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"Execution" redirects here. For other uses, see Execution (disambiguation).

Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is state-sanctioned killing, called execution, as an irrevocable punishment for a crime often called a capital offence or a capital crime. Historically, the execution of criminals and political opponents was used by nearly all societies either by means of judicial process or through political motivations such as the supression of political dissent. Among democratic countries around the world, most Western and Latin American ones have abolished capital punishment (except the United States, Guatemala and most of the Caribbean), while democracies in Asia and Africa retain it. Among nondemocratic countries the use of the death penalty is common.

In most places that practice capital punishment today, the death penalty is reserved as a punishment for certain murders, espionage, or treason or part of military justice. In some majority-Muslim countries, certain sexual crimes, including adultery and sodomy, carry the death penalty. In many countries, drug trafficking is also a capital offense. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are also punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world, courts-martial have sentenced capital punishments also for cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny.

The death penalty worldwide

Global distribution of death penalty

Reports from NGOs opposed to the death penalty tend to publicise the view that abolition is a global trend. In 1977, 16 countries were abolitionist, while the figure was 122 for the end of 2005. In more detail, 86 countries have abolished capital punishment for all offences, 11 for all offences except under special circumstances, and 25 have not used it for at least 10 years. However, Sri Lanka recently declared an end to its moratorium on the death penalty. A total of 74 countries retain it. Among retentionist countries, 8 use capital punishment for juveniles (under 18). China performed more than 3400 executions in 2004 and these amount to more than 90% of executions worldwide. In China, some inmates are executed by firing squad, but it has been decided that all executions will be in the form of lethal injections in the future. Iran performed 159 executions in 2004 . This included several executions for the crimes of "homosexual acts" and "adultery" (which includes victims of rape). The United States performed 60 executions in 2005. Texas conducts more executions than any other State, with 359 executions between 1976 and 2006. Singapore has the highest execution rate per capita, with 70 hangings for a population of about 4 million.

In demographic terms, many retentionist countries have large populations and high population growth. When the relative demographic proportion between retentionist and abolitionist countries is taken into account, this may indicate an underlying trend of increase in retentionist population, which is seemingly shifted in favour of the number of abolitionist countries when new countries switch to being abolitionist. However, it is important to note that use of the death penalty is becoming more restrained in retentionist countries, which is often masked by the population growth because it may nonetheless increase the number of executions being carried out. Japan and the U.S. were the only fully developed and democratic countries to retain the death penalty. The death penalty was overwhelmingly practiced in poor, undemocratic, and authoritarian states, which often employed the death penalty as a tool of political oppression. During the 1980s, the democratisation of Latin America (with its long history of progressive and Catholic tradition) swelled the rank of abolitionist countries. This was soon followed by the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, which then aspired to emulate neighbouring Western Europe. In these countries, the public support for the death penalty is low and/or decreasing. The European Union and the Council of Europe both strictly require member states not to practice the death penalty. The only European country to do so is Belarus - this is one of the reasons that Belarus is excluded from the Council of Europe. On the other hand, democratisation and rapid industrialisation in Asia have been increasing the number of retentionist countries that are democratic and/or developed. In these countries, the death penalty enjoys strong public support, and the matter receives little attention from the legislature. This trend has been followed by partial democratisation in some African and Middle Eastern countries where the support for the death penalty is high.

Public opinion

Support for the death penalty varies widely. It is a highly contentious political issue in the U.S., because it is a part of culture war over the ongoing debate over the response to high crime rate. In other democracies, this is not the case. In democracies both in abolitionist Europe and in retentionist Asia, the existing policy in those countries has wide public support and receives little attention by politicians. In some abolitionist countries, the majority of the public support or has supported the death penalty. Abolition was often adopted due to political change, such as when countries shifted from authoritarianism to democracy, or it became an entry condition for the European Union. In Western Europe, abolition was initially brought in by a moratorium on the death penalty that later become a de facto ban. It is rare for the death penalty to be abolished due to an active public discussion of its validity.

