Interesting chart of world-wide execution numbers for 2009

The Economist has this interesting chart which spotlights various nations’ execution numbers for 2009.  The chart comes from this little article, which is headlined “China and the death penalty: High executioners.” Here is the text that accompanies the graphic:

China executes more of its own citizens than any other country, and more than all others in the world combined. “Thousands” of Chinese were executed in 2009 according to Amnesty International’s annual study, which states that an exact number is impossible to determine because information on the death penalty is regarded as a state secret. But this gruesome record may yet change. The National People’s Congress is reported to be reducing the number of offences that are punishable by execution. Among the crimes that currently carry the death penalty are bribing an official and stealing historical relics. 

Of course, this chart showing China ahead of all other nations reflects total number of executions. If one were to focus on per capital execution rates, I believe Iran and Saudi Arabia get to brag about beating China on this metric. In addition, I think if Texas were considered separate from the rest of the United States, it would rank pretty high on a list of per capital execution rates, while the rest of the United States would be ranked quite low on this metric.

As is true for most discussions and debates over crime and punishment, we are wise to recall the phrase made popular by Mark Twain: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.”