Samoa to Abandon Death Penalty

The Pacific island of Samoa has begun formal measures to abolish the death penalty. Samoa has not conducted an execution in more than 50 years, and death sentences that are still delivered by judges are always commuted to life imprisonment. As he introduced the statute to abolish the death penalty, Prime Minister Sailele Malielegaoi told parliament that the death penalty should not be on the law books if it is not going to be carried out.