Capital punishment - Ballotpedia

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Capital punishment is the execution of a person by the state as punishment for a crime. Capital punishment may also be referred to as the "death penalty." Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences (i.e., murder, treason). The term capital is derived from Latin capitalis, or "regarding the head" (Latin caput). Hence, a person convicted of a capital crime originally was to be punished by the loss of his or her head.^[1]^[2]

Although the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution declares that cruel and unusual punishment is prohibited, the Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty is not a violation of this amendment. As of September 2023, capital punishment was illegal in 23 of the fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia.^[3]

Ballotpedia: Index of Terms

States without capital punishment (year of abolishment in parenthesis):

Alaska (1957)
Colorado (2020)
Connecticut (2012)
Delaware (2016)
Hawaii (1957)
Illinois (2011)
Iowa (1965)
Maine (1887)
Maryland (2013)
Massachusetts (1984)
Michigan (1846)
Minnesota (1911)
Nebraska (2015)
New Hampshire (2019)
New Jersey (2007)
New Mexico (2009)
New York (2007)
North Dakota (1973)
Rhode Island (1984)
Vermont (1964)
Virginia (2021)
Washington (2018)
West Virginia (1965)
Wisconsin (1853)
District of Columbia (1981)^[3]

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