You have to be careful about statistics. They can be true and yet very, very misleading at the same time. For example, it is true that China executes between 400 and 500 people a year (1). With a popultaion of 1,345,000,000 (1.3 billion) (2) that is 1 execution per 3 million people. For comparison the great state of Texas executes approximately 21 people per year(4) and has a population of 24 million(3). So Texas has 1 execution per 1 million people - 3 times the rate of China. The rest of the USA executes about the same number as Texas and has a population of 300 million so that is 40 executions of 1 per 7.5 million.
In summary, for every 15 million population:
USA executes 2 people per year
China executes 5 people per year
Texas executes 15 people per year
Hooray for Texas!!
Texas population 24,000,000
China 471, USA 42
China 1360,000,000 USA 308,000,000
Executions 21
(4) http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/death-penalty-facts/executions-by-year/page.do?id=1011591
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