In the course of Western juridical history, the use of capital punishment has been a constant, at least until relatively recent times. This is even more evident when it comes to punishing attempts to subvert the institutional order, regardless of the legal and political qualification of State and community given by a certain historical period. In such circumstances, the political community does not seem able to renounce the instrument of the death penalty to guarantee its self-preservation. This article analyzes the nexus between subversion of the institutional order and death penalty, starting from four heterogeneous historical experiences of European history.