The History and Future of the Death Penalty

"If we execute murders and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murders. If we fail to execute murders, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call." - John McAdams, Marquette University/Department of Political Science, on deterrence.

The death penalty is a topic that has been a major issue of debate within the criminal justice system for hundreds of years. Is it ethical? Is it cruel and unusual punishment? Would the world be a better place if we did enforce the death penalty more often than we do or would it even make a difference in the amount of crime committed? Those are all questions that may never really be answered. Everyone has their opinion but since the early Eighteenth Century B.C., criminals have, at times, paid for their crimes and/or sins with the ultimate punishment: death.

History

The first death penalty laws were established in the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon. The methods of execution were much more extreme than they are today, including crucifixion, drowning, beating, burning and impalement. It wasn't until the Tenth Century A.D., in Britain, that hanging became the usual method of execution. However, under the reign of William the Conqueror, the death penalty was not enforced. It wasn't until the Sixteenth Century and the reign of Henry VIII that we saw the death penalty strictly enforced with an estimated 72,000 executions for crimes such as marrying a Jew, treason or not confessing to a crime. This reign saw the introduction of boiling, beheading and drawling and quartering as methods of execution.