In abolitionist countries, debate is sometimes revived by particularly brutal murders, though few countries have brought it back after abolition. However a spike in serious, violent crimes, such as murders or terrorist attacks, have prompted some countries (such as Sri Lanka and Jamaica) to effectively end the moratorium on the death penalty. Some polls in Europe and Canada suggest that the death penalty has similar support there to that in the United States. Other polls show that Western European support of the death penalty dropped significantly in the years after abolition. In most Eastern European countries, there is still a majority for reintroduction. In retentionist countries, the debate is sometimes revived when miscarriage of justice occurs, though this tends to cause legislative efforts to "improve" the judicial process rather than to abolish the death penalty. However, use of the death penalty is increasingly restrained in these countries, which is often seen as the main cause of high public support for the death penalty in countries such as Korea, Japan, or Taiwan.

A Gallup International poll from 2000 found that "Worldwide support was expressed in favour of the death penalty, with just more than half (52%) indicating that they were in favour of this form of punishment." A break down of the numbers of support versus opposition: Worldwide 52%/39%, North America 66%/27%, Asia 63%/21%, Eastern Europe 60%/29%, Africa 54%/43%, Latin America 37%/55%, Western Europe 34%/60%.

In the U.S, polls show a majority support for death penalty. A Gallup Poll in 2005 found that 64% of the public voted in favour of capital punishment, and 56% preferred the death penalty versus 39% preferring life imprisonment. A Harris Poll in 2004 concluded that 69% of Americans supported the death penalty whilst only 22% were against it. 41% of people believed that it deterred murder, while 53% stated that there was not much effect. 36% of people believed that there should be more executions versus 21% favouring a decrease.

International organizations

A number of regional conventions prohibit the death penalty, most notably, the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, most existing international treaty categorically exempt death penalty from prohibition in case of serious crime, most notably, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, while some provide optional protocols to abolish it.

Several international organizations have made the abolition of the death penalty a requirement of membership, most notably the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe. The EU and the Council of Europe are willing to accept a moratorium as an interim measure. Thus, while Russia is a member of the Council of Europe, and practices the death penalty in law, it has not made use of it since becoming a member of the Council. Another example is Latvia which entered a moratorium in 1996. Latvia retains the death penalty in extraordinary circumstances (as does non-EU-member Albania), and is the only EU member not to have ratified the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (which prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances). Latvia's parliament has, however, signed the 13th Protocol, and as an EU member Latvia has pledged to abolish the death penalty.

Turkey has recently, as a move towards EU membership, undergone a reform of its legal system. Previously there was a de facto moratorium on death penalty in Turkey as the last execution took place in 1984. The death penalty was removed from peacetime law in August 2002, and in May 2004 Turkey amended its constitution in order to remove capital punishment in all circumstances. As a result, Europe is a continent free of the death penalty in practice (all states having ratified the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights), with the sole exception of Belarus, which is not a member of the Council of Europe. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has been lobbying for Council of Europe observer states who practice the death penalty, namely the US and Japan, to abolish it or lose their observer status.

Among non-governmental organisations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are noted for their opposition to the death penalty.

Juvenile capital punishment

Only six countries practice the death penalty for juveniles, that is, criminals aged under 18 years at the time of their crime. In the 1980s and 1990s, most executions for juvenile crime took place in the United States. In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that the death penalty cannot be applied to persons who were under age 18 at the time of commission of the crime. That decision resulted in 72 convicted murderers being taken off death row. In the US and ancestral political bodies since 1642, an estimated 364 juvenile offenders have been executed by states and the federal government. Although the People's Republic of China accounts for the vast majority of executions in the world, it does not allow for the executions of those under 18. Besides in the United States, execution of those aged under age 18 has occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Iran since 1990. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which among other things forbids capital punishment for juveniles, has been signed and ratified by all countries except the USA and Somalia . Furthermore some, such as the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, maintain that the death penalty for juveniles has become contrary to customary international law.

