On this date in 1981 France banned the death penalty. Upon seeing this fact I ventured to find out when other western nations outlawed the practice. Here is what I found.
United Kingdom, 1965. Although the punishment remained "on the books" until 1998 for some offenses, the last executions were in 1964.
Sweden, 1921 for peace time offenses and 1973 for war time offenses. Sweet Swedes!
The Netherlands, 1870 in peace time, 1983 in times of war.
Canada, 1976.
One of the best (actually worst) statistics is the following which I have just copied and pasted directly from Wikipedia. Look at those countries! So close to the top 5!
Most Executions carried out in 2006
1. China (at least 1,010 but sources suggest between 7,500 and8,000)
2. Iran (177)
3. Pakistan (82)
4. Iraq (at least 65)
5. Sudan (at least 65)
6. United States (53)
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