Test One Chapters 1 3 The Death Penalty in Colonial Time First instance of DP was when Cpt George I Kendall was executed for being a spy DP was brought to the New World by Early European Settlers A Death Penalty Laws Crimes that called for DP changed amongst states the most extreme was the law of the Puritans in Massachusetts Bay colony 12 crimes Each of the Puritan crimes were accompanied by a bible quote as justification Quakers were far less punitive in South Jersey capital punishment was forbidden by prohibition William Penn Great Act of 1682 only allowed capital punishment for treason and murder in Pennsylvania exception of the Quakers Having 12 crimes seemed like a lot but in reality in England there were as much as 200 capital crimes The reason American colonies had so little crimes was the need for able bodied workers it made no sense to execute people when workers were scarce Britain might have had less capital crime if there were long term confinements Virginia had the death penalty for the most crimes than any other colony but they were more geared towards property crimes Most colonies were similar to the rulings of Massachusetts Bay Colony Executions has a religious component that would save a soul Executions were considered just retribution and deterrence to crime and a stark reminder of what state the power had to do The religious component led people to believe that capital punishment both hastened a criminals effort to repent and expiate the community s guilt so condemners were given a week or two before execution B Executions and Saving Souls Repentance and assuaging the guilt was more important than the retributive and Executions were delayed to publicize and allow spectators to attend Condemned prisoners would frequently repent and attend services to be pardoned Ceremonies were outside publicized and hours long Colonial persons believed that everyone was evil and that crime was a form of weak a deterrent effect from the execution will to fend off the devil an alien of society he idea of collective community guilt is no longer a common ideal The Death Penalty Imposed C Captain Kendall earliest record of DP in America took place in 1608 in Virginia was different than the rest he was shot instead of hanged and his crime was weird espionage Massachusetts Today criminals are considered to be lacking the virtue of law abiding citizens and In between Kendall and Billington four others were executed in Virginia Colony The first murderer executed John Billington was executed in 1630 in There have only been 569 women executions 3 the first being Hane Champion Of 162 executions 40 were for murder 25 witchcraft and 15 piracy most were 2 of people executed were juveniles it was mostly black on white crime First juvenile boy executed was 16 year old servant executed for committing The youngest execution was a 12 year old girl who committed murdered a 6 year old 24 witchcraft executions 36 females 8 males of executions increased but crime rates often went down Virtually all religious hanged 88 and 10 were shot a witch was pressed to death Since Kendall s execution 19 000 have been performed under civil authority by Watt Espy historian of capital punishment estimated that colonial times used death penalty sparingly compared to today in but in relations to the population size it was used more frequently in Virginia colony executed for killing and concealing the death of her bastard child bestiality Thomas Graungers crimes reduced D abolitionist Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons currently known as PA Prison Society he believed that the social contract was violated whenever they executed someone Franklin Thomas Jefferson with the exception of murder based on culpability pdf warranting capital punishment hiding of executions from the public II 4 in CT 3 MA 2 in NY 1 in CA PA CA Death Penalty Abolitionist Philadelphia home of the Quakers is considered the birthplace of the American DP Mainly reformed practice instead of ending capital punishment The Death Penalty in the 19th Century Between 1800 and 1865 the use of capital NY abolished DP except for murder and treason Abolitionist efforts created degrees of murder reduction in a number of offenses Pennsylvania was the first state in legal proceedings to consider degrees of murder The first abolitionist Dr Benjamin Rush founder of the Philadelphia Society for the Rush questioned the idea of deterrence and thought that it had a brutalizing effect Rush attracted the support of prominent Americans like William Bradford and Ben Connecticut was the first state to ban public executions Pennsylvania next Only a Hiding Executions From the Public Public executions loss the perception of being an educational event and gained the punishment increased 60 amongst states the 19th century was a turning period involving anti DP activity and the organization of abolitionist societies stigma of being tasteless and dangerous elites would avoid executions and view those who attended as less respected few authorized officials and relatives were allowed to attend many states eventually followed suit seen the last public execution was in Missouri in 1932 clemency process and A From Mandatory to Discretionary In 1837 Tennessee became the first state to enact discretionary murder policy Americans would still participate vicariously by attending capital trials working in the Media was banned and attendees were banned from talking about what they had Many southern states changed to discretionary to avoid jury nullification Illinois was Michigan had only committed 11 executions ever The first state to outlaw DP for all crimes was Rhode Island in 1852 then Jury nullification A jury s refusal to apply the law they were against DP States Abolish the Death Penalty In 1846 Michigan abolished the death penalty for all crimes except treason and the first northern state in 1862 and New York was the last in 1963 B replaced the penalty with life imprisonment First English speaking jurisdiction to abolish capital punishment Wisconsin IT took a while of other states to outlaw but most states had reduced capital crimes to murder and treason C State Prison authorization had shifted from local to state Montana and Delaware where they use federal and military Last person executed for rape was in 1825 Horace Carter in Massachusetts From Locally Authorized to State Authorized to State Authorized Execution On January 20 1862 Sandy Kavanagh was the first person
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