We're Number 5!

Number 5 out of the Top 10 Executing Countries in 2007, per Amnesty International (PDF):

I came upon this fact while reading the story of the mass executions that Iran has planned for tomorrow:

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran is planning a mass execution of 30 people convicted of murder and drug trafficking, in the biggest such event in recent years, a local newspaper reported on Saturday.

(snip)

It said 20 of those on death row were convicted drug traffickers.

The remaining 10, identified as "murderer thugs" were also convicted of "disturbing public security and disorder, beating up people, repeated robberies, having illegal relationships [homosexual or adulterous] and showing up drunk in public".

(snip)

Amnesty International reported that in 2007 Iran applied the death penalty more often than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people during the year.

It was that last bit that made me curious about who else the major executors are. And while we are off the number one position by at least a factor of 10, it is absolutely shameful that we are on the list at all.

The Death Penalty should be abolished, not because our legal system is imperfect and often unfair, but because it is wrong.

Unfortunately, it seems a majority of my compatriots disagree with me:

Or is that just a badly polled question? Aha!

American voters favor the death penalty 63 - 29 percent for persons convicted of murder, but when offered a different choice, 47 percent favor the death penalty for convicted murderers while 44 percent favor life without parole.

We need to educate, educate, educate, and the U.S. citizenry will turn away from the death penalty.

I realize that there has recently been an Obama "death penalty flap" and perusing his website, I was unable to find a stated position on the death penalty. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, however, has this blurb about his stance:

Obama says the death penalty "does little to deter crime" but he supports it for cases in which "the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage." While a state senator, Obama pushed for reform of the Illinois capital punishment system and authored a bill to mandate the videotaping of interrogations and confessions.

I hope we will all work to pressure President Obama to move toward abolishing the death penalty.

Meanwhile, we can all get educated on the facts concerning the death penalty:

• Death Penalty Information Center:

  This is an excellent resource, with all the information you could want, including an excellent Death Penalty Fact Sheet (PDF) and an excellent summary of the current status of all the states with a hold on the death penalty

• ACLU: Death Penalty Action:

  Excellent FAQ and educational resource: Death Penalty 101