ese people? In a study of capital convictions from 1900 to 1986 conducted by Radelet and Bedau, 350 cases were identified in which defendants were mistakenly convicted of crimes they did not commit, and of these 350, 24 were executed. Though 24 un-called for executions in 87 years dont sound too bad, the number should be zero. Society must determine whether the risk of wrongly executing an innocent person is worth taking to reap the benefits of executions of convicted murderers.ConclusionThe latest information for Amnesty International states that 70 countries have completely abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Thirteen countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes, such as wartime crimes. Twenty-three countries havent abolished the death penalty by law, but havent carried out any executions in the last ten years. Once abolished, most countries do not reintroduce the death penalty. Since 1985, 35 countries have abolished the death penalty. During that period, only four reintroduced it Nepal then once again abolished it. During 1998 at least 2,258 prisoners are known to have been executed in 37 countries and 4,845 sentenced to death in 78 countries. These figures include only cases known to Amnesty International; the true figures are certainly higher. More than one hundred countries have laws preventing child offenders (under the age of18) from the death penalty. Six countries are known to have executed child offenders. The largest number of executions of persons under the age of eighteen was ten in 1990 in the United States.One of the most important developments in recent years has been the adoption of international treaties where countries commit themselves to not having the death penalty. Three such treaties exist now: The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has been by 40 countries; The Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention f...
