History of the Death Penalty -- The Ancient Laws of China established the death penalty. In the 18th Century BC, the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon allowed the death penalty for 25 crimes, but murder was not included. The first recorded death sentence was in 16th Century BC Egypt. A member of nobility, was accused of magic, and ordered to take his own life. Non nobility were usually killed with an ax. Legal executions came to America in 1776 when British soldiers hung Nathan Hale for spying during the Revolutionary War.
"The first person to die in the electric chair was William Kemmler, an ax murderer from New York on August 6, 1890." Amazing Facts
All judicial executions in the UK in the last century and details of thousands of other executions going back hundreds of years. The site is useful for geneologists, historians and true crime fans as well as the plain curious.
In 1972, the US Supreme Court ruled state executions unconstitutional. Legislators lifted the moratorium on capital punishment in 1976. US has the distinction of joining China, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia as nations that execute their citizens. During the 1988 Presidential race, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis dropped in the polls after opposing the execution of first degree murderer. Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo's 1994 reelection loss could be attributed to his vetoes of death penalty bills. Executions increased last decade. Nationwide the number of Americans who favor the death penalty is declining. Twelve states and the District of Columbia prohibit the death sentence: Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Hawaii, Alaska, Iowa, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Death Penalty Reliability
As of March 2005, 119 innocent people have been released from death rows across the country since 1973 (Northwestern University, DP Information Center). Researchers Radelet and Bedau found 23 cases where innocent people were executed since 1900 (In Spite of Innocence, Northeastern University Press, 1992). Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, Inc.
Carried Out Disportionately
Thurgood Marshall said it was racist, unfair to poor and the mentally retarded, and often ends in the state sanctioned murder of innocents.
Less than 1% of all murderers are condemned to death
2% of death row inmates are actually executed
Over 113 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973
68% of the death penalty convictions between 1973 - 1995 were reversed
Today more than 75 death row inmates have spent 20 years on the Row.
Capital punishment is applied to a higher percentage of minorities than whites.
It is not cost effective:
Capital murder trials threaten to bankrupt townships costing taxpayers:
$2 million in legal fees to try a death penalty case, nearly 4 times higher than comparable murder trials.
The automatic appeal process costs up to $700,000 in legal fees.
$1.2 million in execution costs.
1973 -1998, Florida spent $57 million on 18 executions.
It is does not deter crime:
The two states with the most executions in 2003, Texas 24, and Oklahoma 14, saw increases in their murder rates from 2002 to 2003. Both states had murder rates above the national average in 2003: Texas - 6.4, and Oklahoma - 5.9. The top 13 states in terms of murder rates were all death penalty states. The murder rate of the death penalty states increased from 2002, while the rate in non-death penalty states decreased.Death Penalty Information Center
The Death Penalty has been abolished in all other Western Countries and civilized societies, except the US:
The European Union (EU) is opposed to the death penalty in all cases and is "deeply concerned about the increasing number of executions in the United States of America (USA), all the more since the great majority of executions since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 have been carried out in the 1990s. Furthermore, in the US, young offenders who are under 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime may be sentenced to death and executed, in clear infringement of internationally recognized human rights norms." Even Russia and Turkey have abolished the death penalty which is condemned by the European Union and the World Court, which claimed that the U.S. violated the rights of 51 Mexicans on death rows in eight states.
http://karisable.com/crpundeath.htm
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As you may know, I live in Texas...We have the highest rate of
Executions and prisoners sent to Death Row in the U. S.
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I am undecided as yet if I am for or agaist the Death Penalty
in the childs Case. The loss of a child is a horrible tragedy.
