Future Of Capital Punishment Essay

The History and Future of Capital Punishment To understand what the future holds for capital punishment, we need to know the history behind it. Capital punishment has been dated back to Eighteenth Century B.C. Babylon of which 25 crimes were punishable by death. In Seventh Century B.C., the Draconian Code of Athens made all crimes punishable by death only. By the Tenth Century A.D., hanging had become the usual form of punishment in Britain. This form of capital punishment lasted until the following century. At that time, William the Conqueror would not allow any person to be put to death for any crime. The only exception to this was at war time. When Henry VIII came to reign in the Sixteenth Century, executions were once again being used. People were executed for crimes such as treason or failing to confess to a crime. By the 1700 's, Britain had over 200 crimes which were punishable by death, including chopping down a tree just as an example. The practice of capital punishment was brought to America when Europeans came to settle. The first documented execution in the colonies was in 1608. The execution of Captain George Kendall took place in Jamestown colony of Virginia for being a spy for Spain. The Massachusetts Bay colony held their first execution in 1630. Each colony had their set of rules regarding the death penalty. By the early Nineteenth Century, there was a heavy movement to abolish capital punishment mainly in the northeast. Thomas Jefferson was the first to attempt reforms in Virginia to have only the crimes of murder and treason be eligible for the death penalty. The proposed reform was defeated by one vote. It was during this time that there were several states that changed what crimes fit under their capital crimes criteria. It was also around this time when penitentiaries were being built. Pennsylvania was the first state, in 1834 that held executions inside correctional facilities and were not made available to the public. With the abolitionist movement still going strong, Michigan, in 1846, was the first state to abolish the death penalty with only having treason as a crime to warrant death. Rhode Island and Wisconsin followed with the death penalty being abolished for all crimes. In light of the movement, most states kept capital punishment. There was a reform in 1838 in which to make the death penalty a more acceptable sentence to the public. Some states passed laws that removed the mandatory death sentence to a use with discretion. Tennessee was the first state to enact these new laws. To those who were against the death penalty, this was seen as a victory. Between 1907 and 1917, there were nine states that either abolished the death penalty altogether or had limited use. However, by 1920, five of those states reinstated the death penalty. Even with the movement, not all states had abolished the mandatory death sentence laws. The end of these laws would not happen until 1963. After the death penalty reforms in the mid-1800 's, there were those looking to introduce new forms of execution. The electric chair was introduced in New York in 1888. The first execution by this method took place two years later. Other states began to use this method of execution. Nevada wanted a more humane way of execution and in 1924, they brought about the use of cyanide gas. The gas chamber was created because of an unsuccessful attempt to gas the first person to be …show more content…
1988 had a vote by five Justices that it was unconstitutional to execute a juvenile age fifteen or younger. The vote was in regards to case Thompson v. Oklahoma. With the Thompson decision, it only applied to states that had no specific age minimum for death. The following year, 1989, the Supreme Court found that the eight amendment does not prohibit a death sentence for crimes committed at age sixteen or seventeen. There are 19 states that have the death penalty that prohibit the execution for those under the age of eighteen at the time of the crime. In 2005, the Supreme Court declared executing those that committed crimes as juveniles is unconstitutional. To note, there were twenty-two individuals executed between 1985 and 2003 for crimes committed as