A Geographical Perspective on United States Capital Punishment, 1801-1960. Eliza Husband Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1990 A Geographical Perspective on United States Capital Punishment, 1801-1960. Eliza Husband Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Husband, Eliza, "A Geographical Perspective on United States Capital Punishment, 1801-1960." (1990). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5059. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/5059 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell information C om pany 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800 521-0600 Order Number @123202 A geographical perspective on U.S. capital punishment, 1801— I960 Husband, Eliza, Ph.D. The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical Col., 1990 UMI 300 N. ZeebRd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 NOTE TO USERS THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT RECEIVED BY U.M.I. CONTAINED PAGES WITH SLANTED AND POOR PRIM’. PAGES WERE FILMED AS RECEIVED. THIS REPRODUCTION IS THE BEST AVAILABLE COPY. A GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON U. S. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, 1801-1960 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by Eliza Husband B.A., University of Arizona, 1982 M.A., University of Arizona, 1985 December 1990 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work owes its existence to the support of the Louisiana State University Alumni Federation, which offered me a full-support fellowship for four years of study uninterrupted by other duties. The time to think and to become a scholar, and the confidence the fellowship gave me as a gesture of support, have been meaningful beyond words. I also want to express my thanks for grants from the Starkey Fund for Regional Studies, Association of American Geographers, and from the Sigma Xi National Honor Society, Louisiana State University Chapter. These funds enabled me to collect the data on which the dissertation is based. My dissertation committee included Professors Miles Richardson (Chair), William Davidson, Carville Earle, and Katherine Hirschboeck from the Department of Geography and Anthropology, and Professor William Bankston from the Department of Sociology. I am grateful to these five for something rare that they gave me: intelligent help. They taught me that scholarship is a collaborative endeavor and made me glad that it is so. This work is dedicated to the memory of two strong women: Biki, and Miss Rose Saitta. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES...................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ..................... viii i ABSTRACT ....................... X 1. A GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ......................................... 1 A Geographical Perspective on Capital Punishment ..................... 3 Social-Political Structure and Systems of Punishment .................. 5 Capital Punishment Since the Enlightenment ................ 8 Sources of Support for Capital Punishment ... 10 An Interpretation of Support for Capital Punishment....................... 14 Theoretical Perspectives on the Use of Capital Punishment........... 16 Heidegger's Spatial Theory and Its Geographical Implications ....... 26 Place and Region in the Study of Capital Punishment ..................... 36 2. "SOCIAL SPACE" AND THE MANAGEMENT OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ........................................ 39 Public Execution in the Colonial Period .... 40 State Religion and the Legitimation of Capital Punishment .................... 41 Colonial Jails and Execution Sites .......... 42 Post-Revolutionary Ideology and Changes in Capital Punishment .......... 47 The Creation of the Penitentiary ......... 49 The Secular Public Execution ................ 53 Execution in County Jails ................... 56 Execution in the Penitentiary, Regional Differentiation, and the Evolution of Public Opinion ....... 63 Social Formation and the Landscape of Capital Punishment ..................... 77 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS— Continued Page 3. THE DATA AND THEIR REGIONAL PATTERN .............. 86 Statistical Records .......................... 88 Characteristics of the Statistical Data Set . .................. 90 The Interpretation of Execution Data by Region .......................... 96 Regional Variation and Public versus Private Execution ................... 103 Interpreting Regional Execution Patterns .... 105 4. EXECUTION AND COMMUNITY FORMATION ON THE FRONTIER ....................................... 108 The "High, Falling" Pattern of Execution Rates ......................... 109 Demographic Factors in Execution Rate ...... 113 Vigilantism ............................ 117 Research into Vigilantism ................... 119 Vigilantism and Community Dynamics .......... 121 Legal Execution and Vigilantism ............. 123 5. "FOREIGNERS AND NEGROES:" ETHNIC AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN APPLYING THE DEATH PENALTY ____ 127 Historical American Racism: The Minority Group as Target ........ 128 Fluctuating, Slowly Falling Execution Rates ......................... 135 Execution of Black Americans ........... 139 Chinese and Japanese Immigrants, 1911-1950 ............................... 145 Italian Immigrants, 1891-1930 ............. 151 Legal Execution and Minority Groups ........ 157 Discussion ................................... 161 6. THE ENDLESS END OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, 1773-1965 ............................. 163 The Spatial Pattern of Low Execution Rates .................... 165 History of Death-Penalty Legislation ....... 166 Settlement Patterns, Regional Culture, and the Ideology of Abolition .......... 175 Elite Influence on Abolition of the Death Penalty ...................... 181 Migration in the Spread of Abolition ....... 184 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS— Continued Page From Elite to Popular Control ...... 189 Regional Culture and the Abolition of Capital Punishment ..................... 192 7. A GEOGRAPHICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE HISTORY OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE UNITED STATES ...... 196 Initially High Execution Rates, Vigilantism, and the West .............. 197 Lastingly High Execution Rates, the South, and "the other" ............. 199 Abolitionism, Ideology, and the Northeastern United States ............. 201 Place and Region in the Study of Capital Punishment ............ 204 The Future of Capital Punishment in America ...... 205 REFERENCES CITED ........................................ 211 APPENDIX A EXECUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES BY STATE, DECADE, AND PER CAPITA RATE .... 220 CURRICULUM VITAE .... 223 V LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3-1. Executions per Year, New York State ............ 87 3-2. Distribution of Execution-Rate Values in the Data Set ............. 92 4-1. Settlement Periods and Decades of High Execution in States Having "High, Falling" Pattern of Execution Rates ........ 110 4-2. "High, Falling" Execution Rates (Descending Order) and Percent Male Population .......... 114 4-3. Vigilantism and Legal Execution in States Having "High, Falling" Pattern of Execution Rates ........................... 124 5-1. Lynching of Blacks and Whites in the United States ................................ 134 5-2. Execution of Black Persons in States of Historically Low Black Population, 1911-20 to 1941-50 ........................... 141 5-3. Black Population Percentage in Cities, 1910 and 1950 ..................................... 143 5-4. Execution of Persons of Chinese and Japanese Surname, All States ....................... 147 5-5. Per 100,000 Capita Execution Rate for Chinese and Japanese Population versus Total Population, All States................. 150 5-6. Italian-Born versus Total Foreign-born Population, New York City ................... 153 5-7. Persons