Life is easier now on death row as the system gets a lethal injection

I AM the bearer of good news. About 8,000 people were executed last year around the world. How is that good news, you might ask? And is the death penalty an appropriate topic of discussion during the season of goodwill?

In my defence, Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr, stoned to death for speaking “blasphemous words against Moses and against God”.

But back to my good news. The estimate of 8,000 dead represents a significant fall from the rates being reported earlier this decade. The confirmed number of executions worldwide, according to Amnesty, was much lower — around 1,600. But China, by far the most ruthless exponent of capital punishment, only admits to a tiny fraction of the true number it executes. Recently, sickeningly, fleets of “death vans” — vehicles equipped with the necessary equipment for lethal jabs — have been deployed to make it easier for rural Chinese communities to dispose of criminals.