Capital punishment

Capital punishment, also called death penalty, execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. Capital punishment should be distinguished from extrajudicial executions, carried out without due process of law, and generally considered as murder, such as done to Mussolini. The term death penalty is sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment, though imposition of tbe penalty is not always followed by execution (even when it is upheld on appeal), because of tbe possibility of commutation to life imprisonment.