U.S. to resume prisoner executions, which most of world has banned

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it would resume executing prisoners on death row in federal prison, a practice it hasn't carried out since 2003. The resumption of capital punishment puts the United States at odds with a global trend of sharply reduced executions and places it in the same category as many of the most authoritarian governments worldwide.

According to Amnesty International, recorded execution rates across the globe decreased by 31 percent from 2017 to 2018, with 690 executions recorded in 2018 - down from at least 993 recorded in 2017.

And a majority of countries have abolished the practice altogether. As of the end of 2018, 106 countries had ended the use of the death penalty.

On capital punishment, the United States remains isolated from many of its Western allies. In the past 10 years, it has been the only country in the Americas to carry out executions. And in most of South America and Europe, the practice is completely outlawed.

Attorney General William Barr said on Thursday that the Justice Department owes "it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system."

While the U.S. federal government has not carried out executions for 16 years, the practice is carried out in states where it is legal, though at record-low rates. In 2018, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, jurisdiction in the United States executed 25 people, marking the fourth consecutive year that number was lower than 30. Barr's announcement was accompanied by the scheduling of five federal executions in December and January.

According to Amnesty International, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Iraq, were the world's leading executioners in 2018.

The United Nations has pushed for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, saying it is outdated.

"The death penalty has no place in the 21st century," U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has said.