Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime, usually following an authorised, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. 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.
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 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 states have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other seven, as well as the federal government, being subject to different types of moratoriums. The existence of capital punishment in the United States can be traced to early colonial Virginia. Along with Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, the United States is one of four advanced democracies and the only Western nation that applies the death penalty regularly. It is one of 54 countries worldwide applying it, and was the first to develop lethal injection as a method of execution, which has since been adopted by five other countries. The Philippines has since abolished executions, and Guatemala has done so for civil offenses, leaving the United States as one of four countries to still use this method. It is common practice for the condemned to be administered sedatives prior to execution, regardless of the method used.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in China. It is commonly applied for murder and drug trafficking, and is a legal penalty for other offenses. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. In a survey conducted by the New York Times in 2014, it was found the death penalty retained widespread support in Chinese society.
Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held that it is unconstitutional to impose capital punishment for crimes committed while under the age of 18. The 5–4 decision overruled Stanford v. Kentucky, in which the court had upheld execution of offenders at or above age 16, and overturned statutes in 25 states.
Roy Michael "Hog" Roberts was executed in Missouri by lethal injection at the Potosi Correctional Center, for assisting the murder of a correctional officer named Tom Jackson in Missouri's Moberly Correctional Center in July 1983.
The major world religions have taken varied positions on the morality of capital punishment and, as such, they have historically impacted the way in which governments handle such punishment practices. Although the viewpoints of some religions have changed over time, their influence on capital punishment generally depends on the existence of a religious moral code and how closely religion influences the government. Religious moral codes are often based on a body of teachings, such as the Old Testament or the Qur'an.
Capital punishment for murder was abolished in Cyprus on 15 December 1983. It was abolished for all crimes on 19 April 2002. The death penalty was replaced with life imprisonment. Cyprus is a signatory of the second optional protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which provides for full abolition of capital punishment. Cyprus initially had a reservation on the second protocol, allowing execution for grave crimes in times of war, but subsequently gave up this reservation. The Constitution of Cyprus was amended in 2016 to wipe out all forms of capital punishment.
Capital punishment was a legal penalty in the Soviet Union for most of the country's existence. The claimed legal basis for capital punishment was Article 22 of the Fundamental Principles of Criminal Legislation, which stated that the death penalty was permitted "as an exceptional measure of punishment, until its complete abolition".
Capital punishment was completely abolished in Hungary on 24 October 1990 by the Constitutional Court. A month later on 1 December 1990 protocol No. 6 to the ECHR came into force. Hungary later adopted the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR as well. The last condemned man to be executed, Ernő Vadász, was hanged for the crime of murder on 14 July 1988. In April 2015, following the murder of a woman in southern Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán suggested that Hungary must reinstate capital punishment. This statement caused a strong reaction by EU officials, and Orbán had to retract it as a result. The European Union holds a strong opposition against the death penalty in its relation to the Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy.
In 2018, there were 89,468 crimes reported in the U.S. state of Kansas. 12,782 of these were violent offenses, including 113 murders.
Crime in Massachusetts refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of Massachusetts.
In 2016 there were 91,115 crimes reported in the U.S. state of Mississippi, including 238 murders. In 2017–2018 the violent crime rate dropped 8%.
In 2008 there were 60,995 crimes reported in the U.S. state of Nebraska, including 69 murders. In 2014 there were 52,727 crimes, including 53 murders.
In 2020 there were 10,815 crimes reported in the U.S. state of North Dakota, including 32 murders.
In 2008 there were 192,751 crimes reported in the U.S. state of South Carolina, including 307 murders. In 2014 there were 174,269 crimes reported, including 311 murders.
The U.S. state of Vermont is the safest state in the country with a violent crime rate of 118 incidents per 100,000 state residents.
In 2021 there were 109,587 crimes reported in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, including 332 murders, 2,475 acts of rape, 2,707 accounts of robbery, and 13,579 assaults. The chances of becoming a victim of a crime was 1 in 309.
In the United States, the law for murder varies by jurisdiction. In many US jurisdictions there is a hierarchy of acts, known collectively as homicide, of which first-degree murder and felony murder are the most serious, followed by second-degree murder and, in a few states, third-degree murder, which in other states is divided into voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter such as reckless homicide and negligent homicide, which are the least serious, and ending finally in justifiable homicide, which is not a crime. However, because there are at least 52 relevant jurisdictions, each with its own criminal code, this is a considerable simplification.
Capital punishment is currently a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Kansas, although it has not been used since 1965.
Capital punishment in Missouri first used in 1810 is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Missouri.
