the death penalty

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Death penalties
behead
boot
boots on the groundidiom
burn
capital offence
chair
condemn
condemn someone to (do) something
death warrant
decapitate
decapitation
electrocution
firing squad
guillotine
hang
hanging
hangman
hung
stake
the electric chair

Examples from literature

According to one authority, capital punishment may be divided into two kinds—beheading and strangulation. 
But some say that capital punishment is inconsistent with the mild religion of Christ—the religion of mercy and love. 
Capital punishment has been abolished in some countries, likewise torture, confiscation, corporal punishment. 
For how else can they say, as I have known some say, that capital punishment is wrong, because "we have no right to usher a man into the presence of his Maker." 

capital punishment | American Dictionary

capital punishment
noun[ U ]
us/ˈkæp·ɪ·t̬əl ˈpʌn·ɪʃ·mənt/(alsodeath penalty)
politics & government
punishment by death for a serious crime