Criminology

9 Pages 2207 Words

people began to look at the way criminals were being punished. “The Emperor Constantine, after converting to Christianity, abolished crucifixion and other cruel death penalties in the Roman Empire.” (Reggio)
As we move through history we once again view the death penalty for murders during the Greco-Roman times. However during this time the laws began to vary based on status. Reggion states that, “the death penalty was different for nobility, freeman, and slaves…” It was during these times that death was unusually cruel. “Crucifixion, drowning at sea, burial alive, beating to death, and impalement,” were among the more widely used forms of punishment for convicted murders.
As the world began to grow and evolve so did capital punishment. Murder continued to rest on the top of the list of criminal acts punishable by death. In England executions soon began to take the form of entertainment instead of a form of punishment, “many hired windows at a considerable expense for such an occasion,” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. The more common style of execution became hanging. In spite of this, during the eleventh century “William the Conqueror would not allow persons to be hanged or otherwise executed for any crime, except in times of war.” We, however can look at today’s society and tell that this did not last long. According to numbers given by the History of the Death Penalty, Part I during the sixteenth century more than 72,000 people may have been executed. During this time, according to the article, “common methods of execution were boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, beheading, and drawing quartering.” Consequently murder was not the only crime the death penalty was rendered for. Crimes as humorous, to us, like marring a Jew resulted in execution. Then the number of punishable by death crimes sky rocked to “two hundred and twenty-two.” These crimes included, but were no...