973, for example, 150 US prisoners sent to death row have later been exonerated. Others have been executed despite serious doubts about their guilt.

Does not deter crime. Countries who execute commonly cite the death penalty as a way to deter people from committing crime. This claim has been repeatedly discredited, and there is no evidence that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than imprisonment.

Often used within skewed justice systems. Some of the countries executing the most people have deeply unfair legal systems. The ‘top’ three executing countries – China, Iran and Iraq – have issued death sentences after unfair trials. Many death sentences are issued after ‘confessions’ that have been obtained through torture.

Discriminatory. You are more likely to be sentenced to death if you are poor or belong to a racial, ethnic or religious minority because of discrimination in the justice system. Also, poor and marginalized groups have less access to the legal resources needed to defend themselves.

Used as a political tool. The authorities in some countries, for example Iran and Sudan, use the death penalty to punish political opponents.

DEATH SENTENCES AND EXECUTIONS 2016

Read our latest annual review of the death penalty worldwide

Download PDF

THE GLOBAL VIEW

Death sentences and executions 2007-2017

 

This map shows the general locations of boundaries and jurisdictions and should not be interpreted as Amnesty’s view on disputed territories.

Further Reading

More information on our work against the Death Penalty

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