The death penalty in specific countries

Belarus · Canada · People's Republic of China · Denmark · France · Germany · India · Japan · New Zealand · Singapore · United Kingdom · United States

History

The use of formal execution extends back beyond recorded history. Most historical records as well as various primitive tribal practices indicate that the death penalty was a part of the communal justice system. Communal punishment for wrongdoing generally included compensation by the wrongdoer, corporal punishment, shunning, banishment and execution. However, it should be noted that within a small community, crimes were rare and murder was almost always a crime of passion. Moreover, most would hesitate to inflict death on a member of the community. For this reason, execution and even banishment were extremely rare. Usually, compensation and shunning were enough as a form of justice.

However, these are not an effective response to crimes committed by outsiders. Consequently, even small crimes including theft committed by outsiders were considered to be an assault on the community and were severely punished. The methods varied from beating and enslavement to executions. However, the response to crime committed by neighbouring tribes or communities included formal apology, compensation or blood feuds.

A Blood Feud or vendetta occurs when arbitration between families or tribes fails or an arbitration system is non-existent. This form of justice was common before the emergence of an arbitration system based on state or organized religion. It may result from crime, land disputes or a code of honour. "Acts of retaliation underscore the ability of the social collective to defend itself and demonstrate to enemies (as well as potential allies) that injury to property, rights, or the person will not go unpunished." However, it is often difficult to distinguish between a war of vendetta and conquest.

Elaborations of tribal arbitration of feuds included peace settlements often done in a religious context and compensation system. Compensation was based on the principle of substitution which might include material (eg. cattle, slave) compensation, exchange of brides or grooms, or payment of the blood debt. Settlement rules could allow for animal blood to replace human blood, or transfers of property or blood money or in some case an offer of a person for execution. It should be noted that the person offered for execution did not have to be an original perpetrator of the crime because the system was based on tribes, not individuals. Blood feuds could be regulated at meetings, such as the Viking things. Systems deriving from blood feuds may survive alongside more advanced legal systems or be given recognition by courts (e.g. trial by combat). One of the more modern refinements of the blood feud is the duel.

In certain part of the world, nations in the form of ancient republics, monarchies or tribal oligarchies emerged. These nations were often united by common linguistic, religious or family ties. Moreover, expansion of these nations often occurred by conquest of neighbouring tribes or nation. Consequently, various classes of royalty, nobility, various commoners and slave emerged. Accordingly, the systems of tribal arbitration were submerged into a more unified system of justice which formalised the relation between the different "classes" rather than "tribes". The earliest and most famous example is Code of Hammurabi which set the different punishment and compensation according to the different class/group of victims and perpetrators. The Pentateuch (Old Testament) lays down the death penalty for kidnapping, magic, violation of the Sabbath, blasphemy, and a wide range of sexual crimes, although evidence suggests that actual executions were rare. A further example comes from Ancient Greece, where the Athenian legal system was first written down by Draco in about 621 BC: the death penalty was applied for a particularly wide range of crimes. The word draconian derives from Draco's laws. Similarly, in medieval and early modern Europe, the death penalty was also used as a generalised form of punishment. For example, in 18th C. Britain, there were 222 crimes which were punishable by death, including crimes such as cutting down a tree or stealing an animal.

The last several centuries has seen the emergence of modern nation states. Almost fundamental to the concept of nation state is the idea of citizenship. This caused justice to be increasingly associated with equality and universality, which in Europe saw an emergence of the concept of natural right. Another important aspect is that emergence of standing police forces and permanent penitential institutions. The death penalty become an increasingly unnecessary deterrent and prevention of minor crimes such as theft. The 20th century was one of the bloodiest of the human history. Massive killing occurred as the resolution of war between nation states. A large part of execution was summary execution of enemy combatants. Also, modern military organisations employed capital punishment as a means of maintaining military discipline. In the past, cowardice, absence without leave, desertion, insubordination, looting, shirking under enemy fire and disobeying orders were often crimes punishable by death. The method of execution since firearms came into common use has almost invariably been firing squad. Moreover, various authoritarian states, for example those with fascist or communist governments, or dictatorships, employed the death penalty as a potent means of political oppression. Partly as a response to such excessive punishment, civil organizations have started to place increasing emphasis on the concept of human rights and abolition of the death penalty.

