About That Whole "Culture Of Life" Thing ...

Via TalkLeft, some death penalty facts from Amnesty International -

Over half the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
Amnesty International's latest information shows that:

- 84 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes;

- 12 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes;

- 24 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions

making a total of 120 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

Easy question - guess who's not among the 120? And, there's also this most charming statistic -

In 2004, 97 per cent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Viet Nam and the USA.

Based on public reports available, Amnesty International estimated that at least 3,400 people were executed in China during the year, although the true figures were believed to be much higher. In March 2004 a delegate at the National People's Congress said that "nearly 10,000" people are executed per year in China.

Iran executed at least 159 people, and Viet Nam at least 64. There were 59 executions in the USA, down from 65 in 2003.

By the way, have I mentioned lately that the U.S. Catholic Conference has ramped up The Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty?

If you happen to see a "Culture of Life" President or similar politician any time soon, feel free to point this out to him.