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Early 1900s - Beginning of the “Progressive Period” of reform in the United States. 1907-1917 - Nine states abolish the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit it. 1920s - 1940s - American abolition movement loses support. 1924 - The use of cyanide gas introduced as an execution method.
The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes.
The death penalty has existed in the United States since colonial times. Its history is intertwined with slavery, segregation, and social reform movements. There are excellent sources available for those interested in the history of capital punishment.
Law makers in the U.S. began to review and revise policies behind the death penalty around the time of the American Revolution. In 1791, the Constitution was amended for the eighth time, to prohibit any form of punishment considered “cruel and unusual.”
Death was formerly the penalty for a large number of offenses in England during the 17th and 18th centuries, but it was never applied as widely as the law provided.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the federal government had 51 prisoners with death sentences in December 2020, executing 16 prisoners from 1977 to 2021: two in 2001, one in 2003, 10 in 2020, and three in 2021. In contrast, states had 2,418 prisoners on death row at the end of 2020.
About 450 BC, the death penalty was often enforced by throwing the condemned into a quagmire. By the 10th Century, hanging from gallows was the most frequent execution method. William the...
As of 2024, 24 U.S. states have the death penalty; three have the death penalty but have imposed moratoriums, halting executions; and 23 states and Washington, D.C., have abolished the death penalty.
1700s BC - Code of Hammurabi Codifies the Death Penalty for the First Time "The Code of Hammurabi, a legal document from ancient Babylonia (in modern-day Iraq), contained the first known death penalty laws. Under the code, written in the 1700s B.C., twenty-five crimes were punishable by death.
The Trump administration has promised to bring back the federal death penalty, pledging to execute five prisoners on death row. Federal executions have been very rare in modern history.