As capital punishment became integrated into the legal system of most countries, the execution and brutality of the death penalty created a great deal of opposition. One of the first an

The Old Testament has been a source of values for Jewish people for centuries and requires the use of the death penalty for many criminal acts. God spoke "Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person's blood be shed". The death penalty was invoked for murder, rape, kidnapping, adultery, fornication by women, incest, male homosexuality, bestiality, idolatry, sorcery, false witness in a capital case, prophecy in the name of other gods, cursing one's parents and rebelliousness on part of a son. The death penalty was used to provide equal justice for both the victims and offenders. This helped to eliminate blood feuds between families that occasionally arose after criminal acts. The death penalty was in essence used to help limit the level of violence. Blood feuds that arose were very violent with many innocent victims being killed. God intended for a systemic approach to justice and placed strict guidelines on the use of the death penalty. (Hanks 25)

During the civil rights movement, many people began to question the discriminatory practices used in the death penalty. African Americans comprise forty two percent of the death row population but only make up thirteen percent of the US population. It has been shown statistically that the race of the victim plays a major role in deciding whether or not the death penalty should be used. If the victim is Caucasian, the murderer is much more likely to receive the death penalty than if the victim was from a minority group. Ninety-five percent of the death row prisoner's victims were Caucasian. (Landau 73) One study done by a law professor found that when the victims were Caucasian the murderers were four times more likely to receive the death penalty than if the victim was of African American descent. The death penalty has been sought for African Americans when the victim was Caucasian seventy percent of the time. The death penalty was only sought fourteen percent of the time when the defendant was Caucasian and the victim was African American. It is widely believed that not only is capital punishment discriminatory against minorities but that it also discriminates against the poor. Ninety percent of death row inmates could not afford their own lawyer. (Hanks 107) The poor are much more likely to receive the death penalty than wealthier defendants who could afford their own attorney. The drawbacks to this are that most court-appointed attorneys are usually overworked, underpaid or cannot afford as good a staff as prosecuting attorneys. There have been some documented cases where court-appointed attorneys have used racial slurs in reference to his client. (Guernsey 21) The vast majority of African Americans in prisons grew up in poverty, which can also attribute to the large number of African Americans on death row.

Benjamin Rush is credited as being the father of the modern anti-capital punishment movement in the United States. As one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, his criticism of capital punishment caused much restructuring of the death penalty. In 1794, Pennsylvania had reduced the number of crimes punishable by death to one, first-degree murder. In 1846, Michigan became the first state to abolish the death penalty. Shortly thereafter, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Iowa, Maine, and Colorado also abolished the death penalty in their states. A majority of those states, however, quickly reinstated the death penalty due to public concern that arose after it was abolished. The other states, so far not mentioned, had not abolished but had greatly reduced the number of offenses punishable by death. Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana were the first states to make capital punishment a discretionary sentence. By the end of the 19th century, many other states followed their lead.

During the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, race had become a new focal point for the rising opposition to the death penalty. It b

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