The death penalty worldwide

THOUGH China has reduced the number of crimes that it punishes by death, more prisoners are executed there than in all other countries combined. Apart from China (and Syria and Egypt, for which data were unobtainable), Amnesty International recorded 682 executions in 21 countries last year. Three-quarters took place in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In Iraq the number roughly doubled in a year, to 129, of which 34 were carried out in one day. America killed 43 criminals, making its executioners the world’s fifth busiest. But this is a lot less than the 98 executions performed in 1999 when its capital punishment peaked. In April 2012 Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish the death penalty, and the fifth in six years. Several more are mulling the change. The decline in executions in America reflects a broader global trend. Last year Latvia became the 97th country to wipe the death penalty from its justice system. In a few recalcitrant places, capital punishment is holding steady or picking up. In most of the world politicians are smothering it.