(I was trying to find a node with just facts and no opinions, but I couldn't.)
- The United States is ranked fourth for the number of prisoners executed every year. China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are the top three. (ABC News)
- Of the 3,500 people on death row in the United States in 1999, only 74 were executed that same year, that's 2.1%. (Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Crime and Criminology)
- Texas, Florida, and Virginia all have murder rates above the national average. They are also the three states that most frequently impose the death penalty. (ABC News)
- The South was the only region of the United States to see a rise in serious crime in 1999. 80% of all executions take place in the South. (ABC News)
- Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall had this to say about the death penalty, "No matter how careful courts are, the possibility of perjured testimony, mistaken honest testimony, and human error remain all too real. We have no way of judging how many innocent persons have been executed, but we can be certain there were some." (http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/lcp/articles/lcp61Autumn1998p105.htm#B1)
- The VIII Amendment of the United States Constitution says, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted."
- Over half of all countries in the world have abolished the capital punishment. (Amnesty International)