03 August 2012 :

The presentation of Hands Off Cain's 2012 Report, ‘The Death Penalty Worldwide’, edited by Elisabetta Zamparutti, was held at the headquarters of HOC in Rome.
The worldwide trend towards abolition, underway for more than ten years, was again confirmed in 2011 and the first six months of 2012 as documented in the Report.
There are currently 155 Countries and territories that, to different extents, have decided to renounce the death penalty. Of these: 99 are totally abolitionist; 7 are abolitionist for ordinary crimes; 5 have a moratorium on executions in place and 44 are de facto abolitionist (i.e. Countries that have not carried out any executions for at least 10 years or Countries which have binding obligations not to use the death penalty).
Countries retaining the death penalty worldwide rose to 43 in 2011, compared to the 42 in 2010, only because the South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in July 2011, has retained the death penalty. In 2011, executions were carried out in 19 Countries, compared to 22 in 2010, 19 in 2009 and 26 in 2008.
In 2011, there were at least 5,000 executions, compared to at least 5,946 in 2010, at least 5,741 in 2009 and at least 5,735 in 2008. The decline of executions compared to previous years is justified by the significant drop in executions in China, estimated to be down from about 5,000 in 2010 to about 4,000 in 2011.
China is the first executioner country in the world, followed by Iran who carried out at least 676 executions, a frightening increase over 546 of the preceding years, and by Saudi Arabia with at least 82.
Authoritarian or illiberal States were responsible for approximately 4,952 executions, 99% of the world total in 2011, meanwhile liberal democracies with USA (43) and Taiwan (5) for approximately1% of the world tally.
President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma, wrote the introduction and the book has been dedicated to Rwanda, for its success, trough the traditional system ogf gacaca courts, in reconciling truth with justice and bringing peace to a land that with the 1994 genocide experienced the most horrific manifestation of the ancient story of Cain and Abel as explained in the preface by Sergio D’Elia.