Capital punishment, the death penalty, death sentence, or execution is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (referring to execution by beheading).

Capital punishment has in the past been practised by most societies (one notable exception being Kievan Rus); currently only 58 nations actively practice it, and 97 countries have abolished it (the remainder have not used it for 10 years or allow it only in exceptional circumstances such as wartime). It is a matter of active controversy in various countries and states, and positions can vary within a single political ideology or cultural region. In the European Union member states, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment.

Currently Amnesty International considers most countries abolitionist. The UN General Assembly has adopted, in 2007, 2008 and 2010, non-binding resolutions calling for a global moratorium on executions, with a view to eventual abolition. Although many nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where executions take place, as the People's Republic of China, India, the United States of America and Indonesia, the four most-populous countries in the world, continue to apply the death penalty (although in India, Indonesia and many US states it is only used rarely). Each of these four nations voted against the General Assembly resolutions.

Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was a Puerto-Rican American rapper who emerged from the underground rap scene in The Bronx in the late 1990s. He first appeared on albums from The Beatnuts, on the track "Off the Books" in 1997, and on Fat Joe's second album Jealous One's Envy in 1995, on the track "Watch Out", prior to signing to Loud Records as a solo artist. Pun's lyrics are notable for technical efficiency, having minimal pauses to take a breath, heavy use of alliteration as well as internal and multi-syllabic rhyming schemes. Big Pun died of a heart attack at age 28. About.com ranked him #25 on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of Our Time (1987 - 2007), while MTV2 ranked him #11 on its list of the "22 Greatest MCs."

Big Pun grew up in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood. At the age of 5 young Rios broke his leg while playing in a New York park, which would later lead to a large settlement from the city. By all accounts from Pun's family, his early years were very difficult, including witnessing his mother's drug abuse, his father's death, and a stepfather who was very hard on Pun. According to his grandmother, Pun would become angry and self-destructive, punching holes in the walls of his family's apartment. Rios dropped out of high school and for some time was homeless staying in abandoned buildings or at friends' homes.

Hamza Kashgari Mohamad Najeeb (often Hamza Kashgari, Arabic: حمزة كاشغري‎; born 1989) is a Saudi poet and a former columnist for the Saudi daily newspaper al-Bilad. In 2011, he was on a Mabahith watchlist of pro-democracy activists. He became the subject of a controversy after he was accused of insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in three short messages published through the Twitter social networking service. King Abdullah ordered that Kashgari be arrested "for crossing red lines and denigrating religious beliefs in God and His Prophet." [sic] Kashgari left Saudi Arabia, trying to seek political asylum in New Zealand. On February 12, 2012, he was deported from Kuala Lumpur back to Saudi Arabia and a Malaysian High Court injunction against his deportation was issued. Whether Kashgari was deported before or after the issuing of the injunction is disputed between Malaysian authorities and Lawyers for Liberty.

Hamza Kashgari worked as a columnist for the Saudi Arabian daily al-Bilad. On February 7, Al-Bilad issued statement saying that they had fired Kashgari five weeks earlier "because of the inadequacy of his general views for the approach of the newspaper."

Troy Anthony Davis (October 9, 1968 – September 21, 2011) was an American man convicted of and executed for the August 19, 1989, murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King restaurant when he intervened to defend a man being assaulted in a nearby parking lot. During Davis's 1991 trial, seven witnesses testified they had seen Davis shoot MacPhail, and two others testified Davis had confessed the murder to them among 34 witnesses who testified for the prosecution, and six others for the defense, including Davis. Although the murder weapon was not recovered, ballistic evidence presented at trial linked bullets recovered at or near the scene to those at another shooting in which Davis was also charged. He was convicted of murder and various lesser charges, including the earlier shooting, and was sentenced to death in August 1991.

Davis maintained his innocence up to his execution. In the 20 years between his conviction and execution, Davis and his defenders secured support from the public, celebrities, and human rights groups. Amnesty International and other groups such as National Association for the Advancement of Colored People took up Davis's cause. Prominent politicians and leaders, including former President Jimmy Carter, Rev. Al Sharpton, Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. Congressman from Georgia and presidential candidate Bob Barr, and former FBI Director and judge William S. Sessions called upon the courts to grant Davis a new trial or evidentiary hearing. In July 2007, September 2008, and October 2008, execution dates were scheduled, but each execution was stayed shortly before it was to take place.

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, actor and writer/author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.

Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.

The first of his fourteen stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. In 1988, the 1990s and 2000s, Carlin's routines focused on socio-cultural criticism of modern American society. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. His final HBO special, It's Bad for Ya, was filmed less than four months before his death.