Future Of Capital Punishment Essay

The History and Future of Capital Punishment To understand what the future holds for capital punishment, we need to know the history behind it. Capital punishment has been dated back to Eighteenth Century B.C. Babylon of which 25 crimes were punishable by death. In Seventh Century B.C., the Draconian Code of Athens made all crimes punishable by death only. By the Tenth Century A.D., hanging had become the usual form of punishment in Britain. This form of capital punishment lasted until the following century. At that time, William the Conqueror would not allow any person to be put to death for any crime. The only exception to this was at war time. When Henry VIII came to reign in the Sixteenth Century, executions were once again being used. People were executed for crimes such as treason or failing to confess to a crime. By the 1700 's, Britain had over 200 crimes which were punishable by death, including chopping down a tree just as an example. The practice of capital punishment was brought to America when Europeans came to settle. The first documented execution in the colonies was in …show more content…
1988 had a vote by five Justices that it was unconstitutional to execute a juvenile age fifteen or younger. The vote was in regards to case Thompson v. Oklahoma. With the Thompson decision, it only applied to states that had no specific age minimum for death. The following year, 1989, the Supreme Court found that the eight amendment does not prohibit a death sentence for crimes committed at age sixteen or seventeen. There are 19 states that have the death penalty that prohibit the execution for those under the age of eighteen at the time of the crime. In 2005, the Supreme Court declared executing those that committed crimes as juveniles is unconstitutional. To note, there were twenty-two individuals executed between 1985 and 2003 for crimes committed as