history
Capital punishment has existed since ancient times, both for punishing criminals and silencing political dissent. Literally meaning "of the head" in Latin, this alludes to the primitive method of beheading, which is still used in some Middle Eastern countries today (see "Conviction and Execution" on the home page). Back in the Roman empire, public executions were commonplace, and they involved quite brutal methods. Criminals were often crucified, burnt alive, sliced slowly, stoned, and ripped apart by animals. It was a tradition for people of illegal religious beliefs to be killed in places like the coliseum as part of public entertainment.
In the Middle Ages, the death penalty was an all too common practice. Execution techniques included beheading, burning, hanging, boiling, disembowelment, and a newer innovation called the breaking wheel, where a convicted person was strapped to a wooden wheel and beaten to death with clubs and other objects. In Asia, some people were crushed by elephants. Under the reign of Henry VIII, an estimated 72,000 people were executed. The first execution to take place in the American colonies happened in 1608, when Captain George Kendall was shot for allegedly spying for the Spanish government. Firing squads, which are still in effect today, became common with the development of the rifle. During the French revolution in the late 18th century, thousands of people of suspected aristocratic affiliation were sent to the guillotine, marking what historians have come to believe as the first modern genocide. In England during 1820, 160 offenses were considered capital crimes. The largest mass execution in US history occurred in 1862 when 38 Dakota indians were hung in Mankato, Minnesota, for murdering and raping settlers during the Dakota War.
During the 20th century, capital punishment became the mass extermination of ethnic and religious minorities, with the Turkish government executing hundreds of thousands of Armenians during World War I, and with Adolf Hitler attempting to eradicate the European Jews during the Holocaust. In the Soviet Union, one million people were executed under Joseph Stalin during the Great Terror of 1937 and 38. In 1994, The Hutu-controlled government of Rwanda orchestrated the mass killing of nearly one million members of the Tutsi minority. These are worldwide examples of how governments have abused capital punishment in order to eliminate political and cultural opposition.
abolition and media coverage
The United States began to use the gas chamber and the electric chair as an alternative to more painful execution techniques in the 1950s. After World War II, thankfully, there was a trend in abolishing the death penalty around the world, with the creation of the United Nations . However, abolition can be traced back much farther. In ancient Tang China, during 747 AD, capital punishment was abolished for a whole 12 years by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. In ancient Japan, Emperor Saga abolished the death penalty in 818 AD, which lasted for 338 years until 1156. The first modern abolition occurred in 1769 in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now common-day Italy. 200 years later, England finally abolished the death penalty in 1969. In 1977, The UN expressed in a formal resolution to "progressively restrict the number of offenses for which the death penalty might be imposed, with a view to the desirability of abolishing this punishment."
The first US state to abolish capital punishment for most offenses was Michigan in 1846. Between then and 2012, 17 states have successfully abolished the death penalty for all offenses (see Multimedia to watch a video that chronicles this). Nevertheless, the United States carried out 4,661 executions between 1930 and 2002, with two-thirds of them occurring in the last 20 years. However, capital punishment was suspended in the US between 1972 and 1976 due to the case of Furman vs. Georgia. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled the execution of convicts with mental retardation to be "cruel and unusual" in the case of Atkins vs. Virginia. Three years later, they finally prohibited the execution of minors under the age of 18 in Roper vs. Simmons.
The first US state to abolish capital punishment for most offenses was Michigan in 1846. Between then and 2012, 17 states have successfully abolished the death penalty for all offenses (see Multimedia to watch a video that chronicles this). Nevertheless, the United States carried out 4,661 executions between 1930 and 2002, with two-thirds of them occurring in the last 20 years. However, capital punishment was suspended in the US between 1972 and 1976 due to the case of Furman vs. Georgia. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled the execution of convicts with mental retardation to be "cruel and unusual" in the case of Atkins vs. Virginia. Three years later, they finally prohibited the execution of minors under the age of 18 in Roper vs. Simmons.
One of the most famous executions in modern US history is that of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Partly due to their communist affiliations, the Rosenbergs were the only American civilians to ever be executed on suspicion of espionage-related activities during the cold war. According to the sources, the couple had passed information to the Soviet Union regarding the development of the atomic bomb. Although a just amount of evidence was dug up to convict Julius, Ethel's involvement remains dubious to this day. The case garnered an enormous amount of media attention, which generated a largely polarized response in observers. Some believed them to be clearly guilty, while others strongly believed they were innocent. The couple maintained their innocence up until their execution on June 19, 1953, when they were sent to the electric chair. Click on Multimedia to see a newsreel depicting these circumstances.
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The possibility of wrongful conviction has resided in many executions throughout US history. A more recent example is that of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was tried and convicted of starting his house on fire and killing his three children on December 23, 1991. The fire detectives at the time of the primary investigation determined that the blaze had been caused by arson, and the authorities began to confront Willingham, whose personal history stood against him. Like the Rosenbergs, Willingham asserted his innocence, up until he was executed by the state of Texas on February 17, 2004, by lethal injection. After the execution it was made clear that the court didn't have sufficient evidence to make a sound conviction, and new investigations of the fire revealed that it could have easily been started by bad wiring. This less to mass media speculation and public outcry, as well as a strong movement to abolish the death penalty in the state of Texas. In 2010, a court order was written that posthumously exonerates Willingham, which can be viewed here.
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In many cases, media coverage has brought the gruesome reality of capital punishment right into our living rooms. In November of 1999, an Afghan woman by the name of Zarmeena was convicted by the Taliban of murdering her husband in cold blood with an ax while he was sleeping. She was then publicly executed inside the Ghazi stadium in Kabul. The execution was secretly filmed by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) with a hidden camera. The footage, which was deemed too shocking by many news corporations, was finally aired after 9/11 by almost every major television channel in the world. The video garnered much foreign antipathy against the Taliban and their procedures. The full video can be seen under Multimedia.
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In some countries, however, capital punishment isn't heavily covered by national or international media. China is a notable example of this, as was Iran, until it surfaced that they were continuing to execute children. Media coverage, furthermore, is a great way to make a lot of people mad -- a thing that many governments don't want. In the United States, the death penalty still exists, so not much is broadcast about lethal injections in, say, Japan or Yemen, as it would be in abolitionist countries like England or Russia. The political and cultural makeup of a region ultimately determines what appears on the 6:00 news.