Keeping the hangman busy

Amnesty International reports that in 2011, the number of executions worldwide rose by 39%.

The report states that Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia were most responsible for the rise. However, the report does not include numbers from China, which is kept as a state secret and is estimated to be in the thousands.

Ironically, while the number of executions rose, the number of countries that still have capital punishment has dropped – showing two opposing moral points of view.

Is justice served with “an eye for an eye”? Or is it never justified to take a life?

A divisive question, to be sure. And with all the deaths the world has seen this year, we tend to agree with the latter.