Capital Punishment

By victorialmurray

  • First Recorded Execution in the Colonies

    First Recorded Execution in the Colonies
    The murder of Captain George Kendall was the first recorded execution in the colonies. He was killed by firing squad after arriving to Jamestown and the reason is not quite known. Kendall and another captain that was among the English settlers were known to not get along well and historians believe that has something to do with it. The murdering of people though for crimes has been going on since the beginning of time though.

  • First state to abolish the death penalty.

    First state to abolish the death penalty.
    Michigan became the first state in the United States to abolish the death penalty. They did keep it around for treason, but for all other crimes they outlawed it. Michigan was the first state to take a stand whereas Pennsylvania became the first state to move executions out of the public eye. More and more states though were moving towards reforming how they carried out capital punishment.

  • Introduction of the Electric Chair

    Introduction of the Electric Chair
    William Kemmler was the first person legally killed by an electric chair. He was tired and convicted of murdering his wife and was then put on death row. So in New York on August 6th, 1890 William Kemmler became the first person killed legally by the electric chair.

  • Furman v. Georgia

    Furman v. Georgia
    This case was really important to capital punishment because Furman took his case to the Supreme Court and claimed that the death sentence violated the 8th amendment. He claimed that capital punishment was a form of cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional and temporally banned the death penalty.

  • Gregg v. Georgia

    Gregg v. Georgia
    The Death Penalty was reinstated in 1976 with the Gregg vs. Georgia case.

  • Thompson vs. Oklahoma

    Thompson vs. Oklahoma
    Thompson was apart of a cruel murder at the age of 15. He was tried at court and was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Then the case made its way to the Supreme Court and the justices concluded: "that the "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibition of the Eighth Amendment, made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibits the execution of a person who was under 16 years of age at the time of his or her offense."

  • Citations

  • Prediction

    I think the country is turning away from Capital Punishment just based of all the court cases I read about it. Americans are believing more that killing someone for the crimes they committed is inhumane. So based on the way society feels about this subject I believe we will eventually move away from the death penalty.

  • Analysis

    Overtime, humans have stopped seeing death as a reasonable punishment for crimes committed. Why is a hard question. In the beginning I believe its what society was used to, if you committed a serious crime death was the outcome of your trial. Now people have started seeing this as a cruel punishment and I think with each generation more people are either against capital punishment or they are undecided. Compromises on this issue don't quite exist, its really based on states and their beliefs.