NCJ Number
179465
Date Published
1997
Length
372 pages
Annotation
This book provides information and data on the offenders and cases in legal executions conducted in New York State from 1639 through 1963.
Abstract
New York is a State that practiced capital punishment from colonial days, then ended it (in 1965, well before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling), and later reinstated it. This book catalogs chronologically each person executed, listing name; age at time of death; race; crime committed; and date, place, and method of execution. Entries contain as much information as possible about the offense or offenses for which each person was sentenced to death. Coverage extends from the founding of the colony of New Netherlands through the final execution that occurred before New York abolished capital punishment. At the time of the book's publication in 1997 no executions had occurred following the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1995. The author notes that for a long time, death was the legal punishment in New York (and elsewhere) for a large number of crimes less severe than murder. Sex, age, and social standing, although probably factors that influenced sentencing, have not been barriers to execution; those executed range from a preteen to men in their eighties, from the penniless to the governor himself; women were represented as well. Racism has clearly influenced sentencing, but there are cases in which whites have been executed for crimes against nonwhites. At least 10 methods of execution have been used in New York. Unless otherwise noted, executions prior to 1890 were carried out by hanging. From that point onward, electrocution was the sole method. A 350-item bibliography and a subject index