capital offenses

Death penalty violations

Capital offenses are crimes so serious that they may be punished by death.

The term comes from the Latin word for head, reflecting the historical practice of beheading as execution.

Murder is the most common capital offense, though treason, espionage, and certain drug trafficking crimes qualify in some jurisdictions.

Whether a crime is classified as a capital offense varies significantly by country and, in the United States, by state.

The prosecutor argued that the brutal nature of the killing made it a capital offense.

Related

hanging · rope · death sentence · stay of execution · punishment · electric chair · gas chamber · last meal · genocide · espionage · arson · crimes · terrorism · Sanhedrin · abolition movements · murders · serial killer · sabotage

Categories
Opposites
severity of crime

capital offensesmisdemeanors

Minor legal violations

petty offenses · minor offenses · petty crimes · infractions · violations

moral gravity

capital offensesvictimless crimes

Unlawful acts lacking injured parties

good deeds · peccadilloes · venial sins

Family

capital, offense, offenses, capitol, capitalism, capitalist, capitalize, capitalization, capitalized

Familiarity
Top 200,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Negative · Rated PG-13