Capital punishment and the death penalty mean the same thing.

The death penalty is also known as capital punishment and is probably one of the most emotive topics in any criminal justice system in the world today. Most countries in the world today have abolished the death penalty. There are a few countries such as the United States of America and Saudi Arabia, who still condone the practice of sentencing a criminal to death as punishment for a crime committed. In simple terms, it means to be put to death as punishment for crimes committed against society. Historically capital punishment was often carried out in public and was accompanied by torture.