How to Use the death penalty in a Sentence

the death penalty

noun
Definition of the death penaltynext
  • The use of the death penalty in the United States has been on the decline for a decade.
    — Kim Bellware, Washington Post, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Jennifer Faith took a plea deal to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison.
    — Allie Weintraub, ABC News, 28 Sep. 2023
  • That's due to common-sense gun laws, not the abolishment of the death penalty.
    — Annabelle Timsit, Washington Post, 18 Aug. 2023
  • West Virginia is one of 23 states that has abolished the death penalty.
    — Jack Birle, Washington Examiner, 9 Jan. 2024
  • In the 1990s, prosecutors sought the death penalty in his case.
    — Javier C. Hernández, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2023
  • The Daybells could face life in prison or, in the case of Chad Daybell, the death penalty, if convicted.
    — Terry Collins, USA TODAY, 3 Apr. 2023
  • The jury voted 8-4 to recommend the death penalty to a judge.
    — Jim Saunders, Sun Sentinel, 7 Apr. 2023
  • Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, has pushed for the death penalty for Kohberger if he is found guilty.
    — Jack Birle, Washington Examiner, 28 Feb. 2023
  • He had been expected to receive at least 30 years but avoid the death penalty.
    — Anumita Kaur, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2023
  • Instead, only eight out of 12 jurors would need to vote to impose the death penalty.
    — Aaron Navarro, CBS News, 7 Mar. 2023
  • In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals abolished the death penalty, and there is currently no one on death row in the state prison system.
    — Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2023
  • There is no question that what the defendant did deserves the death penalty.
    — Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2023
  • In debates about the death penalty, one figure looms large: Richard Glossip.
    — Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Jan. 2024
  • Nelson said her office intends to seek the death penalty.
    — Phil Helsel, NBC News, 18 Aug. 2023
  • Michigan does not have the death penalty, so the sentence imposed by Judge Kwamé Rowe was the harshest available.
    — Anna Betts, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2023
  • As part of their plea deals, the state of Ohio agreed to drop the death penalty as punishment for them, along with Billy and George Wagner.
    — The Enquirer, 15 Apr. 2024
  • Demons, who faced the death penalty if convicted, pleaded not guilty.
    — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 22 July 2023
  • Smith faces the death penalty for helping to kill Elizabeth Sennett in March 1988.
    — Kim Bellware, Washington Post, 27 Sep. 2023
  • What the plaintiffs’ counsel are asking for here is the civil equivalent of the death penalty.
    — Tom Jackman, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2023
  • Over the years, voters have decided to keep the death penalty when asked via ballot measures.
    — Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
  • Crusius is still set to be tried in a state case against him, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
    — Ashley Killough, CNN, 25 Sep. 2023
  • In March, before the trial began, a judge granted the defense's motion to dismiss the death penalty in her case.
    — Morgan Winsor, ABC News, 31 July 2023
  • Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if a jury convicts him, though a trial date has yet to be set.
    — Angela Palermo, Idaho Statesman, 22 Apr. 2024
  • View in new tab Are Preston Lord's attackers facing the death penalty?
    — Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 10 Mar. 2024
  • Opinion:Why did Alex Murdaugh escape the death penalty?
    — Camille Fine, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2023
  • Garcetti says prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty in the murder case.
    — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
  • Crusius pleaded guilty to dozens of federal charges in the shooting and also faces state charges that could carry the death penalty.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 28 Mar. 2023
  • Hers is a violent crime that shocks the state of Indiana, and there are no protests in the region when she is handed the death penalty — a tenth-grader sent to death row.
    — Alex Mar, Rolling Stone, 25 Mar. 2023
  • All the defendants were convicted, and more than a dozen were sentenced to death by hanging even though Ferencz hadn’t asked for the death penalty.
    — Mike Schneider, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2023
  • The prosecution did not seek the death penalty, even though South Carolina is a death penalty state.
    — Stacey Grant, Seventeen, 3 Mar. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the death penalty.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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