capital punishment

[kap-i-tl puhn-ish-muhnt]

noun

1. punishment by death for a crime; death penalty.

capital punishment

noun

1. the punishment of death for a crime; death penalty

capital punishment

¹

1. The death penalty for a crime.

capital punishment

²

1. The infliction of the death penalty as punishment for certain crimes. (See capital offense.)

In the United States, capital punishment has been an extremely controversial issue on legal, moral, and ethical grounds. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was not, in principle, cruel and unusual punishment (and not, therefore, unconstitutional), but that its implementation through existing state laws was unconstitutional. In 1976, the Supreme Court again ruled that the death penalty was not unconstitutional, though a mandatory death penalty for any crime was. Thirty-nine states now practice the death penalty.

Word History and Origins

Origin of capital punishment¹

First recorded in 1575–85

Example Sentences

The last of 13 executions took place four days before the swearing-in of Biden, who campaigned on abolishing capital punishment.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Badinter, a lawyer who campaigned for an end to capital punishment after one of his clients was beheaded with a guillotine in the 1970s, died last year aged 95.

Read more on Barron's

The district attorney’s office has yet to make a decision whether to seek capital punishment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

International law restricts capital punishment to only the "most serious crimes".

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The prospect of capital punishment means that prosecutors will need to show intent to commit murder when they press their case in court.

Read more on BBC