Taxpayer Money Well Spent? US Among World’s Top Executioners In 2015
By Tyler Durden
For the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. remains the only country to use capital punishment in the Americas, carrying out 28 executions in six states. Amnesty claims the reason for the lowest recorded use of the death penalty in the U.S. since 1991 is due to legal and logistical challenges concerning the use of lethal injections. In addition, the number of death sentences imposed in the United States was the lowest since 1977 (clearly, the number of executions recorded doesn’t include the victims of drone strikes abroad, unarmed citizens killed by police, or those who died in custody).
Despite a dramatic rise in the number of people being put to death around the world, there was some good news; Fiji, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo, and Suriname completely abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In addition, Mongolia passed a new criminal code abolishing the death penalty, which will take effect later in 2016.
The report observed:
“Whatever the short-term setbacks, the long-term trend is still clear: the world is moving away from the death penalty. Those countries that still execute need to realize that they are on the wrong side of history and abolish the ultimate cruel and inhuman form of punishment.”
You can read Amnesty International’s full analysis here.
Source: Taxpayer Money Well Spent? US Among World’s Top Executioners In 2015
