Capital Punishment is the execution of a person as a punishment for a crime. Throughout history, all societies have used this form of punishment to suppress crime and to prevent political uprisings. Death has been the top punishment for nearly all individuals in different cultures and societies throughout history. “The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon” (Randa, 1997). This written code, established 25 different crimes, if committed, would be punishable by death. Aside from this law code, “the death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B.C.'s Hittite Code; in the Seventh Century B.C.'s Draconian Code of Athens, which made death the only punishment for all crimes; and in the Fifth Century B.C.'s Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets” (Randa, 1997). Throughout these times, death sentences were “carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement” (Randa, 1997).
As with common laws, the American system of Capital Punishment is derived from Britain’s old system of Capital Punishment. This system began in the Tenth Century A.D., when hanging became the usual method of execution in Britain. A century later, these hangings were stopped for nearly a century when William the conqueror would “not allow persons to be hanged or otherwise executed for any crime, except in times of war” (Bohm, 1999). Although stopped for nearly a century, capital punishment soon returned and nearly 72,000 people were executed under the reign of Henry VIII. Crimes punishable by death also increased in the eighteenth century. Nearly 220 crimes were punishable by death in this era including stealing, cutting down a tree, and robbing a rabbit warren. “Because of the severity of the death penalty, many juries would not convict defendants if the offense was not serious. This lead to reforms of Britain’s death penalty” (Randa, 1997). These...