Klaus
Refugee
? AI
The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment
It violates the right to life
It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments
More than three countries a year on average have abolished the death penalty for all crimes in the past decade. Once abolished, the death penalty is seldom reintroduced. Since 1990, more than 35 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or, having previously abolished it for ordinary crimes, have gone on to abolish it for all crimes.
By April 2003, 76 countries and territories had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. A further 15 countries had abolished it for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes. Twenty-one countries were abolitionist in practice: ie had not carried out any executions for the past 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions. At present there are 112 countries which are abolitionist in law or practice and 83 countries which retain and use the death penalty.
In 2002 at least 1,526 people were executed in 31 countries. At least 3,248 people were sentenced to death in 67 countries. These figures include only cases known to Amnesty International; the true figures were certainly higher. The vast majority of executions worldwide are carried out in a tiny handful of countries. In 2002, 81 percent of all known executions took place in China, Iran and the USA.
In China, limited and incomplete records available to Amnesty International indicated that at least 1,060 people were executed, although the true number was believed to be much higher. At least 113 executions were carried out in Iran. Seventy-one people were executed in the USA.
Here are some more links:
http://web.amnesty.org/web/links.nsf/nonAIsites!OpenView&Start=1&Count=300&Expand=8#8
To me death penalty by a government is the inhumane, imagine what you would think about a criminal who would arest you in a cell and tell you that he will kill you - the date of murdering will always be moved to the future, you are allowed to write him letters and ask for mercy...
While you can't compare these situations directly you can compare what you do to the ones who are sentenced to death - and there are allways some percent of innocent people. There also is allways a chance of (political) abuse even in advanced civilizations like the US (remember Nicola Sacco Bartolomeo Vanzetti)
i'd be curious if there are any pro-death penalty people here.
Klaus