Capital Punishment

By Evan

Some Things to Know About Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment is punishment on someone by the

State, the punishment being death. Crimes that can be

deserving of the capital punishment are called capital crimes.

They vary through countries, time periods, and the severity of

the crime. The name capital comes from a Latin word that

literally means, “regarding the head” which is why one of the

most famous forms of capital punishment was in Italy using

the guillotine to decapitate someone.

Abolishing the Capital Punishment

As of 2010 Amnesty International (an organization for the betterment of the world) said that most countries no longer use capital punishment. But about 60% of the world still have executions (there’s a difference). The People’s Republic of China, the United States, India, and Indonesia (the four most populous countries in the world) still use the death penalty, though India and Indonesia use it rarely.

The Death PenaltyThere are many ways of delivering the

death penalty breaking wheel, boiling to death, blowing from a gun, burning, crucifixion, crushing (including by elephant), disembowelment, dismemberment, decapitation (the guillotine), fraying, impalement, necklacing, slow slicing, stoningsawing, and scaphism. Though in modern days the penalty is often administered in the form of the electric chair, but even that has been surpassed by the lethal injection.

Crimes Deserving of the Death Penalty

In some countries sexual crimes, such as rape,

adultery, mean getting the death penalty as do religious

crimes such as apostasy in Islamic nations (the formal

renunciation of the state religion). 1st degree murder. In

many countries that use the death penalty, selling drugs is

also a capital offense. In China, human trafficking and

serious cases of corruption are punished by the death

penalty. In militaries around the world courts-martial have

imposed death sentences for offenses such as cowardice,

desertion, insubordination, and mutiny.

Statistics

The People’s Republic of China has

executed the most people out of any

country in 2010. They may have

executed up to 5,000 people, the

United States has probably executed

about 46, and Egypt, 4.