“Although 33 of the 40 countries that still have the death penalty are ruled by despots, some ‘liberal democracies’ returned to capital punishment in 2012, the report said. ‘While China seems to be progressively improving, some liberal democracies seem to be going the opposite way,’ said Sergio d’Elia, Hands off Cain secretary. In 2011, of the ‘liberal democracies’, just the United States and Taiwan carried out executions, while in 2012 Japan, Botswana and India began using capital punishment again after many years in which the practice was suspended. This year, Indonesia joined them, carrying out its first death penalty for five years.”
formerly http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/more-countries-abolishing-capital-punishment/story-fni0xs61-1226686656836