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Capital punishment remains one of society's most controversial topics of conversation. Otherwise known as the death penalty, it refers to the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death for the most serious crimes, very often murder. The debate surrounding what amounts to an institutionalized practice of deliberately killing persons in response to actual or supposed misconduct has divided opinion for decades. And while 144 countries have now abolished the death sentence, many others still pursue what Amnesty International describes as an ultimately cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. So, what's your opinion?

Click through and ponder these bizarre facts about the death penalty.

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In 2023, Amnesty International recorded at least 1,153 executions in 16 countries—a 31% increase from the 883 executions in 20 countries in 2022.

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According to data published by the Death Penalty Information Center, the world's leading executioner is China.

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In China, execution data is considered a state secret. However, Amnesty International estimates at least 1,000 people were put to death in the country in 2023.

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North Korea, Vietnam, Syria, and Afghanistan also hide statistics behind a veil of secrecy, which makes identifying totals difficult.

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Iran holds the dubious distinction as the country with the second highest number of confirmed executions in 2023, with 853.

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Amnesty International recorded 172 confirmed executions in Saudi Arabia in 2023, placing the country third in the global death penalty league.

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In 2023, Somalia carried out 38 known executions, according to Amnesty International. The is the fourth highest number confirmed.

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In fifth place is the United States. The nation put to death 24 people in 2023.

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In 1944, George Junius Stinney Jr., a 14-year-old African-American boy, was sent to the electric chair after being convicted of murdering two young girls. Stinney's murder conviction was vacated in 2014, his trial and execution officially declared unfair. He remains the youngest American with an exact birth date confirmed to be sentenced to death and executed in the 20th century.

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Timothy John Evans (pictured) was wrongly convicted and later hanged for a murder that in fact was committed by serial killer John Christie. In 1966, he was granted a posthumous pardon. The case, a cause célèbre, played a major part in the removal in the United Kingdom of capital punishment for murder.

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Convicted murderer Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom. She was led to the gallows on July 13, 1955, after being found guilty of shooting her lover, David Blakely.

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German serial killer Eugen Weidmann was the last person in France to be publicly executed. He was guillotined outside the Saint-Pierre prison in Versailles in full view of photographers and newsreel cameras.

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Debate still surrounds whether Carlos DeLuna was wrongly convicted of murder. He was executed by the State of Texas on December 7, 1989. A 2021 documentary film, 'The Phantom,' reexamined his case, the findings of which suggested a case of mistaken identity led to him receiving the death penalty. Pictured is the lethal injection room at the Huntsville Unit in Texas, where DeLuna died.

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According to data published by Statista, Texas is the state responsible for carrying out the greatest number of executions in the United States. As of 2023, a total of 586 people have been put to death in the state since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. Pictured are the cells on death row at Ellis Unit in Huntsville, Texas.

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Amnesty International reported that 112 countries had completely abolished the death penalty by the end of 2023.

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In 2016, the UK's Independent newspaper ran a report highlighting the 13 countries where being an atheist is punishable by death. Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are among nations that continue to criminalize atheists and humanists.

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Claims that a Chinese cosmetics company used skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe surfaced in 2005 in a disturbing exposé carried by the The Guardian.

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In 1977, Gary Gilmore became the first person in almost a decade to be executed in the United States. He demanded the implementation of his death sentence after being convicted of a double murder. Unusually, he was killed by firing squad, the execution taking place at Utah State Prison. Gilmore's death ended a de facto nationwide moratorium on capital punishment that had lasted nearly 10 years, and his story had immense cultural resonance at the time. Pictured are a group of news reporters at the chair in which Gary Gilmore sat when facing the volunteer riflemen.

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While international law does not prohibit the death penalty, most nations consider it a violation of human rights. Subsequently they will not extradite prisoners to a country that upholds punishment by execution.

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According to Harm Reduction International (HRI), only in six countries—China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore—are drug offenders known to be routinely executed.

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This is an odd fact. In antiquity, cats were so revered by the ancient Egyptians that those who killed them, even by accident, were sentenced to death.

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In 1863, Venezuela became the first country to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, a fact noted by Guinness World Records.

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Japan is one of the few industrialized democracies to maintain the death penalty. The law states that execution should take place within six months of the verdict, but it is rarely carried out within this time frame. Furthermore, the date of the execution, decided by the justice minister, is unknown: convicts learn of it only a few hours beforehand. Pictured is an execution room at the Tokyo detention house in the Japanese capital.

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In Florida, the executioner is a private citizen who is paid US$150 per execution, reveals the Florida Department of Corrections. State law allows for his or her identity to remain anonymous. Historically the stigma associated with the job of the executioner has made the position undesirable, with those assigned or volunteering for the position often hiding their identity behind a mask or hood.

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One man who found celebrity as an executioner was Albert Pierrepoint. In a career lasting 25 years, the English hangman dispatched an estimated 600 convicted criminals, including some that were later found not to be guilty of their crimes. He's pictured in 1973 writing his memoirs.

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Despite there being approximately 2,092 individuals currently on death row in the United States, only a faction of these prisoners are actually executed each year. This is because the appeals process can take years and even decades.

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As of 2025, 27 US states allow the death penalty. However, four of these 27 states—California, Oregon, Ohio, and Pennsylvania—currently have a moratorium in place. Twenty-three states have abolished the practice entirely.

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The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, 200 people have been exonerated and released from death row in the US since 1973. But in that same period, 1,612 prisoners have been put to death. A 2014 study estimated that at least 4% of those sentenced to death were innocent, adds the Innocence Project.

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Comfort foods, typically hamburgers, French fries, steak, ice cream, and pie, are commonly requested meals among inmates imminently facing execution in the US, according to research undertaken by Cornell University.

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In the US, lethal drug protocols vary from state to state. Most three-drug protocols use sodium thiopental to render the condemned inmate unconscious; pancuronium bromide to paralyze the condemned inmate's voluntary muscles; and potassium chloride to rapidly induce cardiac arrest and cause death.

Sources: (Death Penalty Information Center) (Amnesty International) (The Washington Post) (Capital Punishment UK) (Statista) (The Independent) (The Guardian) (Capital Punishment in Context) (HRI) (Guinness World Records) (Equal Justice Initiative) (Innocence Project)