Recent History and Present Status of Capital Punishment in the United States
1926; Volume: 17; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1134506
ISSN2160-0023
Autores Tópico(s)Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
Resumopenalty. This restriction took place through a number of changes in the penal laws. One of the most significant of these changes was the gradual reduction in the number of crimes punishable by death.' In the early American colonies as many as twelve or more-and in the case of Pennsylvania, seventeen--offenses were subject to the death penalty. Even as late as 1892, under the United States federal laws, there were 25 offenses subject to the death penalty under the military code, 22 under the naval code, and 17 under the civil code; while in the same year there were ten capital crimes in one state (Georgia), seven in three others (Alabama, Louisiana and Maryland), and four more in ten others (Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia).2 Sometime before this, however, a reaction away from this drastic policy had set in, and it has ever since continued. Ohio had limited the death penalty to the crime of murder as early as 1788 ;3 Pennsylvania had taken the same step by 1794 ;4 and others one by one fell into line, until today, as will presently be shown, a convict is seldom executed save foi this offense.
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