PAPUA NEW GUINEA, the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, and ZAMBIA abolished the death penalty for all crimes. PORTUGAL abolished the death penalty for all crimes. DENMARK abolished the death penalty for all crimes. LUXEMBOURG, NICARAGUA, and NORWAY abolished the death penalty for all crimes.
By the end of 2021, a total of 108 countries had abolished the use of the death penalty, more than two thirds of the world; nevertheless, 55 countries still have the death penalty in their penal toolbox.
In 2010, the Australian government passed legislation that prohibited the reintroduction of capital punishment. Reflecting our commitment to universal human rights, we believe as a matter of principle that the death penalty has no place in the modern world.
Fifty-five countries still retain and implement the death penalty. On September 20, Equatorial Guinea became the latest country to abolish the death penalty when its president signed a new penal code into law.
The death penalty is an inhuman and particularly cruel form of punishment. Germany is against capital punishment under any circumstances and, together with partners around the world, is resolutely campaigning for its abolition.
Capital punishment in China is a legal penalty. It is commonly applied for murder and drug trafficking, although it is also a legal penalty for various other offenses. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Russia, but is not used due to a moratorium and no death sentences or executions have occurred since 2 August 1996.
Excluding China, three middle Eastern countries — Iran (at least 314), Egypt (at least 83), and Saudi Arabia (65) — collectively accounted for 80% of the confirmed executions in 2021.
Today, executions in Japan are carried out by long drop hanging, which is intended to cause death by breakage of the neck.
Thailand retains the death penalty, but carries it out only sporadically. Since 1935, Thailand has executed 326 people, 319 by shooting (the latest on 11 December 2002), and 7 by lethal injection (the latest on 18 June 2018). As of March 2018, 510 people are on death row.
Ronald Joseph Ryan (21 February 1925 – 3 February 1967) was the last person to be legally executed in Australia. Ryan was found guilty of shooting and killing warder George Hodson during an escape from Pentridge Prison, Victoria, in 1965.
Breadcrumb. Ronald Ryan was the last man hanged in Australia, 50 years ago on 3 February 1967. Ryan and his accomplice Peter Walker escaped from Pentridge Prison on 19 December 1965.
Passage of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act ended all capital punishment in New Zealand. The Cook Islands, which based its statutes on New Zealand law, formally retained the death penalty for treason until it was abolished in 2007. The death penalty was never used in the Cook Islands.
In Mainland China, there are 46 crimes punishable by death. These are defined in the criminal law of China, which comprehensively identifies criminal acts and their corresponding liabilities.
The last and most recent federal execution was of Dustin Higgs, who was executed on January 16, 2021.
As of 2022, South Korea retains the death penalty under Article 41 of the Criminal Code but is classified as an "abolitionist in practice country," meaning that the death penalty has not actually been executed in the last ten years. The last execution of the death penalty took place in 1997.
the death penalty will eventually be abolished in North Korea and is presently utilized as a last resort. Under the 1950 Criminal Code capital punishment was listed as one of four basic measures of punishment and could be imposed on anyone 18 years or older, except for pregnant women.
Over the last eight years, the number of death sentences and executions in Egypt has skyrocketed, with executions often carried out en masse. In 2020, the number of death sentences carried out tripled to over 130, including those convicted in both terrorism and regular criminal cases.
Since 1990, juvenile offenders are known to have been executed in only seven countries: China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.”
Asia. Most executions worldwide take place in Asia. China is the world's most active death penalty country; according to Amnesty International, China executes more people than the rest of the world combined each year.
The firing squad was replaced by lethal injection in November 2011 after the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments (in article 59(1)) was passed by the National Assembly of Vietnam. The drugs used to execute prisoners are produced domestically.
The Donetsk People's Republic, a Russian occupied, partially recognized breakaway state in territory internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, introduced the death penalty in 2014 for cases of treason, espionage, and assassination of political leaders.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Singapore. Executions are carried out by long drop hanging, and usually take place at dawn. 33 offences— including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism, use of firearms and kidnapping — warrant the death penalty under Singapore law.
In practice, capital punishment has been carried out only once since the advent of the State of Israel in 1948. Offenses punishable by death are tried in the District Court which consists of three judges and is presided by a judge of the Supreme Court.