The death sentence is also known by the formal name of capital punishment. A person who is sentenced to death faces execution after the judicial process determines that it is an appropriate punishment for an offense. When a person is facing the possibility of being sentenced to death, their case is known as a capital crime or capital offense.
As of 2010, 58 countries currently impose the death sentence on their citizens. Some of these countries are:
· The People’s Republic of China (Mainland China),
· The Republic of China (Taiwan)
· Ecuador,
· Egypt,
· India,
· Indonesia,
· Iran,
· Iraq,
· Israel,
· Japan,
· Malaysia,
· Mongolia,
· North Korea,
· Pakistan,
· Russia,
· Saudi Arabia,
· Singapore,
· South Korea,
· Tonga,
· And the United States of America.
Throughout history, individuals in almost all countries have had to face being sentenced to death. At the current time, however, there has been a general trend towards abolishing the death sentence. Amnesty International currently considers most countries around the world to be abolitionist, meaning they are in favor of abolishing the death sentence.
Despite the fact that most countries are opposed to the death sentence, 60 percent of the entire population of the world lives in countries where they could be sentenced to death. This is because the death sentence is allowed in the four most populous countries of the world: The People’s Republic of China, India, The United States of America, and Indonesia.