In 2004, 97 per cent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Viet Nam and the USA.
Abolitionist and retentionist countries
Over half the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
Amnesty International's latest information shows that:
* 86 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes;
* 11 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes;
* 25 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions,
making a total of 122 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
* 74 other countries and territories retain and use the death penalty, but the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller.
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-facts-engI wonder when we will join the rest of the civilized world.