Although the decision to grant blanket clemency in Illinois was a major step, only time will tell if the rest of the United States will follow in many other countries footsteps to abolish capital punishment. .
Capital punishment is punishment by death for committing a crime. Since the early 1800's, most executions have resulted from convictions for murder. The death penalty has also been imposed for such serious crimes as armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, and treason. Some people disagree about whether capital punishment is moral or is effective in discouraging crime.
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In the late 1990's, 38 states of the United States had laws that allowed the death penalty. These laws were influenced by a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The court had banned the death penalty as it was then imposed. It ruled that "the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty" was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th and 14th amendments to the Constitution. But the court left open the possibility that the death penalty might be constitutional, if imposed for certain crimes and applied according to clear standards.
Capital punishment was widely used during the Middle Ages, especially for crimes against the state and church. In the 1700's, England had more than 200 capital offenses. Most were abolished in the 1800's. The United Kingdom abolished capital punishment in 1969. Canada did so in 1976. The United States is the only Western industrialized nation where executions still take place.
According to the organization Amnesty International, about 100 nations either have formally abolished capital punishment or have done so in effect. These countries include most European and Latin American nations. About 90 countries still permit capital punishment, including most developing nations. More than three countries a year on average have abolished the death penalty for all crimes in the past decade. Over 30 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes since 1990.