.....The progress has been dramatic. When AI convened an International Conference on the Death Penalty in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1977, just 16 countries had abolished capital punishment for all crimes. Today the figure stands at 86.
Each year since 1997 the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has passed a resolution calling on countries that have not abolished the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions. The latest resolution, adopted in April 2005, was co-sponsored by 81 UN member states, five more than in 2004 and the highest number ever.
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-index-eng===========
About the Death Penalty
"The death penalty is no more effective a deterrent than life imprisonment... It is also evident that the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant and the underprivileged members of society." - United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Each year since 1976, three more countries a year have added their names to the list of countries that have abolished the death penalty. A majority of nations have ended capital punishment in law or practice.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission has passed a resolution calling for all nations that continue to execute to restrict the number of offenses for which the death penalty may be imposed and to suspend executions with a view toward abolishing the death penalty.
While most nations have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, the U .S. continues to join a handful of nations with the highest numbers of executions. The U.S. has executed over 800 people since 1976, and as of December 2002, over 3,700 men and women were on death rows across the country.
No More Killing. Abolish the Death Penalty.
Governments All Over the World Are Eliminating the Death Penalty.
By recognizing that all people have rights and that justice is never served by state-sponsored executions, governments are taking important steps to end international human rights violations and protect the rights of all their citizens.
But Some Nations Still Execute People Despite International Human Rights Standards.
The United States, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia account for over 80% of the executions recorded by Amnesty International.
Since 2000, only four countries -the U.S., the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Pakistan and Iran- are known to have executed juvenile offenders. Further narrowing this list, Pakistan recently abolished the death penalty for juvenile offenders and the DRC has established a moratorium on executions.
Between April and July 2001, at least 1,781 people were executed in a "strike hard" anti-crime campaign carried out by the Chinese government.
It Does Not Stop Violence.
In the United States, the death penalty is often promoted as a way to deter violence and make society safer. Yet scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that executions deter crime more effectively than alternative sentences.
It's Prone to Discrimination.
Imposition of the death penalty is so riddled with class and race bias that it is used almost exclusively on the poor and people of color.
A recent study of death sentences in Philadelphia found that African-American defendants were almost four times more likely to receive the death penalty than were people of other ethnic origins who committed similar crimes.
Over 80% of people executed since 1976 were convicted of killing white victims, although people of color make up more than half of all homicide victims in the United States.
A defendant who can afford his or her own attorney is much less likely to be sentenced to die. Ninety-five percent of all people sentenced to death could not afford their own attorney.
It's Used to Silence.
Around the world, the death penalty is a tool of political repression and a means to forever silence political opponents or eliminate politically "troublesome" individuals. In most such cases, the victims are sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials.
It's Irreversible.
The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state and has inevitably claimed innocent victims. Since 1973 over 100 condemned prisoners have been released in the U.S. due to credible claims of innocence. Because human justice remains fallible, the risk of executing the innocent will never be eliminated.
It's Not a Solution.
Amnesty International has the deepest sympathy for the victims of violent crime and their families. However, the death penalty only serves to create more victims and perpetuate a cycle of violence. If we truly believe that killing is wrong, we must abolish the death penalty.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/aboutdp.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
