The History of the Death Penalty

By Jovana_Dedvukaj7
  • Period: 1700 BCE to

    The History of the Death Penalty

  • 1699 BCE

    Code of Hammurabi Codifies the Death Penalty for the First Time

    In this law, capital punishment was instituted for the first time in result of the ideal "an eye for an eye." This law included many cruel punishments, as well as the death penalty. Which can show us now how corrupt the practice is.

  • Pennsylvania Limits Crimes Punishable by Death to Treason and Murder

    The first time in American history where the Quaker belief of the death penalty was challenged. The state of Pennsylvania changed the charge of death penalty to jail time. This shows how the practice began to be viewed in a political sense because the conservative Quakers were being challenged.

  • Death Penalty Used in All 13 US Colonies at Outbreak of American Revolution

    All 13 colonies permitted the death penalty. Rhode Island was the colony with the lowest death penalties.

  • First Person Executed Under US Federal Death Penalty

    In the state of Massachusetts, Marshall Henry Dearborn was killed by the state. He was the first person to be killed by the government. It sent a precedent of what type of capital punishment was allowed.

  • Founding Fathers Allow for Death Penalty When Writing Constitution

    The founding fathers, while writing the constitution, didn't specify in the eighth amendment about the government not being able to kill it's citizens. This leaves the option open for state governments.

  • First National Death Penalty Abolition Society Is Formed

    The first group created against the governments ability to kill us. This shows the opposition that occurred more throughout American society. Showing the government that their people don't want them to have the chance to kill them.

  • Rhode Island Becomes the First State to Outlaw the Death Penalty for All Crimes (Including Treason)

    The first state to outlaw the death penalty. This shows how over the course of time, the people of America have been able to encourage their legislators to get rid of a law that they deemed unfit.

  • New York State Performs the First Execution by Electrocution with the Assistance of Thomas Edison's Engineers

    After electrocuting animals in a study, which led to their death, Thomas Edison and others deemed that electrocution could be used on humans as a painless way of death. It took two sessions of electricity to kill William Kemmler, taking over two minutes to burn Kemmler to death. With some refinements done, it soon became to most popular form of the death penalty.

  • 24 out of the 50 states Abolish the Death Penalty

    By 1957, 24 states have been deemed unconstitutional. the states include Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin. With Alaska being the last state to deem it unconstitutional.

  • Attorney General Merrick Garland Imposes Moratorium on Federal Death Penalty

    The Attorney General has put a federal pause on the death penalty. This means that anyone convicted on a state level for the death penalty won't die. But this means that they still can be on the state level.