| Country | Reported Executions 2013 | 2007-2013 |
|---|---|---|
| China | Thousands | Thousands |
| Iran | 369 | 2032 |
| Iraq | 169 | 425 |
| Japan | 8 | 41 |
| North Korea | 70 | 70 |
| Saudi Arabia | 79 | 502 |
| Somalia | 34 | 57 |
| Sudan | 21 | 51 |
| USA | 39 | 259 |
| Yemen | 13 | 165 |
At least 778 executions were carried out in 2013 - up from at least 682 in 2012 - according to the latest global report from Amnesty International.
The report documents executions in 22 countries in 2013, a rise on the previous year when executions were recorded in 21 countries worldwide. The countries with the highest number of executions were China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, USA and Somalia.
According to Amnesty International, China executed more people than the rest of the world put together- but as data on the use of the death penalty is considered a state secret, no exact numbers are recorded in the report. They state that the 778 figure does not include the thousands of executions carried out in China.
Amnesty International death penalty facts
The greatest costs associated with the death penalty occur prior to and during trial, not in post-conviction proceedings. Even if all post-conviction proceedings (appeals) were abolished, the death penalty would still be more expensive than alternative sentences.
The death penalty diverts resources from genuine crime control measures. Spending money on the death penalty system means:
- Reducing the resources available for crime prevention, mental health treatment, education and rehabilitation, meaningful victims' services, and drug treatment programs.
- Diverting it from existing components of the criminal justice system, such as prosecutions of drug crimes, domestic violence, and child abuse.
- Emergency services, creating jobs, and police & crime prevention were the three highest rated priorities for use of fiscal resources.
- Schools/libraries, public health, and roads/transportation also ranked higher than the death penalty
The execution of the insane – someone who does not understand the reason for, or the reality of, his or her punishment - violates the U.S. Constitution (Ford v. Wainwright, 1986). The Ford decision left the determination of sanity up to each state. Constitutional protections for those with other forms of mental illness are minimal, however, and dozens of prisoners have been executed despite suffering from serious mental illness.The National Association of Mental Health has estimated that five to ten percent of those on death row have serious mental illness.
Louie Theroux interviews a man on Death Row
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