Capital punishment in Ghana

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Ghana only for high treason. Ghana executed for last time a criminal in 1993. The method of execution is by firing squad.[1] It is considered "abolitionist in practice."[2] Capital punishment was a mandatory sentence for certain ordinary criminal offenses until 2023.[3]

Seven new death sentences were handed down in 2021, while 165 people were on death row in Ghana at the end of 2021.[4]

On 25 July 2023, the Parliament of Ghana voted to legally abolish capital punishment for ordinary offences. Capital punishment remains a prescribed penalty under the constitution for high treason. The country's legal code was amended to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment. The legislation was tabled by Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, who described it as a "great advancement of the human rights record of Ghana."[5]

The abolition of the death penalty in Ghana is not retroactive; as of August 2023 death sentences continued to be handed down for crimes committed before the abolition went into effect.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Abolitionist and retentionist countries (as of July 2018)". Amnesty International. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
2. ^ "Abolitionist and retentionist countries (as of July 2018)". Amnesty International. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
3. ^ "Ghana and the Death Penalty". Parliamentarians for Global Action. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
4. ^ "Death sentences and executions 2021". Amnesty International. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
5. ^ Adombila, Maxwell Akalaare; Akorlie, Christian (2023-07-25). "Ghana parliament votes to abolish the death penalty". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
6. ^ "Father sentenced to death for offering son as sacrifice". Ghana Business News. 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2023-08-25.

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Capital punishment

Current judicial methods|

* Hanging
* Shooting
* firing squad
* Lethal injection
* Nitrogen hypoxia
* Electrocution
* Gas chamber
* Beheading
* Stoning

Ancient and
post-classical
methods|

* Damnatio ad bestias
* Blood eagle
* Blowing from a gun
* Brazen bull
* Boiling
* Breaking wheel
* Burial
* Burning
* Crucifixion
* Crushing
* Decimation
* Disembowelment
* Dismemberment
* Drowning
* Republican marriage
* Elephant
* Falling
* Flaying
* Garrote
* Gibbeting
* Guillotine
* Hanged, drawn and quartered
* Immurement
* Impalement
* Ishikozume
* Mazzatello
* Sawing
* Scaphism
* Seppuku
* Slow slicing
* Stoning
* Suffocation in ash
* Upright jerker
* Waist chop

Related topics|

* Enforcement or use by country
* Most recent executions by country
* Crime
* Death row
* Executioner
* list
* Scharfrichter
* Final statement
* Last meal
* Penology
* List of methods
* Nine familial exterminations
* Religion and capital punishment
* Wrongful execution
* Botched execution
* Resolutions concerning death penalty at the United Nations
* Capital punishment for drug trafficking
* Capital punishment for homosexuality
* Trial by ordeal

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Capital punishment in Africa

Sovereign states|

* Algeria
* Angola
* Benin
* Botswana
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Republic of the Congo
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Eswatini
* Ethiopia
* Gabon
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Ivory Coast
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Libya
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* Somalia
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Tanzania
* Togo
* Tunisia
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

States with limited
recognition

* Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
* Somaliland

Dependencies and
other territories

* Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain)
* Madeira (Portugal)
* Mayotte / Réunion (France)
* Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)

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