The history of Capitol Punishment in America

Ways and dates first used in Amercan History

-Execution by:

1608- Fireing Squad

1890- Electrocution

1924- Cyanide Gas

1982- Lethal injection

History of Reform

-In the colonies

Capitol Punishment in the United States came mostly from Britain influence as the very first settlers from Europe seeking the "New world" brought the tradition with them. By the time the 13 colonies of America had established themselves they had also established vastly different death penalty laws. For example some of the crimes considered worthy of capitol punishment in the laws of Virginia were as petty stealing fruit or Bartering with Indians. Under the Duke's laws of 1665, the colony New York considered physically hurting ones parent or denying God was punishable for death.  The first ever recorded execution in American history took place in  Jamestown, Virginia 1608.  Captain George Kendall was charged for espionage in the act of spying for Spain and was executed by fireing squad for his crimes. The first ever recorded execution of a Virginia woman, Jane Champion, in 1632 for crimes still unknown. Not all of the colonies were advocates of the death penalty however. Thanks to founder William Penn the colony of Pennsylvania had ideas of government that took root heavily in Quaker beliefs which favored a less violent way of life. In the 1700's the first ever attempt to reform capitol punishment to where the only crimes punishable by death would be murder or treason was presented in a bill written by our forefather Thomas Jefferson. The bill was unfortunately vetoed by only one vote. By 1794 Pennsylvania had made it to where murder was the only crime punishable by death and in 1834, after the writing of Declaration of Independence, it would all together stop public executions and be the first state to carry them out in correctional facilities.

-In the states

The reforms of Capitol punishment continued as Michigan would follow suit of that of Pennsylvania by setting treason as the only crime punishable by death. Rhode island and Wisconsin would be next to completely to abolish it. Many other states followed suit as their are 35 states to this date that have abolished it completely while 18 states have an enforceable death penalty still in place. In 1838 an enactment of discretion was introduced to death penalty process which was considered a great abolition victory. The abolition movement continued strong until the 1920's when criminology experts of the time stated that the death penalty was needed in order to keep balance of society. As this research gained momentum so greatly did the number of people being executed from the 1920's all the way through 1940's. There was an estimated 167 execution per year in that time period. This gave way in the 1960's as the death penalty was stated as "cruel and unusual" under the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment states that "nor shall any state deprive any person of a life, liberty or property without due process of law. 1972 brought about the Supreme Court suspending 40 state death penalty statutes in response to the result of the case Furman vs Georgia. In the 21st century we are still dealing with reforms of the death penalty