"Death penalty," "Death sentence," and "Execution" redirect here. For other uses, see
Death penalty (disambiguation),
Death Sentence (disambiguation), or
Execution (disambiguation). For the Big Pun album, see
Capital Punishment (album).Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. Historically, the execution of
criminals and political opponents was used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime and to suppress
political dissent. Among countries around the world, almost all
European and many Pacific Area states (including
Australia,
New Zealand and
Timor Leste), and
Canada have abolished capital punishment. In
Latin America, most states have completely abolished the use of capital punishment, while some countries, however, like
Brazil, allow for capital punishment only in exceptional situations, such as treason committed during wartime. The
United States,
Guatemala, most of the
Caribbean and the majority of democracies in
Asia (e.g.
Japan and
India) and
Africa (e.g.
Botswana and
Zambia) retain it.
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