Death Penalty

Death penalty, or capital punishment, is the killing of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. In some countries the death penalty is inflicted for serious offences, such as homicide and high treason; others instead revert to capital punishment not only for homicides, but also for violent crimes, such as robbery and/or rape, up to hate crimes such as apostasy (renunciation and criticism of, or opposition to, one's former religion).

The first state to abolish capital punishment was the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1786, with the issuing of the new penal code.

On December 18 2007, after a twenty-year campaign, the UN approved a non-binding resolution for a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.