Capital Punishment

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THE DEATH PENALTY
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Since our nation's founding, the government -- colonial, federal and state
-- has punished murder and, until recent years, rape with the ultimate
sanction: death. More than 13,000 people have been legally executed since
colonial times, most of them in the early 20th Century. By the 1930s, as
many as 150 people were executed each year. However, public outrage and
legal challenges caused the practice to wane. By 1967, capital punishment
had virtually halted in the United States, pending the outcome of several
court challenges.
I…