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Murder rate falls in Jordan after recent executions

April 28, 2015 at 1:25 pm

A senior police official in Jordan has revealed that the murder rate in the country has fallen since the reintroduction of capital punishment and a number of executions in December last year. According to Anadolu, the anonymous official said that there were only 22 murders in the first three months of 2015. “In the same period last year,” he added, “there were 33.”

Police statistics suggest that there is popular support in Jordan for the death penalty to be implemented. Local and international human rights groups, however, dispute this, even though a poll conducted by the University of Jordan showed that more than 81 per cent of Jordanians are pro-capital punishment; only 18 per cent are against it.

A report prepared for the public security services recorded a total of 7,833 serious crimes in Jordan between 2009 and 2013, including attempted murder, premeditated murder, manslaughter, torture leading to death and grievous bodily harm. Eleven people were executed in 2014 “for sabotaging the safety of society and violent crimes.”