Capital punishment was previously of central significance in all European criminal justice systems. Although the history of capital punishment in Scotland has been little studied, it is clear that hanging was the standard method of executing on both sides of the border. Under English law, decapitation, hanging, drawing, and quartering, or (in the case of women) burning at the stake were reserved for traitors. Evidence from burial sites suggests that capital punishment was known in Anglo-Saxon England. Calculating levels of capital punishment for this and the medieval period is impossible, although it seems they were low. This changed drastically in the Tudor period. Through Elizabeth's reign many convicted criminals were executed, a trend which continued after 1603. The 18th cent. provides better documentation on ceremonies and crowd reactions at executions. It also experienced a lower level of executions than the early 17th, with many convicted persons being reprieved, notably before being transported to the American colonies. The early 19th cent. experienced a rapid transition in thinking on punishment. (Haines, Herbert H)
The penalty of death for a person convicted of a serious crime, such as intentional murder, is called capital punishment. Capital is derived from the Latin word capitalist , which means “of the head.” Throughout human history, beheading a person has been the most frequent form of killing someone as punishment for a serious crime. Current methods of carrying out capital punishment in the United States are electrocution, firing squad, hanging, poison gas, and lethal injection. The use of lethal injection has become the most common way of carrying out the death penalty in the United States; it is the method used in 17 states. Capital punishment has been practiced in the United States since the founding of the republic...........
