The death penalty—also known as capital punishment—refers to the process of state and federal courts sentencing persons convicted of the most serious criminal offenses (capital offenses or capital crimes) to death. The specific crimes and circumstances for which the death penalty is a potential punishment (usually murder) are defined by state and federal statutes enacted by state legislatures and the United States Congress, respectively.
These death penalty or capital punishment statutes are often located in the penal or criminal code, and often in the same statute that defines a criminal offense such as murder. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia do not have the death penalty as a potential punishment for any criminal offense.
In the state of Iowa, the death penalty is not a legal form of punishment. Iowa abolished capital punishment in 1965, and it has not been reinstated since. Therefore, no matter the severity of the crime, including those considered capital offenses or capital crimes in other states, such as murder, the state of Iowa does not sentence individuals to death. Instead, the most severe punishment available in Iowa is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This applies to all criminal offenses, and the statutes reflecting this can be found in the Iowa Code, which contains the state's penal or criminal laws.