|Part of a series on| Capital punishment or the death penalty is
a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as
a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be
punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual
process of killing the person is an execution. 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; currently 58 nations actively practise 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 Un