Though many are surprised to see Japan in the top 10 implementers of the death penalty, prosecutors often push for capital punishment in cases of multiple homicides. An informal moratorium was put on executions from 1989 to 1993, as several ministers of justice refused to authorize capital punishment cases, but the practice has resumed, and Japan has executed people each year since then.
Yemen is one of the few countries, along with several of its Middle Eastern neighbors, that continues the practice of public execution by shooting. The death penalty is enforced in cases of murder, but also those found guilty of adultery or homosexuality have been known to be sentenced to death.
Taking into account the continuing violence with neighboring South Sudan, it is difficult to get an accurate estimate on the number of executions in Sudan in 2013. However, the country authorizes the use of the death penalty in cases of sodomy, treason, murder, armed robbery, weapons smuggling, and several others.
Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia account for more than 90 percent of the total executions in Africa. Nigeria carried out executions for the first time in eight years in 2013. Somalia is the only African country that continues the practice of public executions for those convicted of murder and adultery. These have included hanging, firing squad, and stoning in recent years.
The only country in either North or South America to carry out executions in 2013, the U.S. is also the only country enforcing the death penalty among G8 countries. While the death penalty is on the books in 32 of 50 U.S. states, 41 percent of the 2013 executions were handed down in Texas alone.
Due to the secret nature of Kim Jong-Un’s regime, it’s unlikely that this figure represents the actual number of executions in North Korea. However, those that are on the books are often performed as public executions by firing squad against those convicted of terrorism, treason, murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking, and “plots against national sovereignty.”
Saudi Arabia has long been a leader in capital punishment, and continues the practice of public executions by beheading with a sword, after which the bodies are often left on public display. Current laws allow for the death penalty to be handed down in cases of violent and nonviolent offenses including homosexuality, adultery, witchcraft, and sexual misconduct.
With 129 executions in 2012, Iraq saw a 30-percent increase in the number of people put to death in 2013. After the 2003 invasion of the country, the death penalty was briefly suspended, but was reinstated in 2004, and numbers have steadily risen in recent years.
Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran account for 95 percent of the executions in the Middle East, keeping in mind that credible numbers could not be found for Egypt or Syria. In Iran, it is thought that an additional 335 executions occurred in 2013, bringing the total number to 704, but this is unconfirmed. Since 2009, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been the only two countries in the world to execute offenders who were under age 18 at the time the crime was committed.
In 2013, China* executed more people than the rest of the world combined. Numbers are known to range in the thousands, but the data is considered classified state material. There are 55 crimes punishable by death in China, down from 68 in 2011, including embezzlement, fraud, bombing, piracy, corruption, poaching, and dozens more.
*Hong Kong and Macau have separate legal systems and have abolished the death penalty.
