The legal system in Jordan is based on Islamic law

The legal system in Jordan is based on Islamic law for both civil and criminal matters, except for non-Muslim communities' members.
Capital punishment has not been carried out since 2006, a measure that makes it apparent that the Kingdom is moving towards abolishing the death penalty.
Thirty-eight crimes are punishable by death in Jordan, as stipulated in five laws: the Military Penal Code, the Penal Code, the Guns and Ammunitions Law, the State Secrets Law and the Narcotics Law.
In August 2006, Jordan abolished the death penalty for crimes related to drugs, weapons and explosives. However, the Kingdom is not carrying out any executions only due to His Majesty King Abdullah’s will and not out of an official stance. Article 93 of the Constitution reads that “no death sentence may be carried out unless ratified by the King. Every such sentence shall be submitted to him by the Council of Ministers along with the council’s view on it”.
Reducing the number of crimes eligible for capital punishment is one of the changes that have been proposed by an ad hoc Justice Ministry committee comprised of judges, lawyers and jurists tasked with updating Jordan’s Penal Code. The group has been meeting since August 2008 to address what the ministry sees as loopholes in the current legal system.
In 2010, amendments to the Jordanian Penal Code removed the death penalty for crimes of armed rebellion against the constitutional authorities (art. 137/1) and arson resulting in death (art. 372), replacing it with a maximum of 30-year-jail sentence.
On 4 March 2010, Jordanian Justice Minister M. Ayman Odeh said that shortly he would submit a new amendment to the Penal Code that substitutes the death penalty for life imprisonment to the Council of Ministers.
On 16-17 June 2012, legal and human rights experts from around the world convened in Amman at the 10th annual conference for the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to discuss the "universality" of efforts to combat the death penalty. Jordan’s Justice Ministry Secretary General Mustafa Assaf noted that a moratorium imposed on executions in Jordan in 2006 was an indicator of a high political will to abolish the death penalty.
In 2010, the Human Rights Committee recommended in its concluding observations that Jordan accede to the Second Optional Protocol on to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee also commended Jordan’s efforts at establishing a de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2007. According to official data, 41 people were executed in the Country since the beginning of 2000, all of whom were convicted for murder, terrorism or sexual assault charges. At least seven executions were carried out in 2003, and fourteen people were known to have been put to death in 2002. At least one execution took place in 2004. At least 15 people were put to death in 2005, according to a Jordanian police source.
The last execution in Jordan took place in March 2006, when a 41-year-old blacksmith, convicted of killing his wife and seven-month-old child, was hanged at Swaqa prison.
The government of Jordan confirmed that 46 people, including four women, were under sentence of death at the end of 2010. At least 15 death sentences were imposed in 2011, according to Amnesty International and 16 in 2012. At the beginning of October 2012, there were 94 people, including seven women, waiting to be executed in Jordan, according to Penal Reform International (PRI).
On 20 December 2012, Jordan abstained from the Resolution on a Moratorium on the use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.