Abolitionary movements

The lex talionis

The lex talionis (also known by the principle "an eye for an eye") describes criminal law systems in which punishments fit the crime. As applied to the death penalty, application of the lex talionis restricts the range of crimes to murder. While the lex talionis may seem severe from a modern perspective, in its origin it was reformist, involving a liberalisation of penalties compared to previous practices. The earliest known application of the lex talionis for death penalty crimes was in the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BC). A similar example of the reforming introduction of the lex talionis is the Athenian Solon's (638 BC – 558 BC) restriction of the death penalty to murder (a reform of the previous laws instituted by Draco).

Sacrifice and entertainment

"All of the inhabitants of Gaul are completely devoted to superstitious rites. Indeed, therefore those who are afflicted by unusually severe diseases and those who are engaged in battles and dangers either sacrifice human victims or vow to ask Druids to perform such sacrifices. For they feel that unless one man's life be offered for that of another, the immortal gods cannot be placated..." (Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book VI)

Human sacrifice is well documented from the earliest times, but what was the rationale? According to Caesar, for the Celts it was "pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita reddatur" - roughly, "a life for a life". If the gods are displeased with you for a wrongdoing, they demand blood payment and may send a disease to perform the execution. However, it is possible to negotiate with the gods and perform a substitution - somebody else's life will pay the blood debt instead. Similarly, there is a risk when going into battle that one might have some unpaid blood debt with the gods, for which reason the gods might ensure defeat and death. So as a safety precaution it was possible to promise the gods an alternative blood payment - presumably the blood of one's enemies, but again as a substitution for one's own blood. See also: Celts and human sacrifice.

In Christian theology the doctrine of substitutionary atonement has a similar logic, but extended to a universal scale. The idea of substitutionary atonement is that humanity (from the dawn of time to the end of time) is sinful and that these sins or wrongdoings require compensation or atonement. The Roman execution of Jesus of Nazareth is interpreted as a self-sacrifice on behalf of humanity. The key biblical texts indicate the idea of one life for many lives. As regards the substitution, Christian theology draws parallels between the crucifixion and the story of how Abraham was permitted to substitute a lamb for his son Isaac when commanded by God to make a devotional sacrifice (the lamb is understood as symbolizing Christ). See also: atonement, substitutionary atonement, propitiation, sacrifice.

Further examples of human sacrifice include the judicial hanging that was originally a sacrificial rite to Odin. Scandinavian religions demanded human sacrifices not only by hanging, but also by drowning the convict in a bog (see Kalevala which contains a chapter where Väinämöinen sentences the fatherless Son of Marjatta to be drowned in a bog; see also bog body, describing the archaeological finds of human sacrifices across Northern Europe). Some societies, such as the Aztec, used mass executions of prisoners of war as a religious rite. The perceived religious or instructive purpose of execution meant that many of the oldest methods of execution were intentionally brutal.

In many cultures the entertainment value of suffering was valued, as seen in Roman executions.

Public executions were the norm until recently, whether atop an Aztec pyramid or on a gallows in the town square. Public executions still occurred in Europe and the United States in the first half of the 20th century and continue to occur in other countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. Some feel that public execution can be justified on the grounds that it is important that justice, especially for the most heinous crimes, is seen to be done. An alternative justification is that the deterrent effect is greater if execution is in public. In practice, public executions have often better served the purposes of entertainment. The practice in some countries of selecting a small group of witnesses, usually including officials and family members of victims, can be seen as a compromise between a public interest in witnessing justice and the avoidance of a descent into entertainment.

Movements towards "humane" execution

In early New England, public executions were a very solemn and sorrowful occasion, sometimes attended by large crowds, who also listened to a Gospel message and remarks by local preachers and politicians. The Connecticut Courant records one such public execution on December 1, 1803, saying, "The assembly conducted through the whole in a very orderly and solemn manner, so much so, as to occasion an observing gentleman acquainted with other countries as well as this, to say that such an assembly, so decent and solemn, could not be collected anywhere but in New England."

