The Worldwide United Methodist Church sent a message to Texas during the General Conference held in Ft. Worth, TX. The General Conference passed a resolution calling for the specific abolition of the death penalty in Texas. The United Methodist Church has had a position against the use of the death penalty for more than 50 years and reaffirmed that specific position in separate resolutions for the whole church as well.

China says it has no plans to stop putting criminals to death. The Chinese position came in response to an Amnesty International report that places China at the top of a list of countries with the most executions.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi defended the country's death penalty on Wednesday, saying the government is very "prudent" in this regard.

Mohammad Latif has spent three years waiting to be hanged.

He was only 14 years old when, in October 2004, a scuffle outside school landed him in prison. It was a cold afternoon in Saveh, southwest of Tehran. Latif says a 16-year-old boy he didn't know attacked him with a knife.

NJ Governor Jon S. Corzine Remarks as Delivered December 17, 2007 on Elimination of Death Penalty in The State of New Jersey.

Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in New Jersey and replacing it with life imprisonment without parole. New Jersey is the first state in the nation to enact a law to end use of the death penalty since it was reinstated by the United States Supreme Court in 1976.

A UN General Assembly panel has adopted a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions with the ultimate goal of abolishing the practice after an acrimonious debate.

Barack Obama who runs for U.S. president tries to reform the death penalty law. While an Illinois state senator, Obama was key in getting the state's notorious death penalty laws changed, including a requirement that in most cases police interrogations involving capital crimes must be recorded.

It is not official, but a "creeping moratorium" on the death penalty in the US is taking hold as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a challenge to the method of lethal injection.

Indonesia's constitutional court has upheld capital punishment for drug traffickers. The verdict came in an appeal filed by members of the so-called Bali nine - Australians convicted in a heroin case two years ago.

The UN General Assembly will hear on Monday a draft resolution proposed by European Union and other countries on a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the 400th execution in Texas