executing n : putting a condemned person to death [syn: execution, capital punishment, death penalty]

Execute \Ex"e*cute\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Executed; p. pr. & vb. n. Executing.] [F. ex['e]cuter, L. executus, exsecutus, p. p. of exequi to follow to the end, pursue; ex out + sequi to follow. See Second, Sue to follow up, and cf. Exequy.]
1. To follow out or through to the end; to carry out into complete effect; to complete; to finish; to effect; to perform. Why delays His hand to execute what his decree Fixed on this day? --Milton.
2. To complete, as a legal instrument; to perform what is required to give validity to, as by signing and perhaps sealing and delivering; as, to execute a deed, lease, mortgage, will, etc.
3. To give effect to; to do what is provided or required by; to perform the requirements or stimulations of; as, to execute a decree, judgment, writ, or process.
4. To infect capital punishment on; to put to death in conformity to a legal sentence; as, to execute a traitor.
5. Too put to death illegally; to kill. [Obs.] --Shak.
6. (Mus.) To perform, as a piece of music, either on an instrument or with the voice; as, to execute a difficult part brilliantly. Syn: To accomplish; effect; fulfill; achieve; consummate; finish; complete. See Accomplish.

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Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the killing of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by the severing of the head.

Capital punishment has in the past been practiced in virtually every society, although currently only 58 nations actively practice it, with 95 countries abolishing it (the remainder having not used it for 10 years or allowing it only in exceptional circumstances such as wartime).

Today, most countries are considered by Amnesty International as abolitionist,

Execution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. In most places that practice capital punishment it is reserved for murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries sexual crimes, such as rape, adultery, incest and sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as apostasy in Islamic nations (the formal renunciation of the state religion). In many countries that use the death penalty, drug trafficking is also a capital offense. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world courts-martial have imposed death sentences for offenses such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny.

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