Should the U.S. Abolish the Death Penalty?

The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law. Methods of execution have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, burning at the stake, impaling, and beheading. Today capital punishment is typically done by lethal gas or injection, electrocution, hanging, or shooting. For most of history, it has not been considered controversial. …