Capital punishment is primarily intended to deter potential criminals from committing crimes by instilling fear of the ultimate penalty.

China has the highest rate of capital punishment in the world, with thousands of executions carried out each year.

Lethal injection is the most common method of capital punishment in the United States, accounting for over 80% of executions.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits the use of capital punishment except for the most serious crimes.

The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment, which has been interpreted to include the death penalty in some cases.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that capital punishment is a violation of the social contract because it is an act of violence committed by the state against one of its citizens.

Capital punishment is the intentional killing of a person by a government after a legal process.

Venezuela was the first country to abolish capital punishment, doing so in 1863.

Retributivism is the belief that capital punishment is morally justified because it is a just punishment for certain crimes.

Abolitionism is the belief that capital punishment is morally wrong and should be abolished.

Mesopotamia has the longest history of capital punishment, with records of its use dating back to the Code of Hammurabi in 1750 BC.

Extrajudicial killing is the execution of a person without a fair trial.

China has the highest number of people on death row, with an estimated several thousand prisoners awaiting execution.

Assassination is the intentional killing of a person by a government without a legal process.

Tajikistan was the last country to abolish capital punishment, doing so in 2004.