Death Penalty :: essays research papers

The first established death penalty laws date as furthest back as the Eighteenth blow B.C. in the economy of world-beater Hammaurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for twenty-five different crimes. The death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B.C.s Hittite Code in the Seventh Century B.C.s Draconian Code of Athens, which do death the only punishment for all crimes and in the Fifth Century B.C.s Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets. Death sentences were carried out by such(prenominal) means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. In the one-tenth Century A.D., hanging became the usual method of effect in Britain. In the following century, William the Conqueror would non allow persons to be hanged or separate than punish for any crime, except in times of war. This trend would not last, for in the Sixteenth Century, under the reign of Henry VIII, as numerous as 72,000 people are estimated to have been executed. Some c ommon methods of proceeding at that time were boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading, and drawing and quartering. Executions were carried out for such capital offenses as marrying a Jew, not confessing to a crime, and treason (Bedau 3).The subjugate of capital crimes in Britain continued to rise throughout the next dickens centuries. By the 1700s, 222 crimes were punishable by death in Britain, including theft, cutting master a tree, and robbing a rabbit warren. Because of the severity of the death penalty, many juries would not convict defendants if the offense were not serious. This lead to reforms of Britains death penalty. From 1823 to 1837, the death penalty was eliminated for over 100 of the 222 crimes punishable by death (Bender and Leone 16).Britain influenced the Statess use of the death penalty more than any other country. When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the new c olonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Kendall was executed for being a spy for Spain. In 1612, Virginia Governor, Sir Thomas Dale, enacted the Divine, Moral and soldierly Laws, which provided the death penalty for even minor offenses such as stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians. Laws regarding the death penalty varied from colony to colony. The mammy Bay Colony held its first execution in 1630, even though the Capital Laws of New England did not go into effect until years later.