The Long, Controversial History of Capital Punishment
The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, has a very long and controversial history in the United States and around the world. Executing criminals for certain crimes has been practiced for thousands of years, but views on its morality and effectiveness have evolved dramatically over time. Let’s take a look at how capital punishment has changed throughout history and where it stands today.
Ancient Laws and Executions
The earliest known death penalty laws date as far back as the 18th century BC in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon. The code laid out the death penalty for 25 different crimes, though murder was not one of them. In ancient Greece, the death penalty was used for a variety of offenses like murder, treason, and sacrilege. Methods of execution included crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement.
The Romans also used the death penalty frequently, including crucifixion, damnatio ad bestias (thrown to beasts), and the popular gladiator battles to the death. Hangings, beheadings, and firing squads were used in Britain over the centuries. Early executions were meant to be public spectacles to deter others from committing crimes.
Early Colonial America
Britain’s colonization of North America brought English use of the death penalty to the New World. The first recorded execution was in 1608 in the Jamestown colony of Virginia when Captain George Kendall was executed for treason.
In 1612, Virginia Governor Sir Thomas Dale enacted the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws, which even provided the death penalty for minor offenses like stealing grapes, killing chickens, and trading with Indians. Executions were meant to deter rebellion and maintain control in the early unstable colonies.
Methods of execution in colonial America included hanging, drowning, and burning at the stake. The Salem Witch Trials between 1692-1693 famously resulted in 19 executions by hanging. Enslaved blacks were especially vulnerable to execution in colonial America and had less legal protection.
Push for Abolition Grows
In the late 1700s, some American intellectuals began to be influenced by European theorists like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Bentham who questioned the death penalty. The 1767 essay On Crimes and Punishment by Cesare Beccaria had a strong impact, arguing there was no justification for the state taking a life.
In 1794, Pennsylvania became the first state to restrict the death penalty to first-degree murder. Public executions also began moving inside prisons for a more humane approach. By the 1830s, many states had either abolished or restricted capital punishment.
But most executions were still public in the South, meant to deter slave rebellions. The 1838 hanging of two abolitionists in Kentucky drew 20,000 spectators. Still, northern states continued reforming their laws due to changing attitudes. Michigan abolished the death penalty for all crimes but treason in 1846. By the late 1800s, executions had declined dramatically as many states restricted capital punishment or abolished it.
Resurgence and Racial Bias
But the death penalty began rising again in the early 1900s. There was an average of 167 executions per year in the 1930s. Part of this was due to the social instability of the Great Depression.
Over time, studies found alarming racial disparities in death penalty sentencing, especially in southern states. Black defendants were far more likely to receive death sentences, especially if the victim was white. Discriminatory jury selection also meant black jurors were excluded.
In Furman v. Georgia (1972), the Supreme Court found the death penalty was applied arbitrarily and in a discriminatory fashion, so it violated the 8th amendment ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” Many states re-wrote their death penalty laws to address these concerns after 1976.
However, studies continued to show racial bias in its application. A famous 1987 study of Georgia’s death penalty system found black defendants who killed whites were 4x more likely to receive a death sentence than whites who killed blacks. But the Supreme Court still upheld Georgia’s law in the McCleskey v. Kemp case that year.
Juvenile and Intellectually Disabled Defendants
The Supreme Court has issued several rulings limiting the use of capital punishment for juveniles and intellectually disabled defendants.
In Atkins v. Virginia (2002), the Court barred the execution of intellectually disabled defendants as cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th amendment. In Roper v. Simmons (2005), the Court similarly prohibited the death penalty for criminals who committed their crimes while under 18 years old.
And in Hall v. Florida (2014), the Court struck down Florida’s strict 70 IQ cutoff for intellectual disability, forcing states to consider other evidence of mental disability. These rulings highlighted evolving standards of decency.
Capital Punishment Today
Currently, 27 states and the federal government authorize the death penalty while 23 states have abolished it. Public support has declined substantially from a high of 80% in 1994. A 2021 Gallup poll showed only 54% of Americans supported capital punishment for murder.
There have been growing concerns about wrongful executions and the costs of the appeals process. Since 1973, 186 death row inmates have been exonerated, often thanks to new DNA evidence. Life without parole is now often used as an alternative punishment.
The number of executions and death sentences has declined considerably in recent decades. There were 17 executions and 18 death sentences handed down in the U.S. in 2021. Lethal injection has become the predominant method.
While the future of the death penalty in America is unclear, its controversial history will continue to shape any reforms ahead. There are good-faith arguments on both sides of the issue as the criminal justice system continues evolving. But the historical record shows capital punishment has often been applied unfairly, especially against racial minorities and vulnerable populations. Going forward, fairness and humane treatment of prisoners must be prioritized however the debate on this difficult issue proceeds.