Trends in most of the world have long been to move to less painful, or more "humane", executions. France developed the guillotine for this reason in the final years of the 18th century while Britain banned drawing and quartering in the early 19th century. "Hanging by the neck until dead", which causes death by suffocation was replaced by "hanging" where the subject is dropped to dislocate the neck and sever the spinal cord. In the U.S., electrocution and the gas chamber, which were introduced as more humane alternatives to hanging, have been almost entirely superseded by lethal injection, which in turn has been criticised as being too painful. Nevertheless, some countries still employ slow hanging methods, beheading by sword and even stoning, although stoning is rarely employed.

Anti Death Penalty movements

Although the death penalty was briefly banned in China between 747 and 759, modern opposition to the death penalty stems from the book of the Italian Cesare Beccaria Dei Delitti e Delle Pene ("On Crimes and Punishments"), published in 1764. In this book Beccaria aimed to demonstrate not only the injustice, but even the futility from the point of view of social welfare, of torture and the death penalty. Influenced by the book, Grand Duke Leopold II of Habsburg, famous enlightened monarch and future Emperor of Austria, abolished the death penalty in the then-independent Granducato di Toscana (Tuscany), the first permanent abolition in modern times. On 30 November 1786, after having de facto blocked capital executions (the last was in 1769), Leopold promulgated the Reform of the penal code that abolished the death penalty and ordered the destruction of all the instruments for capital execution in his land. In 2000 Tuscany's regional authorities instituted an annual holiday on 30 November to commemorate the event.

In 1849, the Roman Republic became the first country to ban the capital punishment in its constitutions. Portugal abolished the death penalty in 1867; the last execution had taken place in 1846.

In the United States, the state of Michigan was the first state to ban the death penalty, on March 1, 1847. The 150-year ban on capital punishment has never been repealed, and as such the state is considered to be the first democracy in recorded history to have eliminated capital punishment. Currently, 12 states of the U.S. and the District of Columbia ban capital punishment.

Anti death penalty theme in arts and media

Many artist and writers in modern period advocated abolition of death penalty

Victor Hugo's The Last Day of a Condemned Man (Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné) describes the thoughts of a condemned man just before his execution; also notable is its preface, in which Hugo argues at length against capital punishment.

In The Chamber by John Grisham, a young lawyer tries to save his klansman grandfather who committed murders. The novel is noted for presentation of anti-death penalty materials.

Capital punishment has been the basis of many motion pictures including Dead Man Walking based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean, The Green Mile, and The Life of David Gale.

See List of protest songs for a list of protest songs about Capital Punishment.

Debate

The death penalty is often the subject of controversy.

Religious views

The official teachings of Judaism technically approve the death penalty in principle but the standard of proof required for application of death penalty is extremely stringent, and in practice, it has been abolished by various Talmudic decisions, making the situations in which a death sentence could be passed effectively impossible and hypothetical.

Christianity in theological terms follows the teaching of Thomas Aquinas who accepted the death penalty as a necessary deterrent and prevention method but not as the means of vengeance. The Roman Catholic Church holds that the death penalty is no longer necessary if it can be replaced by incarceration. The position of other Christian denominations, at least among (academic) theologians, follow similar reasoning of Thomas Aquinas. In Protestantism, it is common for each follower or minister to have their own personal position on the death penalty. Both proponents and opponents derive their own stance from the Bible itself.

Scholars of Islam hold it to be permissible but the victim or the family of victim has the right to grant pardon. The teachings of other religions also tend to discourage death penalty as the means of vengeance but accept it as the means of deterrent and prevention, while the question of the effectiveness of incarceration as a substitute remain outside of the theological question.

Methods of execution

Jurisdictions using capital punishment typically restrict its use to a small number of criminal offences, principally murder, with rare applications for treason and equated mortal sins such as apostasy. Historically—and still today under certain systems of law—the death penalty was applied to a wider range of offences, including robbery or theft, child molestation, and kidnapping. It has also been frequently used by the military for crimes including looting, insubordination, and mutiny. Armies based on conscription have used death penalty as means of coercion and maintaining discipline.

