Capital Punishment In Rhode Island
Rhode Island is one of the earliest states of the United States to abolish capital punishment, having completely abolished it for all crimes in 1852. The death penalty was later reintroduced in 1872, but it never was carried out before being abolished again in 1984. It is the state with no executions in the longest period, with no executions having taken place in the state since 1845.
Rhode Island performed 52 executions from 1673 to February 13, 1845. Only seven of them took place after statehood. Half of all the executions occurred on July 19, 1723 when 26 sailors were hanged for piracy. Rhode Island has never executed a female.
Hanging was a legal method and the most commonly used form of execution; however five executions were carried out by an unknown method. Gas chamber was a legal method during the revival of the penalty but never used; the only state which adapted the gas chamber but never put it into use.
Read more about Capital Punishment In Rhode Island: History of Abolitions, Summary
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“We make needless ado about capital punishment,—taking lives, when there is no life to take.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Woman—with a capital letter—should by now have ceased to be a specialty. There should be no more need of “movements” on her behalf, and agitations for her advancement and development ... than for the abolition of negro slavery in the United States.”
—Marion Harland (1830–1922)
“Routine physical punishment such as spanking teaches a toddler that might makes right and that it is fine to hit when one is stronger and can get away with it.”
—Alicia F. Lieberman (20th century)
“That island of England breeds very valiant creatures; their
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)