Citation

Galliher JF, Ray G, Cook B. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 1992; 83(3): 538-576.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, Northwestern University School of Law)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Ten American states abolished the death penalty between 1897 and 1917, but by the end of the 1930s, eight of these states had reinstated capital punishment. Not surprisingly, many of these abolitionist states were relatively homogeneous. Information ranging from individual motivations and tactics to the economic trends and the demographic characteristics of an area were drawn on to analyze developments in each state. Existing records indicate that most of the initial abolition laws had the support of the state's governors or a major local daily newspaper. While abolition was associated with economic boom, reinstatement occurred during economic recession and depression. Along with such issues of social context, reinstatement was triggered by the threat of lynchings and political radicals, since abolition gave those outside of government a monopoly on lethal violence.