The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life. Execution is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. The imposition and infliction of the death penalty is brutalizing to all who are involved in the process. Furthermore it has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments. The death penalty is frequently used as an instrument of repression against opposition, racial, ethnic, religious and underprivileged groups. It is an act of violence and tends to provoke further violence.
Amnesty International says the death penalty breaches human rights, in particular the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Both rights are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948. These are rights set out in two International Human Rights treaties – the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
In 2022, the five countries with the highest number of people executed were, in descending order: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the US.
The death penalty has existed in the United States since colonial times and its history is intertwined with slavery, segregation, and social reform movements. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 1,582 men and women have been executed in the United States since the 1970s, although executions have declined significantly over the past two decades. Most executions have been concentrated in a few states and a small number of outlier counties.
Death sentences carried out in Iran have been reducing; 1994 data released by Amnesty International ranked the Islamic Republic of Iran the second in the world. According to the same report, the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of only five countries in the world that have used capital punishment against the children under 18 years of age.
On average, as many as 34 people were executed in China every week in 1998, for crimes including drunk driving, fraud and theft.
Other countries that currently maintain the death penalty include Singapore, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Belarus, Malaysia and Thailand.
The death penalty is inconsistent with the fundamental right to life. There is an absence of proof that it deters crime, and it creates an unacceptable risk of executing innocent people.
Article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, states, "In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the crime...".