The death penalty has existed in the United States since its inception. Currently, the United States is the only English-speaking western nation to apply capital punishment with thirty-four out of fifty states utilizing this method of punishment to address crime. In fact, until the 20th century, death sentences were carried out in public, typically by hanging, to discourage others in the community from committing similar acts. Today, however, death sentences occur by electrocution, lethal injection, or exposure to poisonous gases and take place in private, most commonly in a correctional facility under the watchful eye of prison officials. The concept of the death penalty is to deter negative or undesirable behavior. According to this rationalization,