{"id":352276,"date":"2023-12-11T19:59:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T00:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/criminal\/criminal-procedure\/history-of-death-penalty-laws.html"},"modified":"2023-12-11T19:59:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T00:59:05","slug":"history-of-death-penalty-laws","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/criminal\/criminal-procedure\/history-of-death-penalty-laws.html","title":{"rendered":"History of Death Penalty Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n \n
\n

History of Death Penalty Laws<\/h1>\n
\n
\n By John Mascolo, Esq.<\/a> | Legally reviewed by Melissa Bender, Esq.<\/a>\n | Last updated\n
\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Fact-Checked\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n

\n
\n
\n

Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n

Today, the death penalty, or capital punishment, takes place in just a handful of countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, and Egypt. Within the U.S., some states have banned or limited its use. The U.S. Supreme Court has also stepped in, prohibiting the death penalty in certain circumstances and upon certain individuals. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The use of the death penalty remains controversial, particularly within the context of access to quality defense counsel.<\/p>\r\n

The history of death penalty<\/a> laws is long, stretching back several thousand years. The following is a brief history of death penalty laws, from ancient Babylon through the 21st century.<\/p>\r\n

From the Code of Hammurabi to Roman Law<\/h2>\r\n

Some believe that the earliest history of death penalty laws dates back to the 18th century B.C. The penalty of death appears in the Code of King Hammurabi<\/a> of Babylon, which is now Iraq. The Hammurabi Code, which was engraved on stone tablets for members of the public to see, prescribed the death penalty for over 20 different offenses.<\/p>\r\n

Depending on your social status, you could be executed for theft, perjury, and other crimes that today are punished much more lightly in most countries. The Code includes many examples of retaliatory justice similar to the Book of Exodus’ statement of taking an "eye for an eye" in situations of serious injury.<\/p>\r\n

The death penalty was also part of the Hittite Code<\/a> in the 14th century B.C., but only somewhat. The Hittite Empire spanned much of modern-day Turkey. The most serious offenses typically were punished through enslavement, although crimes of a sexual nature often were punishable by death.<\/p>\r\n

The Draconian Code of Athens<\/a>, in the 7th century B.C., made death the lone punishment for all crimes, hence the use of the term "draconian" to describe particularly harsh penalties. It may have been a myth, but legend has it that the Draconian Code was written in blood instead of ink.<\/p>\r\n

In the 5th century B.C., the Roman Law of the Twelve Tables<\/a> also contained the death penalty. Death sentences were carried out by such means as beheading, boiling in oil, burying alive, burning, crucifixion, disembowelment, drowning, hanging, impalement, stoning, strangling, being thrown to wild animals, and quartering (being torn apart).<\/p>\r\n

Death Penalty Laws in Great Britain<\/h2>\r\n

In Britain, hanging became the most common form of execution in the 10th century A.D. In the 11th century, William the Conqueror<\/a> banned hanging and execution during peacetime, but hanging and other methods of the death penalty returned years later.<\/p>\r\n

Some 72,000 people were executed during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century. Capital offenses included violent and non-violent crimes, such as not confessing to a crime. In addition to hanging, the judge could sentence an offender to death by boiling, burning at the stake, beheading, and drawing and quartering.<\/p>\r\n

During the 1700s, over 200 crimes<\/a> were punishable by death in Britain. Capital offenses included theft, cutting down a tree, and poaching. However, due to the severity of the death penalty, many juries looked for ways to reduce the charges at trial. By 1861, the death penalty was only available for murder, treason, piracy, and arson in the Royal Dockyards.<\/p>\r\n

History of Death Penalty Laws: Early United States<\/h2>\r\n

The history of death penalty laws in the United States<\/a> begins during colonial times. Criminal punishments among the colonies varied quite a bit. The first known execution in the New World was in the Jamestown colony (present-day Virginia) in the early 17th century. Offenses such as striking one’s mother or father were punishable by death in some colonies. Along with murder, sex outside of marriage, witchcraft, and other religious offenses may also bring a death sentence.<\/p>\r\n

Pennsylvania ended the death penalty for all offenses but first-degree murder in 1794. Michigan abolished capital punishment for all crimes but treason in 1846. Most states maintained the death penalty until public support began to decline in the 1950s and 1960s.<\/p>\r\n

History of Death Penalty Laws: Modern United States<\/h2>\r\n

In Furman v. Georgia<\/i> (1972), the U.S. Supreme Court banned the death penalty nationwide<\/a>, ruling that its application in the cases before it was arbitrary and discriminatory. It found that, as constituted, the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment<\/a> ban on cruel and unusual punishment.<\/p>\r\n

The court’s decision by a 5-4 plurality vote did not have a majority opinion. Just four years later, the Court re-considered the death penalty after several states had passed new statutory schemes for its imposition. In 1976, it approved certain revised statutes<\/a> in a 7-2 vote.<\/p>\r\n

Death penalty statutes that do not violate the Eighth Amendment contain protections against arbitrary rulings. Like Georgia, they feature a bifurcated procedure:<\/p>\r\n