Capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. 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...

is no longer applied in San Marino

San Marino

San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino , is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino...

. The last execution was carried out in 1468, by hanging

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

. San Marino is one of only two countries in the world to have carried out no executions since before 1800 - the other being Liechtenstein

Capital punishment in Liechtenstein

Capital punishment has been completely abolished in Liechtenstein. The last execution occurred in the year 1785. For treason, the death penalty was abolished in 1989, while the penalty was abolished in 1987 for murder.-References:...

, where the last execution took place in 1785.

San Marino was the first country in the world to abolish the death penalty for ordinary crimes, in 1848; in 1865, it became the second country in the world (and the first in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

) to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, following Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 in 1863. It is one of only three countries to have abolished the death penalty for all crimes before 1900 - the other two being Costa Rica and Venezuela

Capital punishment in Venezuela

Capital punishment is not applied in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Venezuela was the first country in the world to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, doing so by Constitution in 1863...

.

In 1989, it formally ratified Protocol 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights

European Convention on Human Rights

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...

, which requires the complete abolition of the death penalty in peacetime.