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Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature. Hanging has been a common method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and is the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. The first known account of execution by hanging is in Homer's Odyssey. Hanging is also a method of suicide.
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 19 states currently have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other 7, as well as the federal government and military, being subject to different types of moratoriums.
The U.S. state of Washington enforced capital punishment until the state's capital punishment statute was declared null and void and abolished in practice by a state Supreme Court ruling on October 11, 2018. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional as applied due to racial bias however it did not render the wider institution of capital punishment unconstitutional and rather required the statute to be amended to eliminate racial biases. From 1904 to 2010, 78 people were executed by the state; the last was Cal Coburn Brown on September 10, 2010. In April 2023, Governor Jay Inslee signed SB5087 which formally abolished capital punishment in Washington State and removed provisions for capital punishment from state law.
The list of people executed by the U.S. state of Texas, with the exception of 1819–1849, is divided into periods of 10 years.
Capital punishment was abolished in 2019 in New Hampshire for persons convicted of capital murder. It remains a legal penalty for crimes committed prior to May 30, 2019.
Capital punishment – the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death for the most serious crimes and carrying out that sentence, as ordered by a legal system – first appeared in New Zealand in a codified form when New Zealand became a British colony in 1840. It was first carried out with a public hanging in Victoria Street, Auckland in 1842, while the last execution occurred in 1957 at Mount Eden Prison, also in Auckland. In total, 85 people have been lawfully executed in New Zealand.
Execution by shooting is a method of capital punishment in which a person is shot to death by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particular form.
Capital punishment in Australia has been abolished in all jurisdictions since 1985. Queensland abolished the death penalty in 1922. Tasmania did the same in 1968. The Commonwealth abolished the death penalty in 1973, with application also in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, and for all crimes in 1985. In 2010, the Commonwealth Parliament passed legislation prohibiting the re-establishment of capital punishment by any state or territory. Australian law prohibits the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime.
Rhode Island was one of the earliest states in the United States to abolish capital punishment, having abolished it for all crimes in 1852. The death penalty was reintroduced in 1872, but it was never carried out before being abolished again in 1984. Of all the states, Rhode Island has had the longest period with no executions, none having taken place since 1845.
Capital punishment was abolished in the U.S. State of West Virginia in 1965.
Capital punishment has been abolished in the U.S. state of Maine since 1887.
John Gordon was the last person executed by Rhode Island. His conviction and execution have been ascribed by researchers to anti-Roman Catholic and anti-Irish immigrant bias. As a result, he was posthumously pardoned in 2011.
Hanging has been practiced legally in the United States of America from before the nation's birth, up to 1972 when the United States Supreme Court found capital punishment to be in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Four years later, the Supreme Court overturned its previous ruling, and in 1976, capital punishment was again legalized in the United States. As of 2023, only New Hampshire has a law specifying hanging as an available secondary method of execution, and even then only for the one remaining capital punishment sentence in the state.
Capital punishment is abolished in the District of Columbia. However, a number of executions were carried out under the District's jurisdiction before abolition. These executions should be distinguished from cases such as the 1942 execution of the six Nazi saboteurs which took place in the District, but under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.
Capital punishment has been abolished in Iowa since 1965. Forty-five men were executed by hanging in Iowa between 1834 and 1963 for crimes including murder, rape, and robbery.
Capital punishment in Hawaii ended in 1957 when it was still an organized incorporated territory of the United States. About 75 people were executed by the government, all for the crime of murder, and all by hanging. Additionally during and after World War II, at least seven U.S. servicemen were executed by the United States Armed Forces by order of a general court martial.
Capital punishment has never been practiced Alaska throughout its history as a state, as it was abolished in 1957. Between December 28, 1869, and April 14, 1950, between the Department, District, and Territory of Alaska, twelve felons, all male, were executed by hanging for murder, robbery, and other crimes. Some were European, some were Native American, and two were African. The territorial legislature abolished capital punishment in 1957 during preparations for statehood, making Alaska the first in the West Coast of the United States to outlaw executions, along with Hawaii, which did the same.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Uganda. The death penalty was likely last carried out in 1999, although some sources say the last execution in Uganda took place in 2005. Regardless, Uganda is interchangeably considered a retentionist state with regard to capital punishment, due to absence of "an established practice or policy against carrying out executions," as well as a de facto abolitionist state due to the lack of any executions for over one decade.
References
- ↑ https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state/rhode-island Death Penalty Information Center
- ↑ "Index by State - RHODE ISLAND" . Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "List of Executions in Rhode Island, 1670 to 1845". Small State Big History. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- ↑ "Thomas Flounders". Espy Project Execution Records. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- 1 2 "Joshua Tefft". Espy Project Execution Records. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- 1 2 "Job". Espy Project Execution Records. Retrieved 5 March 2024.