Death Penalty Timeline

  • The death penalty 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.
  • Why is it used

    Capital punishment is often defended on the grounds that society has a moral obligation to protect the safety and welfare of its citizens. Murderers threaten this safety and welfare. Only by putting murderers to death can society ensure that convicted killers do not kill again.
  • The First in America

    The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608.