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The Beginning of Capital Punishment in America
When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Kendall was executed for being a spy for Spain. In 1612, Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale enacted the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws, which provided the death penalty for even minor offenses such as stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians. -
On Crimes and Punishment published
Cesare Beccaria’s essay, On Crimes and Punishment, theorizes that there is no justification for the state to take a life. This was a landmark piece of literature of Anti-death penalty groups. -
States build penitentiaries
Many states reduce their number of capital crimes and build state penitentiaries. This was a huge turn to the rehabilitation versus the death of criminals. -
Pennsylvania stops public executions
Pennsylvania became the first state in the U.S. to outlaw public executions and move the gallows to county prisons -
Michigan abolished capital punishment
In 1846, Michigan was the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason. Michigan is one of the few U.S. states never to have executed anyone following admission into the Union -
Nine states abolish the death penalty.
1907-1917 Nine states abolish the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit it. By 1920, five of those states had reinstated it -
Trop v. Dulles
1958 - Trop v. Dulles. Eighth Amendment’s meaning contained an “evolving standard of decency that marked the progress of a maturing society.” -
Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court struck down all death penalty schemes in the United States in a 5–4 decision, with each member of the majority writing a separate opinion. Supreme Court effectively voids 40 death penalty statutes and suspends the death penalty. -
Citations
Early History of the Death Penalty. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/history-of-the-death-penalty/early-history-of-the-death-penaltyFurman v. Georgia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/69-5030State by State. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state -
Prediction
Although not a pressing topic, I predict that the death penalty will be outlawed in all states or only be used as a penalty for very heinous acts, like large acts of terrorism or mass killings. -
Analysis
The biggest change with the political issue of capital punishment is what crimes one would have to commit to be put on death row. In early America it could be something from striking one’s mother or father, or denying the “true God,” that was punishable by death. Whereas now it could only be imposed for treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking. The main reason for this change is attributed to the rise in humanitarian laws in the US, and around the world.
