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Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Etymologically, the term capital refers to execution by beheading, but executions are carried out by many methods, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, electrocution, and gassing.
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used in Britain and Ireland from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last person to be executed for treason was William Joyce, in 1946. In 2004, Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention.
Hamida Djandoubi was a Tunisian convicted murderer sentenced to death in France. He moved to Marseille in 1968, and six years later he was convicted of the kidnapping, torture and murder of 21-year-old Élisabeth Bousquet. He was sentenced to death in February 1977 and executed by guillotine in September that year, and also the last person to be lawfully executed by beheading anywhere in the Western world. Marcel Chevalier served as chief executioner.
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty in 27 states, throughout the country at the federal level, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in the other 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 20 of them have authority to execute death sentences, with the other 7, as well as the federal government and military, subject to moratoriums.
Capital punishment in Canada dates to Canada's earliest history, including its period as first a French then a British colony. From 1867 to the elimination of the death penalty for murder on July 26, 1976, 1,481 people had been sentenced to death, and 710 had been executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 women. The only method used in Canada for capital punishment of civilians after the end of the French regime was hanging. The last execution in Canada was the double hanging of Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin on December 11, 1962, at Toronto's Don Jail. The National Defence Act prescribed the death penalty for certain military offences until 1999, although no military executions had been carried out since 1946.
Capital punishment was abolished in 2019 in New Hampshire for persons convicted of capital murder. It remains a legal penalty for crimes committed prior to May 30, 2019.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in China. It is applicable to offenses ranging from murder to drug trafficking. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. A survey conducted by TheNew York Times in 2014 found the death penalty retained widespread support in Chinese society.
Capital punishment is forbidden by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Czech Republic and is simultaneously prohibited by international legal obligations arising from the Czech Republic's membership in both the Council of Europe and the European Union.
Capital punishment in Hong Kong was formally abolished on 23 April 1993 by virtue of the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1993. Before then, capital punishment was the usual sentence given since the establishment of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong for offences such as murder, kidnapping ending in death, and piracy.
Capital punishment in Australia has been abolished in all jurisdictions since 1985. Queensland abolished the death penalty in 1922. Tasmania did the same in 1968. The Commonwealth abolished the death penalty in 1973, with application also in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, and for all crimes in 1985. In 2010, the Commonwealth Parliament passed legislation prohibiting the re-establishment of capital punishment by any state or territory. Australian law prohibits the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime.
Eddie Lee Mays was the last person to be executed by the state of New York. He was convicted of first degree murder and robbery in 1962. Mays was 34 years old at the time of execution.
Genzo Kurita was a Japanese serial killer who murdered eight people.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in South Korea. As of August 2023, there were 59 people on death row in South Korea. The method of execution is hanging.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Guatemala, and is carried out by lethal injection and, to a lesser extent, the firing squad. The death penalty today remains only in Guatemala's military codes of justice, and was abolished for civilian offences in October 2017.
The 1978 Spanish Constitution bans capital punishment in Spain, except for wartime offences. Spain completely abolished capital punishment for all offenses, including in times of war, in October 1995.
Capital punishment in Gibraltar included public execution in the nineteenth century until 1864. The last sentence of death was passed in 1952. Under British law, capital punishment was almost abolished in 1965, in line with British practice. It was entirely abolished in 2002 along with all other British Overseas Territories.
Capital punishment in Montenegro was first prescribed by law in 1798. It was abolished on 19 June 2002. The last execution, by shooting, took place on 29 January 1981, and the two last death sentences were pronounced on 11 October 2001. Montenegro is bound by the following international conventions prohibiting capital punishment : Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Protocols No. 6 and No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 26 of the Montenegrin Constitution (2007) that outlawed the death penalty states: "In Montenegro, capital punishment punishment is forbidden”.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States. The only crime punishable by death is first degree murder. American Samoa last executed a prisoner by hanging on 24 November 1939. The territory is de facto abolitionist.
Capital punishment in Delaware was formally abolished in 2024, however it has not been enforced after Delaware’s capital punishment statues were declared unconstitutional by the Delaware Supreme Court on August 2, 2016. The ruling retroactively applies to earlier death sentences, and remaining Delaware death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The capital statute for first-degree murder under Title 11, Chapter 42, Section 09, of the Delaware Code was fully repealed on September 26, 2024.
Robert Charles Gleason Jr. was an American serial killer who was sentenced to death and executed in Virginia for two separate murders of two of his cellmates. Gleason, who was already serving a life sentence for another murder, was an execution volunteer who vowed to continue killing in prison if he was not put to death. Capital punishment was abolished in Virginia on March 24, 2021, officially making Gleason the last person to be executed in Virginia by electrocution.
References
- ↑ "Today in Capital Punishment History". NCAPD. Archived from the original on 2008-05-10. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
- ↑ "Todesstrafe: Gar nicht so lange her". Saiten. 2016-08-30. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
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