INSTANT ANSWERS

5-MI
B R I EN U T E
FING
BY H AZ E L FLYN N

START AT THE BEGINNING: Capital punishment is the official, statesanctioned killing of a person convicted of a criminal offence. Countries
whose legal systems allow for this have the death penalty. Worldwide were
moving away from this form of punishment, enacted since ancient times. But
some countries remain committed to it despite often passionate opposition.

Countries
known to have
carried out
capital
punishment in
1995

22
Countries
known to
have done
so in 2014

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August2015

capital punishment is a
deterrent against future violence
and will save other innocent lives
Future US President GEORGE W BUSH, when he was governor of Texas

WHATS CHANGED OVER TIME?

As a species weve been horribly inventive regarding

capital punishment. The Romans used different methods
for different crimes those who committed parricide
(killing ones parents or a close family member), for
instance, were sealed inside a bag with a dog, ape,
rooster and viper and drowned. Burning at the stake was
used in Europe and North America. And for hundreds of
years English and Japanese traitors were hung, drawn
and quartered, which often included live disembowelling.
Advocates of capital punishment insist todays methods,
notably lethal injection, are far more humane.

P HOTO: GETTY IM AGES

41

FOR

WHO DOES IT?

According to Amnesty
Internationals latest data, 98
countries (including Australia, the
UK and Scandinavian nations)
have abolished the death
penalty; seven others (including
Brazil, Fiji and Israel) retain it only
for exceptional crimes (not
including murder); 35 (including
Kenya, South Korea and Nauru)
retain the law but havent
executed anyone for at least 10
hil 58 actively use it.
years; while
China, Iran, Saudi
Arabia, Iraq and the
US were the top
xecutioners in 2014.
ex

DOES IT REDUCE
CRIME?

Proponents insist it
does, but numerous
studies say the evidence
they cite is awed. In
2014 the United
Nations Office of the
High Commissioner for
Human Rights said,
There is no evidence of
a deterrent effect of the
death penalty. Statistics
from countries that
have abolished the
death penalty indicate
no increase in serious
crime.

ST
AGAIN

judicial execution can never

cancel or remove the atrocity
it seeks to punish; it can
only add a second atrocity
to the original one.
Journalist and commentator AUBERON WAUGH

DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD:

In April eight prisoners convicted of drug crimes,

including two Australians, were executed by ring
squad in Indonesia. The previous month, the US state of
Utah legalised the reintroduction of ring squads when
lethal injection drugs arent available. Utah was the site
of the infamous 1977 ring squad execution of murderer
Gary Gilmore; raised a Mormon, he chose this method
as blood atonement. Far from calling for mercy just
before his death, Gilmore said, Lets do it and three
decades later ad man Dan Wieden admitted this
inspired the 1988 slogan he created for Nike: Just Do It.

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