The ultimate punishment in the U.S. court of law would have to be the death penalty. However, the death penalty is slowly being abolished due to the fact that it is not a deterent to crime (murder). It is not a deterent to crime (murder) because 90% all off murders are committed out of rage. Therefore you have to ask the question, Is Capital Murder a deterent to rage? Most death row inmates are there because they committed murder in the heat of passion, anger, rage, etc. I agree that there are some organized murders that need to be on death row, but not to the capacity in which the system houses. Also, most death row inmates want to die. Wouldn't it be better for them to live their lives in prison having to think about their crimes daily? I know it is cheaper to live a life sentence than to live on death row considering the appeals process in which a death row inmate is allotted. In order to discuss the different ultimate punishments in other countries, I would have to know the other countries because there are just too many countries to begin discussing the punishments.