Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime, usually following an authorised, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row". Etymologically, the term capital refers to execution by beheading, but executions are carried out by many methods, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, electrocution, and gassing.

मृत्युदंड हा एखाद्या व्यक्तीला गुन्हा सिद्ध झाल्यानंतर न्यायसंस्थेकडून सुनवला जाणारा सर्वात कठोर शिक्षेचा प्रकार आहे. ऐतिहासिक काळांपासून जवळजवळ सर्व समाज व्यवस्थांमध्ये विविध प्रकारे मृत्युदंडाची शिक्षा सुनावली गेली आहे. मृत्युदंडाची अंमलबजावणी करण्याचे अनेक मार्ग आहेत. २०१० साली फाशी, शिरच्छेद, विद्युत खुर्ची, गोळीबार, विषारी वायू व प्राणघातक इंजेक्शन हे मृत्युदंडाचे प्रकार वापरात होते.