21-25 Death Penalty Facts
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21. Nepal was the first country in Asia to introduce gay marriage. It has also outlawed the death penalty. – Source
22. The word “draconian” comes from Draco, an Ancient Greek legislator who imposed harsh punishments even on minor offenses such as the death penalty for stealing a cabbage. – Source
23. Vaso Čubrilović, one of the conspirators who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, escaped the death penalty because he was under 20. He survived the war, got a Ph.D., survived WWII, became the Yugoslavian Minister of Agriculture, and died in 1990. – Source
24. Percy Foreman, a lawyer who defended James Earl Ray, handled 1500 death penalty cases. He lost only 53, and only one of his clients was executed. – Source
25. The unlawful discharge of a firearm, even if nobody is injured, carries the death penalty in Singapore. – Source
26-30 Death Penalty Facts
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26. The Communist who burnt down the Reichstag in 1933, Marinus van der Lubbe had his death penalty annulled by the German government after WWII and sentenced to eight years of hard labor 31 years after his execution. – Source
27. In 1846, Michigan became the first English-speaking government in the world to abolish the death penalty. – Source
28. Possession of 7oz (200g) of Marijuana in Malaysia is an automatic death penalty. – Source
29. During WW2, the Nazis made it illegal for Apes and Monkeys to give the “Heil Hitler” salute if they did, they were put under penalty of death. – Source
30. The last people executed in Romania before the abolition of the death penalty in 1990 were President and First Lady Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. – Source
31-35 Death Penalty Facts
31. Maximilien Robespierre, one of the most influential leaders of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, was originally adamantly opposed to the death penalty. However, when determining the fate of King Louis XVI, he famously said: “Louis must die so that the nation may live!” – Source
32. Massachusetts’ Stubborn Children Law of 1646 enacted a law which permitted capital punishment for male children disobedient to their parents. Although the death penalty was later removed, the law wasn’t repealed until 1973. – Source
33. The only time Israel has used the death penalty was in the execution of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann. – Source
34. Lawyers helped a man who slaughtered his wife’s friend and attempted to murder his wife avoid the death penalty by claiming he had the “warrior gene” which is a gene that a study showed to be linked to aggression. – Source
35. Ohio reinstated the death penalty in 1999 and has averaged one execution every thirteen weeks since. – Source
36-41 Death Penalty Facts
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36. Translating the Bible into English used to merit the death penalty. – Source
37. In 2013 Phil the groundhog was put on fake trial for the ‘misinterpretation of spring’, the prosecutor wanted to give him the death penalty. – Source
38. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the death penalty couldn’t be given for rape. – Source
39. Under the Brehon law system, ancient Ireland abolished the death penalty and legalized divorce as an option for women. – Source
40. In North Korea, anyone who cuts down trees or starts a forest fire in protected areas could face the death penalty. – Source
41. The FBI recently came forward to admit that their forensic examiners gave flawed testimony on hair sample testing for at least 257 trials over 20 years. Another 2,200 cases are being reviewed and 32 were death penalty trials. – Source