Capital punishment

[[Image:Death Penalty World Map.png|thumb|300px|Death Penalty World Map

Terminology

• Etymology. The term "capital" derives from the Latin caput, literally meaning "head" but also a pars pro toto for the whole individual. Thus, capital punishment is the penalty for a crime so severe that it 'deserves' death, either by decapitation (losing one's head) or otherwise.
• Although it is the ultimate physical punishment, ending all bodily functions forever, and thus constitutes the perfect example of a corporal punishment, that term is often reserved for non-terminal punishments, generally intended to cause pain or other suffering while alive, such as mutilation.
• Prisoners who have been sentenced to death are usually kept segregated from other prisoners in a special part of the prison pending their execution. In some places this segregated area is known as "death row."