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Of the main developed countries, only the [[United States]], [[Belarus]] and [[Japan]] use formalized capital punishment, though many developed countries give law enforcement greater authority to kill than allowed by the [[United States]]. For emerging countries, [[China]] uses the death penalty and in the non-developed world it is practiced in most [[Sharia]] states (those whose legal systems are based on [[Muslim]] legal philosophy), as well as many others.<ref name="EU">EU: [http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/deathpenalty/EurHRConvProt13Decl.htm Concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty in all Circumstances]</ref><ref>Encarta: [http://encarta.msn.com/media_461543496/Capital_Punishment_Worldwide.html Capital Punishment Worldwide]</ref>

Some have questioned how a nation such as the United States that largely identifies itself as [[Christian]] (76.5%) could have 65% of Americans believing putting someone to death for a crime is acceptable.<ref>http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm</ref> They question whether or not the [[Bible]] allows such a view.<ref>http://www.itsyourtimes.com/?q=node/3524</ref>. The 6th Commandment is sometimes wrongly translated by [[liberal]]s as, "Thou shalt not kill." This translation suggests that executions are a sin. The correct translation of the 6th Commandment is also sometimes translated as, "Thou shalt commit no murder." As murder is defined as "wrongful killing", when following that translation it is possible to argue whether or not judicial executions are murder. In any case, any possible moral justification for humans to met out capital punishment upon other humans is based on exactly two interacting facts: '''1)''' humans in the fallen world already are subject to eventual death by natural means; '''2)''' some offenses (crimes, sins) are biologically so deep that the integrity of the central victim(s) is too compromised to recover by natural means (including, but not limited to, death). Added to those two facts is a third: the maintenance of such offenders is in no way the duty of the offended, so long as the offended is not already so guilty ('let only those who are without hypocrisy cast the first stone', or 'a family of thieves cannot selectively punish its members'.) Finally, and most importantly, the 6th Commandment is part of the [[Mosaic Law]] in the [[Old Testament]], which mandates capital punishment for many offenses (see below); therefore, an interpretation of the 6th Commandment as forbidding capital punishment is [[stolen concept|nonsensical]].