Wisconsin is one of the 12 states that do not allow the death penalty. The other 11 include Alaska, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia (Rohn, 2002). The discussion to bring back the death penalty to Wisconsin is always a controversial one. The idea of putting someone to death for a horribly serious crime is a hard decision to make. The idea that an innocent person could be put to death is hard to argue against. On the other hand, why should crimes such as homicide, especially involving children, not require an "eye for an eye" type of punishment?
             Wisconsin was one of the first states to abolish the death penalty, approximately 150 years ago. The decision to abolish the death penalty came after a horrible execution in 1851. On July 23, 1850, John murdered his wife, Bridger McCaffary, by drowning her in a large shallow barrel in the couple's backyard. Neighbors woke to hear Bridget screaming, and saw John climbing out of the barrel. After one of the neighbors pulled Bridget out of the barrel, the police arrested John and took him to the Racine county jail. The jury ruled John "guilty of willful murder" on May 16, 1851, after a 10-day trial. It was the first murder trial ever held in Kenosha (Pendleton & Renfert, 2003a). John McCaffary's execution was on August 21, 1851, by the method of hanging. The hanging took 18 minutes for the physicians to pronounce John dead, while 2000 to 3000 people watched (Pendleton & Renfert, 2003b).
             The death penalty has been around since the ancient laws of China. The first death sentence carried out was in 16th century BC Egypt for the crime of magic. Many crimes besides murder received the death penalty. Methods of the death penalty in ancient times have included burial alive, burning, hanging, beheading, drowning at sea, beating to death, to take one's own life, ...