The Death Penalty There have been many controversies in the history of the United States, ranging from abortion to gun control, but capital punishment has been one of the most widely contested issues in recent decades. Capital punishment is the legal infliction of the death penalty on persons convicted of a major crime. It isn’t meant to inflict pain or torture, but rather another form of punishment. It removes the punished criminals from society forever, instead of letting them sit in prison. The death penalty has been imposed through out history for a variety of crimes ranging from petty theft to murder. Many ancient societies accepted the idea of capital punishment