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First Recorded Execution
The first documented execution took place in Jamestown, Virginia. Captain George Kendall was sentenced to death and hanged after being found guilty of the capital crime, treason. -
"Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall" Enacted
The death penalty may be used for offenses such as blaspheming God, stealing, lying, adultery, and trading with Indians by a governor in Virginia. -
First Woman Executed
In Jamestown, Virginia, a woman named Jane Champion was hanged for an unknown crime. The records did not list what capital crime was committed. -
Death Penalties in All 13 Colonies
By the start of the American Revolution, every colony had used the death penalty for capital crimes such as arson, piracy, treason, murder, robbery, rape, slave rebellion and burglary. -
PA Repeal on Death Penalty
Pennsylvania repeals the death penalty for all offenses that do not qualify as a 1st degree offense. -
PA Abolished Public Sentences
Pennsylvania becomes the 1st state to abolish public death sentences and hangings. It requires each county to do private sentences inside jails. -
MI Abolished Death Penalty Except For Treason
Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all offenses except for treason. In 1852-53, Wisconsin and Rhode Island abolished the death penalty for all crimes. -
First Execution By Electrocution
New York performs the first execution using electrocution, which was first demonstrated by Thomas Edison. -
First Execution By Gas Chamber
Carlson City, Nevada performs the first execution to be done in a gas chamber. Gee Jon was executed after being convicted of murdering another gang member and given the death penalty as his sentence. -
Final Public Execution
In Owensboro, Kentucky, Rainey Bethea became the final person to have a public execution in the United States. Bethea was convicted for the rape and murder of a 70-year-old victim. This was also the first hanging to be conducted by a woman. -
Furman v Georgia Decided
The Supreme Court rules that the death penalty violates the 8th and 14th Amendments. It temporarily suspended capital punishment because it was ruled as "cruel or unusual punishment". -
Gregg v Georgia
The Supreme Court overturns Furman v Georgia and reinstates capital punishments after a new death penalty statute is upholded. This statue is not considered to violate the 8th or the 14th Amendments and the states are allowed to resume sentences of capital punishments that fit the new statute. -
First Execution By Lethal Injection
First execution to be performed by lethal injection was in Oklahoma. It was devised by Dr. Stanley Deutsch. -
Coker v Georgia
The Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is an unjust sentence for rape when the victim is not killed. They ruled that it violated the 8th and 14th Amendments. -
First Lethal Execution for Murder
Texas becomes the first state to use a lethal injection for death penalty sentenced for murder. Charles Brooks is the first person to be executed lethally due to kidnap and murder. -
First Woman Executed By Lethal Injection
In North Carolina, Velma Barfield becomes the first woman to be executed after Gregg v Georgia and the first woman to receive a lethal injection. -
Ford v Wainwright
The Supreme Court rules that it is unconstitutional to execute a person that is insane or mentally ill in a 5-4 decision. -
Penry v Lynaugh
The Supreme Court overturns Ford v Wainwright and rules that executing a person that is insane or mentally ill is not unconstitutional and does not violate the 8th or 14th Amendments. -
First Legal Hanging Since 1965
Washington performs the first legal execution in the US on Westley Dodd, a serial killer and child molester. -
First American Exonerated From Death Row
An American named Kirk Bloodsworth was wrongly convicted for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Maryland. After serving 8 years and two years on death row, DNA tested that he was innocent and then released him from death row by granting a full pardon. -
Clinton Signs Crime Bill
The Federal Death Penalty is expanded to include 60 new federal crimes that would apply to the death penalty. These crimes include drug offenses that are newer crimes that were not as big of an issue in the past. -
98 People Executed
In 1999, 98 people were charged with the death penalty, the most since 1951 when 105 were executed. One-third of the people executed were in Texas. -
Final Execution By Gas Chamber
In Arizona, a German named Walter LaGrand was executed for the murder of a bank owner in an attempted robbery. LaGrand twice rejected the death sentence by lethal injection and chose the gas chamber as a protest. He is the last prisoner that has been executed by gas chamber in the US. -
Moratorium Declared on Death Penalty
Governor George Ryan of Illinois temporarily declares death sentences to be paused due to a large amount of wrongly convicted people who have been put on death row. After granting clemency to 167 people, his actions were seen as a big movement in abolishing the death penalty. -
First Federal Prisoner Executed in 38 Years
Timothy McVeigh is executed after bombing Oklahoma City and killing 168 people. -
Maryland Suspends Executions
A governor in Maryland suspends all executions until research is completed to see if there is any racial bias tied to capital punishment. -
Death Penalty Under 18 Is Unconstitutional
In the court case Roper v Simmons, the death penalty is ruled as cruel or unusual punishment if the person is a minor. -
TN Signs Capital Punishment Law
Bill Haslam, A governor in Tenessee signs a law that states that if a lethal injection is not available, the electric chair is allowed. -
NE Abolishes Death Penalty
Nebraska becomes the first conservative state to abolish the death penalty in over 40 years. -
FL Death Penalty Unconstitutional
The US Supreme Court rules Florida's death penalty unconstitutional because it gave too much of the decision-making to the judges and not enough power to the juries.
