Capital Offence Definition:

A criminal offence for which the punishment, or one of the punishments, is death, capital punishment.

Related Terms: Capital Punishment, Death Penalty

A criminal offence, for which one of the options at sentence is the imposition of capital punishment, the death penalty.

Also sometimes referred to as:

  • Capital crime,
  • Capital case, or
  • Capital felony.

As most legal systems, such as the common law and the civil law systems, evolve, less and less crimes are capital offences and in many countries, none are as the death penalty has been abolished.

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