Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for

an offence. 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". Hence a capital crime was originally one punished by severing the head from the body.[1] Capital punishment has in the past been practiced by most societies (one notable exception being Kievan Rus), although currently only 58 nations actively practice it, with 96 countries having abolished it (the remainder having not used it for 10 years or allowing it only in exceptional circumstances such as wartime).[2] 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 HISTORY Execution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societiesboth to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. In most places that practice 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 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..The 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.[16] The response to crime committed by neighbouring tribes or communities included formal apology, compensation or blood feuds.
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.

LAW: The Supreme Court of India ruled in 1983 that the death penalty should be imposed only in "the rarest of rare cases."[1] Capital crimes are murder, gang robbery with murder, abetting the suicide of a child or insane person, waging war against the nation, and abetting mutiny by a member of the armed forces.[1] Since 1989, the death penalty has also been legal for a second offense of "large scale narcotics trafficking". In recent years the death penalty has been imposed under new anti-terrorism legislation for people convicted of terrorist activities.[1] Recently, the Indian Supreme Court in Swamy Sharaddananda v. State of Karnataka made imposing the death penalty even harder. The judgement holds that the rarest of the rare test prescribed in Bachchan Singhs case was diluted in the Machchi Singh case. The judgement then goes on to

say that the rarest of the rare must be measured not only in qualitative but also in quantitative terms. India's top court has recommended the death penalty be extended to those found guilty of committing so-called "honour killings" with the Supreme Court stating that honour killings fall within the "rarest of the rare" category and deserves to be a capital crime.[2] The Supreme Court of India has also recommended death sentences to be awarded to those police officials who commit police brutality in the form of encounter killings

Abolitionism
The death penalty was banned in China between 747 and 759. In Japan, Emperor Saga abolished the death penalty in 818 under the influence of Shinto and it lasted until 1156. Therefore, capital punishment was not employed for 338 years in ancient Japan.[39]In England, a public statement of opposition was included in The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, written in 1395.The
Roman Republic banned capital punishment in 1849. The latest country to abolish the death penalty for all crimes was Gabon, in February 2010.[46] Human rights activists oppose the death penalty, calling it "cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment". Amnesty International considers it to be "the ultimate denial of Human Rights

METHODS: The following methods of execution permitted for use in 2010:[100][101][102][103][104]

Beheading (Saudi Arabia, Qatar) Electric chair (as an option in Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida and Kentucky in the USA) Gas chamber (California, Missouri and Arizona in the USA) Hanging (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Mongolia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, India, Burma, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, South Korea, Malawi, Liberia, Chad, Washington in the USA,) Lethal injection (Guatemala, Thailand, the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, all states in the USA that are using capital punishment) Shooting (the People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Vietnam, Belarus

RELIGIOUS VIEWS: The world's major religions have mixed opinions on the death penalty, depending on the sect, the individual believer, and the time period. Buddhism:There is disagreement among Buddhists as to whether or not Buddhism forbids the death penalty. The first of the Five Precepts (Panca-sila) is to abstain from destruction of life. Chapter 10 of the Dhammapada states: "Everyone fears punishment; everyone fears death, just as you do. Therefore you do not kill or cause to be killed." CHRISTIAN:Views on the death penalty in Christianity run a spectrum of opinions, from complete condemnation of the punishment, seeing it as a form of revenge and as contrary to Christ's message of forgiveness, to enthusiastic support based primarily on Old Testament law.

Southern Baptist

Southern Baptists support the fair and equitable use of capital punishment for those guilty of murder or treasonous acts, so long as it does not constitute as an act of personal revenge or discrimination

Hinduism
A basis can be found in Hindu teachings both for permitting and forbidding the death penalty. Hinduism preaches ahimsa (or ahinsa, non-violence), but also teaches that the soul cannot be killed and death is limited only to the physical body. The soul is reborn into another body upon death (until Moksha), akin to a human changing clothes. The religious, civil and criminal law of Hindus is encoded in the Dharmastras and the Arthasastra. The Dharmasastras describe many crimes and their punishments and call for the death penalty in several instances, including murder, the mixture of castes, and righteous warfare