What is capital crime?

Answer 1

Any crime that can be punished by death. In the U.S., this is generally limited to murder and treason.

Historically, many crimes were punishable by death in the U.S., such as attempted murder, rape, armed robbery, and kidnapping, among others. The 8th Amendment prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment" but it doesn't say what that means - this was probably deliberate, so it could be interpreted in accordance with evolving societal standards. One of the factors that the Supreme Court uses to determine if a punishment is "cruel and unusual" is whether or not it fits the crime. For example, putting someone in prison for life because they wrote a bad check would be considered cruel and unusual punishment, but putting someone in prison for life for murder would not be.

Because the death penalty is generally considered to be the ultimate punishment, the Supreme Court has continually limited its applicability. For example, in the 1960s, they held that the death penalty could not be imposed for the rape of an adult woman, if it did not result in her death. In that case, it left open the question of whether or not the death penalty could be used to punish a child rapist.

Recently (2008), the Supreme Court, in Kennedy v. Louisiana, answered its own question, and held that the death penalty cannot be imposed for the rape of a child that did not result in the victim's death, and implied that all crimes against individuals (as opposed to crimes against the state, leaving the death penalty available for treason), which do not result in the victim's death, cannot be punished by the death penalty. This effectively limits the death penalty to murder and treason.

Nobody has been executed in the U.S. for a crime other than murder since 1964, when Alabama executed a man for armed robbery. However, there is one person on death row for a crime other than murder: a man in Georgia was convicted in 1993 of kidnapping with bodily injury, which is punishable by death in that state. Whether his sentence will actually be carried out is not clear, but at this point, it is likely that the Supreme Court would find the death penalty unconstitutional as applied to him, as well, if he chooses to appeal to that court.

when you murder someone.