Released in May, this annual report charts current global trends in relation to the death penalty. The key findings are that both known executions and death sentences have increased, and that more than 28,500 people are under sentence of death around the world (unfortunately excluding China, Egypt, Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia – all major users of capital punishment – where no figures are available).
In total, 18 countries are known to have carried out executions in 2021 which represents a minority of the 193 members of the United Nations. Countries and states which abolished the death penalty in 2021 include Sierra Leone, Kazakhstan and the state of Virginia. There were also significant moves towards abolition in Central African Republic (which voted to abolish it on 27 May 2022), Ghana, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia. The USA, under the Biden administration, imposed a moratorium on federal executions. However, Belarus, Japan and the United Arab Emirates resumed executions after hiatuses of several years. Read the report at rb.gy/nymzbq.