Kudos to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn for making the state’s death penalty moratorium permanent. It’s about time.
Illinois has become the 16th US state to abolish the death penalty, after the governor signed a bill making permanent a 10-year-old moratorium on executions.
Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill after spending two months consulting with victims’ families, prosecutors, religious leaders and others.
Here’s a list of countries that executed people last year by continent (Wiki):
- Africa: Executions in 2010: Libya (18), Equatorial Guinea (4), Sudan (4), Egypt (2), Somalia (1)
Asia: People’s Republic of China (unknown), Iran (at least 546), Saudi Arabia (at least 26), Bangladesh (7), Palestine (5), Republic of China (Taiwan) (4), North Korea (3), Yemen (3), Japan (2), Bahrain (1), Iraq (unknown)
Europe: Belarus (2)
North America (including the Caribbean): United States (45)
Oceania (including Australia): none
South America: none
What’s wrong with us? Has your state abolished the death penalty?