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Group: China Still World's Top Executioner - CBS News

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Group: China Still World's Top Executioner - CBS News
Description
The number of prisoners put to death worldwide decreased in 2008, a human rights group said Wednesday, adding that China retained its position as the world's top executioner.

Executions in the United States were down from last year, while Iran and Saudi Arabia appeared near the top of the list of the world's top executioners, the anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain said in a report about 2008 and the first six months of this year.

The group said that at least 5,727 executions were carried out in 2008, down from 5,851 the year before. It said that 46 countries retained the death penalty last year, three fewer than in 2007, with Burundi and Uzbekistan abolishing capital punishment, and Sierra Leone establishing itself as a de facto abolitionist by not having carried out any executions for more than 10 years.

The report said China accounted for at least 5,000 executions — or 87.3 percent of the total — the same estimate as last year.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/29/world/main5195617.shtml?tag=topnews

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    • JDP JDP
      4 months ago


      Of course, some of those executions could be hard to argue with (like the corrupt industrialists and officials who contributed to the tainted milk scandal in China, harming thousands of babies). If one added to that the corrupt financiers and bankers who brought the world financial system to its knees (many still profiting handsomely) - and so contributed to much suffering (and arguably many premature deaths) , then arguments against executions (for those kind of criminals) might be further strained. Of course, there is always the alternative of torture ... as George Carlin noted, public / televised torture could not only be a better deterrent BUT could also be a public revenue engine!
      Unintended Consequences/Unexpected Results, The Skeptic, The Radical Twine, George Carlin, Public Policy, Politics, law & politics, Law, China

    • JDP JDP
      4 months ago


      Of course, some of those executions could be hard to argue with (like the corrupt industrialists and officials who contributed to the tainted milk scandal in China, harming thousands of babies). If one added to that the corrupt financiers and bankers who brought the world financial system to its knees (many still profiting handsomely) - and so contributed to much suffering (and arguably many premature deaths) , then arguments against executions (for those kind of criminals) might be further strained. Of course, there is always the alternative of torture ... as George Carlin noted, public / televised execution and torture could not only be a better deterrent BUT could also be a public revenue engine!
      George Carlin
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