Capital Punishment and Religion Capital punishment is defined as the penalty of death for the commission of crime. The death sentence has been applied since ancient times as punishment for crimes ranging from petty theft to murder. In 1976, the United States began to create a two-jury procedure that would legally allow imposing the sentence of death. The states did so in response to the 1972 (Furman vs. Georgia) Supreme Court decision which ruled that death penalty statutes were too vague and thus unconstitutional and illegal. The two jury system reserved for capital punishment cases relies on jurors to decide on innocence or guil