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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.
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The latest version of Death Row U.S.A. has been released by the Capital Punishment Project of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. The report contains death row and execution data for all states and federal jurisdictions as of January 1, 2008. The report lists inmates by state, name, and race. The report also contains information on each person executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and information on U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The last version of DRUSA was Jan. 1, 2007. The latest report includes the following statistics:

The total number of inmates on death rows across the country is 3,309, a decrease from 3,350 reported on January 1, 2007. The jurisdictions with the most inmates on death row are:
- California (667)
- Florida (397)
- Texas (373)
- Pennsylvania (228).

The jurisdictions (having 10 or more inmates) with the highest percentage of minorities on death row are:
- Texas (70%)
- Pennsylvania (69%)
- Louisiana (66%).

Source: NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, "Death Row USA" Winter 2008.

Source: Death Penalty Information Center
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