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With at least 61 instances of capital punishment carried out, IRAQ had the fourth highest number in 2014. Criminals are executed by shooting or hanging, although there is not a manda- tory death sentence; mitigating circumstances are considered by the courts. The fifth highest number of executions in 2014 occurred in the UNITED STATES , where 35 people were executed. Here the death penalty is imposed only for crimes involving murder. The death penalty is legal in all but 19 states and the District of Columbia; four additional states have a temporary stoppage enacted by the governor.

for committing a crime. The word capital, meaning the top of something, refers to a person’s head; in the past, people were often executed by severing their head from their body. Today there are many different kinds of execution, including lethal injection, electrocution, gassing, hanging, shooting, beheading, and stoning.

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What Is Capital Punishment?