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Capital punishmentFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search "Death penalty" and "Death sentence" redirect here. For other uses, see Death penalty (disambiguation) and Death sentence (disambiguation). "Execution" and "Execute" redirect here. For other uses, see Execution (disambiguation) and Execute (disambiguation). For other uses, see Capital punishment (disambiguation).
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Debate Religion and capital punishment Use by country Wrongful execution Drug trafficking
Afghanistan Bahamas Belarus Botswana Chad China (PRC) Cuba Democratic Republic of Congo Egypt Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Gambia Guatemala Guinea India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Laos Lebanon Libya Malaysia Myanmar Nigeria North Korea Oman Pakistan Russia Saint Kitts and Nevis Saudi Arabia Singapore Somalia South Korea South Sudan Sudan Syria Taiwan (ROC) Tajikistan Thailand Tonga Uganda United Arab Emirates United States Vietnam Yemen Zimbabwe
Australia Austria Belgium Bhutan Brazil Bulgaria Canada Cyprus Denmark Ecuador France Germany Gibraltar Hong Kong Hungary Ireland Italy Liechtenstein Macau Mexico Mongolia Netherlands New Zealand Norway Philippines Poland Portugal Romania San Marino South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom Venezuela
Decapitation Electrocution Gas chamber Hanging Lethal injection Shooting(firing squad) Stoning Nitrogen asphyxiation (proposed)
Boiling Breaking wheel Burning Crucifixion Crushing Disembowelment Dismemberment Drawing and quartering Elephant Flaying Immurement Impalement Premature burial Sawing Scaphism Slow slicing Suffocation in ash
Crime Death row Last meal Penology
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Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (referring to execution by beheading).Capital punishment has, in the past, been practised by most societies (one notable exception being Kievan Rus); currently 58 nations actively practise it, and 97 countries have abolished it (the remainder have not used it for 10 years or allow it only in exceptional circumstances such as wartime). It is a matter of active controversy in various countries and states, and positions can vary within a single political ideology or cultural region. In the European Union member states, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment.Currently, Amnesty International considers most countries abolitionist. The UN General Assembly has adopted, in 2007, 2008 and 2010, non-binding resolutions calling for a global moratorium on executions, with a view to eventual abolition. Although many nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where executions take place, such as the People's Republic of China, India, the United States of America and Indonesia, the four most-populous countries in the world, which continue to apply the death penalty (although in India, Indonesia and in many US states it is rarely employed). Each of these four nations voted against the General Assembly resolutions.Contents 1 History 1.1 Ancient history 1.2 Ancient Tang China 1.3 Middle Ages 1.4 Modern era 1.5 Contemporary era 2 Movements towards humane execution 3 Abolitionism 4 Contemporary use 4.1 Global distribution 4.2 Execution for drug-related offences 4.3 Juvenile offenders 4.3.1 Iran 4.3.2 Somalia 4.4 Methods 5 Controversy and debate 5.1 Human rights 5.2 Wrongful execution 5.3 Retribution 5.4 International views 6 Religious views 6.1 Buddhism 6.2 Christianity 6.2.1 Roman Catholic Church 6.2.2 Protestants 6.2.3 Mormonism 6.3 Hinduism 6.4 Islam 6.5 Judaism 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links 10.1 Opposing 10.2 In favour 10.3 Religious views
HistoryExecution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societiesboth to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. In most places that practise capital punishment it is reserved for murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries sexual crimes, such as rape, adultery, incest and sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as apostasy in Islamic nations (the formal renunciation of the state religion). In many countries that use the death penalty, drug trafficking is also a capital offence. 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 offences such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny.
Anarchist Auguste Vaillant guillotined in France in 1894The use of formal execution extends to the beginning of recorded history. Most historical records and various primitive tribal practices indicate that the death penalty was a part of their justice system. Communal punishment for wrongdoing generally included compensation by the wrongdoer, corporal punishment, shunning, banishment and execution. Usually, compensation and shunning were enough as a form of justice. The response to crime committed by neighbouring tribes or communities included formal apology, compensation or blood feuds.A blood feud or vendetta occurs when arbitration between families or tribes fails or an arbitration system is non-existent. This form of justice was common before the emergence of an arbitration system based on state or organised religion. It may result from crime, land disputes or a code of honour. "Acts of retaliation underscore the ability of the social collective to defend itself and demonstrate to enemies (as well as potential allies) that injury to property, rights, or the person will not go unpunished." However, in practice, it is often difficult to distinguish between a war of vendetta and one of conquest.Severe historical penalties include breaking wheel, boiling to death, flaying, slow slicing, disembowelment, crucifixion, impalement, crushing (including crushing by elephant), stoning, execution by burning, dismemberment, sawing, decapitation, scaphism, necklacing or blowing from a gun.
The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Lon Grme (1883). Roman Colosseum.Islam on the whole accepts capital punishment, and the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad, such as Al-Mu'tadid, were often cruel in their punishments. Nevertheless, mercy is considered preferable in Islam,, and in Sharia law the victim's family can choose to spare the life of the killer, which is not uncommon. In the One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, the fictional storyteller Sheherazade is portrayed as being the "voice of sanity and mercy", with her philosophical position being generally opposed to punishment by death. She expresses this through several of her tales, including "The Merchant and the Jinni", "The Fisherman and the Jinni", "The Three Apples", and "The Hunchback".
The breaking wheel was used during the Middle Ages and was still in use into the 19th century.Ancient historyElaborations of tribal arbitration of feuds included peace settlements often done in a religious context and compensation system. Compensation was based on the principle of substitution which might include material (for example, cattle, slave) compensation, exchange of brides or grooms, or payment of the blood debt. Settlement rules could allow for animal blood to replace human blood, or transfers of property or blood money or in some case an offer of a person for execution. The person offered for execution did not have to be an original perpetrator of the crime because the system was based on tribes, not individuals. Blood feuds could be regulated at meetings, such as the Viking things. Systems deriving from blood feuds may survive alongside more advanced legal systems or be given recognition by courts (for example, trial by combat). One of the more modern refinements of the blood feud is the duel.
Giovanni Battista Bugatti, executioner of the Papal States between 1796 and 1865, carried out 516 executions (Bugatti pictured offering snuff to a condemned prisoner). Vatican City abolished its capital punishment statute in 1969.In certain parts of the world, nations in the form of ancient republics, monarchies or tribal oligarchies emerged. These nations were often united by common linguistic, religious or family ties. Moreover, expansion of these nations often occurred by conquest of neighbouring tribes or nations. Consequently, various classes of royalty, nobility, various commoners and slave emerged. Accordingly, the systems of tribal arbitration were submerged into a more unified system of justice which formalised the relation between the different "classes" rather than "tribes". The earliest and most famous example is Code of Hammurabi which set the different punishment and compensation according to the different class/group of victims and perpetrators. The Torah (Jewish Law), also known as the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Christian Old Testament), lays down the death penalty for murder, kidnapping, magic, violation of the Sabbath, blasphemy, and a wide range of sexual crimes, although evidence suggests that actual executions were rare.A further example comes from Ancient Greece, where the Athenian legal system