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.
As of the knowledge cutoff in 2023, New Hampshire has abolished the death penalty. The state repealed capital punishment in 2019, making it one of the states where the death penalty is not a legal form of punishment. Prior to its repeal, the death penalty in New Hampshire was governed by state statutes, which outlined the specific circumstances under which it could be applied, typically for the most serious offenses such as certain types of murder. However, since the repeal, no individual can be sentenced to death for any crime in New Hampshire. It's important to note that while state law no longer permits the death penalty, federal law still allows for capital punishment in certain federal cases, but these are independent of state laws and are tried in federal courts.