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 Maryland, the death penalty has been abolished. Maryland repealed the death penalty in 2013, becoming the 18th state in the United States to do so. Prior to its repeal, the death penalty was reserved for the most serious offenses, typically involving murder under specific aggravating circumstances as defined by the state's statutes. Since the abolition, life imprisonment without the possibility of parole has become the most severe punishment for capital offenses in Maryland. It's important to note that while Maryland state law no longer allows for capital punishment, federal law still permits the death penalty, and thus theoretically, individuals in Maryland could be subject to the death penalty for federal crimes.