Death penalty report 2015

A global look at the state of the death penalty in 2015 - its use, legal issues, regional differences, resumed practices, and continued momentum toward abolition.

2015 was marked by two opposing trends in relation to the death penalty. On the one hand, four countries abolished the death penalty, moving the world ever closer to complete abolition. On the other hand, the number of executions recorded by Amnesty International increased significantly compared to 2014. The organization logged at least 1,634 executions, the majority of which took place in just three countries: Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

As in previous years, this review does not include figures for China, where data on the use of the death penalty is classified as a state secret.

The number of executions recorded in the Middle East and North Africa rose from at least 945 in 2014 to at least 1,196 in 2015, an increase of 26%.

While no executions were recorded in Europe and Central Asia, Belarus imposed at least two new death sentences.

Although the USA remained the only country in the Americas to carry out executions, numbers continued to decline. Six US states carried out executions, one less than in 2014. Pennsylvania imposed an official moratorium on executions in February.

In Asia-Pacific, Indonesia resumed executions. More than 300 people were executed in Pakistan. The Parliament of Mongolia adopted a new Criminal Code removing the death penalty from national legislation.

The trend towards abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa continued: the Republic of Congo and Madagascar abolished the death penalty, and fewer death sentences and executions were recorded in the region compared to 2014.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception, regardless of the nature or the circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.