Even in ancient times, methods of execution were sometimes chosen so that the extent of suffering during execution was related to the perceived seriousness of the crime or the class and status of the criminal. Roman citizens might be allowed to commit suicide while low class persons might be crucified.

In medieval Europe, the method of execution often depended on the social class of the condemned. The nobility were usually beheaded in as painless and honourable a method as possible, generally with either sword or an axe (which occasionally failed horribly). Those in the working class, serfs, peasants, and possibly the bourgeoisie were usually executed publicly, by a more gruesome and painful method, such as the wheel or being hung, drawn and quartered . In Scandinavia, the noblemen were beheaded with a sword, and commoners with an axe. Specific crimes sometimes warranted specific methods of execution: suspected witchcraft, religious heresy, atheism, or homosexuality were typically punished by burning at the stake. Unsuccessful regicides generally merited a horrible death. A wide range of offences could be punished by death, including robbery and theft, even if nobody was physically harmed in the action.

Such methods of execution continued into the modern era. In 1757 in France, Robert-François Damiens suffered a horrible but customary execution for his attempted regicide against King Louis XV. His hand, holding the weapon used in the regicide attempt, was burnt, and his body was wounded in several places. Then, molten lead and other hot liquids were poured on the wounds. He was then drawn and quartered, and what remained of his body was burnt at the stake. Inhumane methods of execution and class inequalities were abolished in France during the French Revolution, which imposed the guillotine, seen as a painless and instantaneous method of execution, for all. However, during The Terror, other forms of execution, such as massed cannon fire and mass drownings, were also used.

Notes

1. Survey of research findings: Roger Hood, The Death Penalty: A World-wide Perspective, Oxford, Clarendon Press, third edition, 2002, p. 230)
2. Etymology of "capital"
3. e.g.: Peter Waldmann (1999). "Rachegewalt: Zur Renaissance eines für überholt gehaltenen Gewaltmotivs in Albanien und Kolumbien" (PDF). Zürcher Beiträge zur Sicherheitspolitik und Konfliktforschung. 54: 141–160. - article covers general work in the area of blood feuds and then discusses the resurgence of the blood feud in Albania and Columbia; also: Jonas Grutzpalk. "Blood Feud and Modernity: Max Weber's and Émile Durkheim's Theories" (PDF). Journal of Classical Sociology. 2 (2): 115–134.
4. Translated from Waldmann, op.cit., p.147.
5. Grutzpalk, op.cit., p.117.
6. Examples of detailed studies of particular feud systems are: Monalinda E. Doro (2005). "Case Studies on Rido: Conflict Resolution among Meranao in Baloi, Lanao del Norte" (PDF): –. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - rido is the local term for blood feud; the location named is in the Philippines on the island of Mindanao; also: John Lindow (1994). "Bloodfeud and Scandinavian Mythology" (PDF). Alvíssmál. 4: 51–68.
7. Lindow, op.cit. (primarily discusses Icelandic things).
8. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 and 1 Peter 2:24.
9. Genesis 22.
10. Brown, Keith (1986). Bloodfeud in Scotland 1573–1625: Violence, Justice and Politics in an Early Modern Society. Edinburgh: John Donald., p.29, quoted in: Lindow, op.cit.
11. e.g.: University College London News (2004), Research on blood feuds in Albania and Kosovo; Mortimer, Majlinda (23 September 2005). "Blood feuds blight Albanian lives". BBC News. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. e.g.: UK Home Office, Operational Guidance Note: Albania (12 January 2006), esp. pp.4-5: "As a result of blood feuds in 2004, 670 families were self-imprisoned, 650 families accepted legal procedures instead of personal vendettas for resolving the conflict, 54 families were living under protection outside the country and 160 children were prevented from attending school due to fear of revenge, of which 73 were considered to be in serious danger. These figures showed a decrease over 2003 when 1,370 families were reported to be self-imprisoned at home and 711 children prevented from attending school due to fear of revenge."
13. Schabas, William. The Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052181491X.
14. Michigan State University and Death Penalty Information Center
15. Michigan State University and Death Penalty Information Center
16. Sermon preached before the execution of Caleb Adams
17. Caleb Adams' life-story as told by a local pastor
18. Article from the Connecticut Courant (December 1 1803)
19. The Roman Catholic Church actually states that capital punishment should be avoided unless it is the only way to defend society from the offender in question, and that with today's penal system such a situation requiring an execution is either rare or non-existant, Papal encyclical, Evangelium Vitae
20. Death Penalty Information Center, "Recent Developments in the Juvenile Death Penalty".
21. Rob Gallagher, Table of juvenile executions in British America/United States, 1642-1959.
22. Death Penalty Information Center, "Recent Developments in the Juvenile Death Penalty"; Death Penalty Information Center, "International Perspectives on the Death Penalty", citing "As China Signs Rights Treaty, It Holds Activist", New York Times (October 6 1998).
23. UNICEF, Convention of the Rights of the Child - FAQ: "The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history. Only two countries, Somalia and the United States, have not ratified this celebrated agreement. Somalia is currently unable to proceed to ratification as it has no recognized government. By signing the Convention, the United States has signalled its intention to ratify—but has yet to do so."
24. Angus Reid Consultants, "Italians Opposed to Death Penalty" (Opinion poll published in October 2005)
25. Death Penalty Information Center, "Public Opinion About the Death Penalty"
26. Death Penalty Information Center, "GALLUP POLL: Public Divided Between Death Penalty and Life Imprisonment Without Parole" (June 2004)
27. Death Penalty Information Center, "Public Opinion About the Death Penalty"
28. Harris Poll, "More Than Two-Thirds of Americans Continue to Support the Death Penalty" (January 2004)

