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

capital punishment

²

1. The death penalty for a crime.

Notes

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

But Harris, who had made opposition to capital punishment a key part of her political campaign to become the city’s top prosecutor, instead decided to pursue a life sentence without parole.

From BBC

What happens next could lead either to a re-scheduled execution or an ultra-rare act of clemency in the state that leads the way for capital punishment in the US.

From BBC

Harris, who had campaigned on her opposition to capital punishment, refused, announcing before Espinoza’s funeral that she would seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

From Los Angeles Times

Alexis Hoag-Fordjour, a Brooklyn Law School professor who specializes in capital punishment argued that, given the defendants' differing sentences, an outcome where Glossip is executed "would fly in the face" of justice.

From Salon

But Caryl Chessman’s death penalty conviction dominated the debate about capital punishment for years.

From Los Angeles Times