More than 70 % of the world’s countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice. The U.S. is an outlier among its close allies in its continued use of the death penalty.
Some of those on death row in the U.S. are citizens of other countries, raising human rights issues and issues of U.S. compliance with international treaties.
Maintained by the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide (Cornell Law School)
More than 70% of the world’s countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice. However, the death penalty continues to exist in many parts of the world, especially in countries with large populations and those with authoritarian rule. In recent decades, there has been a clear trend away from capital punishment, as many countries have either abolished the death penalty or discontinued its use. The U.S. remains an outlier among its close allies and other democracies in its continued application of the death penalty.
While international law does not prohibit the death penalty, most countries consider it a violation of human rights. The use of the death penalty worldwide is relevant in evaluating U.S. standards of decency and what should be considered cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Some Justices of the Supreme Court have referred to international law as further affirmation of their own conclusions about the death penalty, particularly as it may apply to specific classes of defendants such as juvenile offenders.
There are a number of disagreements that may arise between countries that impose the death penalty and those that do not. Countries without the death penalty are particularly concerned when one of their citizens faces execution in the U.S. Some countries refuse to extradite individuals to the U.S., or even to provide incriminating evidence, if the defendant could face the death penalty. In addition, many countries and international bodies consider the death penalty to be a human rights issue and various U.S. death-penalty practices have been criticized as violating U.S. treaty obligations and international human rights law. The concern for human rights around the world has always been important in U.S. diplomacy, but the U.S. is often challenged because of its use of the death penalty and the protection that affords to other countries that use it in particularly abusive ways.
International research on the use of the death penalty owes particular gratitude to Amnesty International, which has regularly monitored and reported on capital punishment around the world. DPIC passes this information on with attribution through its website and makes an effort to highlight those areas where international norms and practices reflect on the death penalty in the U.S. DPIC has issued one report focusing on this topic and regularly highlights relevant research and developments that occur around the world.
The Aprajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, which outlines the death penalty for rape resulting in the victim’s death or “ vegetative state,” was adopted by the West Bengal government in eastern India on September 3 , 2024 . Under international law, it is unlawful to prescribe the death penalty for a crime not meeting the “ most serious” crime (e.g., intentional murder)…
Amidst a continued post-election execution surge and increased suppression of peaceful prison protests, Norway-based Iran Human Rights ( IHRNGO ) and 67 human rights organizations across four continents expressed their support for the ongoing “ No Death Penalty Tuesdays” weekly hunger strike movement currently spanning 17 Iranian prisons across the country. The August 27 , 2024 statement, published a day after the first public hanging of the year, “ call[ed] for an immediate halt on all executions…
30 -year-old German national Rico Krieger, who was sentenced to death on six charges related to terrorism, espionage, and mercenary activity, was pardoned by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on July 30 , 2024 , thereby converting his death sentence to a life prison term. On August 1 , Mr. Krieger was subsequently released during the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War, according to The Guardian. Eight Russian prisoners were released from Western nations, including…
On June 21 , 2024 , China announced that courts, prosecutors, public, and state bodies should use the death penalty against Taiwan separatists. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the new guidelines recommend “ severely punish[ing] Taiwan independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession crimes in accordance with the law, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.” Critics say that the vagueness of the legal language in the new…
On May 7 , 2024 , Harm Reduction International ( HRI ) released a special global overview report on the use of the death penalty for drug offenses, which is a violation of international law because drug offenses do not meet the “ most serious” crimes threshold. HRI found that by the end of 2023 , there were 34 countries which still retained the death penalty for drug-related offenses; Pakistan was the only country to recently eliminate the death penalty for such offenses – the first country in more…
The Delegation of the European Union to the United States has made available to the public an online archive of European Union engagement with the United States and individual states in past death-penalty cases. The archive features letters from EU Ambassadors to the United States to the State Department, to state governors, and to pardons boards; official European Union statements and pronouncements on death penalty concerns; and amicus briefs filed by the European Union in court cases in the U.S.; among other materials.
Delegates to the Sixth World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held in Oslo, Norway from June 21 to June 23, 2016, have renewed the organization's call for a global moratorium on capital punishment. The event, attended by more than 1300 representatives from 80 countries, featured discussions by death penalty stakeholders from around the world.
Policy discussion of the execution of juveniles and listing of recorded executions of juveniles outside the U.S.
View Amnesty International’s animated slideshow “ Death Penalty Stories” narrated by Colin Firth, for stories about the death penalty around the world.