External links

• Country by country list of legal position of Death Penalty from Encarta
• About.com's Pros & Cons of the Death Penalty and Capital Punishment
• 1000+ Death Penalty links all in one place
• US and 50 State DEATH PENALTY / CAPITAL PUNISHMENT LAW and other relevant links from Megalaw

Resources opposing capital punishment

• The Death Penalty Information Center: Statistical information and studies
• Texas Moratorium Network: Advocacy group seeking a moratorium on executions in Texas
• Amnesty International: Human Rights organisation
• European Union - Information on anti-death penalty policies
• People of Faith Against the Death Penalty: Southern US-based advocacy group
• Reprieve.org: United States based volunteer program for foreign lawyers, students, and others to work at death penalty defense offices
• Death Penalty Quotes: Offers thoughts grouped by profession
• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: details the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty
• Michigan's Capital Punishment History
• Campaign to End the Death Penalty
• American Civil Liberties Union: Demanding a Moratorium on the Death Penalty
• Asia Death Penalty blog: information about the death penalty across Asia
• Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: information, education and creative, direct action protest to end the death penalty
• Anti-Death Penalty Information: includes a monthly watchlist of upcoming executions and death penalty statistics for the United States.
• Catholics Against Capital Punishment: offers a Catholic perspective and provides resources and links
• Essays on the Punishment of Death (1844) by Charles Spear

Resources favoring capital punishment

• Pro Death Penalty.com
• Pro Death Penalty Resource Page
• Clark County, Indiana, Prosecutor's Page on capital punishment
• In Favor of Capital Punishment - Quotes supporting Capital Punishment
• Execution of Caleb Adams: Caleb Adams was publicly executed in Windham, Connecticut, USA, on November 29, 1803 for the brutal murder of six-year-old Oliver Woodworth.

Religious views on the death penalty

• The Dalai Lama - Message Supporting the Moratorium on the Death Penalty
• Buddhism & Capital Punishment from The Engaged Zen Society
• Orthodox Union website: Rabbi Yosef Edelstein: Parshat Beha'alotcha: A Few Reflections on Capital Punishment
• Jews and the Death Penalty - by Naomi Pfefferman (Jewish Journal)
• Priests for Life - Lists several Catholic links

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