Capital punishment is the killing of individuals sentenced by the government, as a punishment for serious crimes. Today, Capital punishments have been abolished in Europe, Latin America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The United States is the only Western Nation today that still practices capital punishment.
             The main reasons for a capital punishment system is to try the defendant for capital crimes, convict the guilty, and even sentence them to death. It also allows the defendant to appeal the death sentence in hope of getting the guilty verdict overturned, or having the sentence reduced. But most of the time appeals are unsuccessful.
             Another important part of this system of punishment is to protect the public from capital crimes and criminals. Now in the United States capital punishment is only used for the most brutal crimes such as murder and most recently, terrorism.
             The first documented execution was taken place in Jamestown, a colony in Virginia in 1608. A man named Captain George Kendall was hanged for the capital crime of treason. During the colonial times you may have been hanged for murder, rape, heresy, and witchcraft. The accusations of witchcraft leads to the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials. During these trials nineteen people were found guilty of witchcraft and hanged.
             There were good reasons why George Kendall and the "witches" of Salem were executed. The death penalty was formed to protect the entire community from any potential threat. However, the charges and trials themselves were based in fear rather then fact.
             FEWER KIND OF CRIMES
             In the 1600's, more than fifty different crimes could be tried as capital punishment crimes. In 1776, the number had dropped. Stealing livestock, counterfeiting money was removed from the list of capital crimes. Then in 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the death penalty for kidnapping and rape. We now have fewer kin...