CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Every year there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed. The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment enforced in the United Sates today. Once a jury has convicted a criminal of an offense they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase. If the jury recommends the death penalty and the judge agrees, then the criminal will face some form of execution. The most common form used today is lethal injection. Capital punishment was