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State And Federal Info

New York

History of the Death Penalty

New York’s hisory of capital punishment goes back to colonial times, with the second most executions of any state from 1608 to 1972, after Virginia. Before the invention of the electric chair most executions were carried out by hanging, although other methods including burning at the stake, death by firing squad, and even the breaking wheel were used. Although there were prisoners on New York’s death row until 2007, no execution has taken place since that of Eddie Mays in 1963.

Famous Cases

Perhaps the most notable execution to take place in the State of New York was that of William Kemmler in 1890. Convicted of murdering his common law wife with a hatchet, Kemmler was the first man executed with the newly developed electric chair.

Previous executions had been carried out almost exclusively by hanging. The State of New York had assigned a committee to develop a more humane method of execution. The concept of execution by means of electricity materialized after a dentist witnessed an intoxicated man die quickly and painlessly (in his estimation) after walking into exposed power lines. After several months of development, as well as a trial execution on a horse, it was determined that Kemmler would be the first to be executed in the electric chair. Kemmler’s appeal of the new method reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld electrocution as a constitutional form of punishment.

On August 6th, 1890, Kemmler was strapped into the electric chair at the Auburn State Prison in front of a small group of witnesses. The switch was thrown, and a 1000 volt current passed through Kemmler’s body for 17 seconds after which he was declared dead. However, several witnesses noted that Kemmler was still breathing and heard Kemmler groaning softly. The switch was thrown again using a higher voltage. Witnesses reported an awful smell of burning flesh and singeing hair, and blood vessels beneath Kemmlers skin burst and bled. Despite the gruesome accounts of the electrcution, the electric chair soon became the dominant form of execution in the United States until its replacement with lethal injection.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

The death penalty has been abolished and reinstated several times in New York. New York’s death penalty was accidentally abolished in 1860, when the legislature passed measures that repealed hanging as a method of execution but provided no other means of carrying out a death sentence. The mistake was corrected a year later in 1861.

Lewis E. Lawes, the warden of Sing Sing Prison from 1920-1941, advocated for the abolition of capital punishment. Although he supervised 303 executions, Lawes believed that capital punishment was inequitable and not a deterrent. He noted that barely 1 in 80 killers was executed, and said “Did you ever see a rich man go the whole route through to the Death House? I don’t know of any.”

In 1967, a compromise law was passed allowing for a very limited death penalty. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated all death penalty statutes in the country in Furman v. Georgia. The New York legislature rewrote the state’s statute in 1973, providing for a mandatory death sentence for murdering a police officer, a correctional officer, or a murder in prison by an inmate serving a life sentence. In 1977, New York’s high court effectively struck down the death penalty for the murder of a police officer or a correctional officer, and a 1984 ruling struck down capital punishment for murders committed by inmates serving life sentences, effectively abolishing New York’s death penalty. From 1978 until 1994, measures repeatedly passed both houses of New York’s state legislature that would have expanded or reinstated the death penalty, only to be vetoed by governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo.

In 1995 newly-elected Governor George Pataki fulfilled a campaign promise and signed legislation reinstating the death penalty in New York, designating lethal injection as the new method of execution. In 2004, that statute was declared unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals, and in 2007 the last remaining death sentence was reduced to life, leaving New York with a vacant death row and no viable death penalty laws. In 2008 Governor David Paterson issued an executive order requiring the removal of all execution equipment from state facilities.

Manhattan skyline. Photo by Massimo Catarinella.
Manhattan sky­line. Photo by Massimo Catarinella.

Resources

  • The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
  • New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  • District Attorneys Association of the State of New York
  • New York State Defenders Association
  • Victims’ services

News & Developments


Federal Death Penalty

Mar 13, 2023

Federal Jury Returns a Life Verdict in New York for Sayfullo Saipov

On March 13, 2023, a jury in the fed­er­al death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion of Sayfullo Saipov in New York City con­clud­ed its delib­er­a­tions with­out com­ing to a unan­i­mous deci­sion regard­ing sen­tenc­ing. As a result, Saipov will be sen­tenced to life in prison…

Federal Jury Returns a Life Verdict in New York for Sayfullo Saipov

Federal Death Penalty

Feb 02, 2023

Penalty Phase Scheduled to Begin in Federal Capital Trial of Sayfullo Saipov

Sayfullo Saipov (pic­tured) was found guilty in fed­er­al court on January 26, 2023 of killing eight peo­ple on a New York City bike path in 2017 by dri­ving a truck into a crowd of peo­ple. He will now like­ly be the first per­son to face a fed­er­al capit…

Penalty Phase Scheduled to Begin in Federal Capital Trial of Sayfullo Saipov

Race

Sep 07, 2022

Family Members of Buffalo Mass Shooting Want Focus on Preventing Racial Violence, Not Death Penalty

As fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors con­sid­er what pun­ish­ment to seek against the accused gun­man in the May 2022 mass shoot­ing at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, sur­vivors and fam­i­ly mem­bers of vic­tims of the shoot­ing are con­cerned that pursuing…

Family Members of Buffalo Mass Shooting Want Focus on Preventing Racial Violence, Not Death Penalty

Innocence

Mar 18, 2021

New York Judge Finds Queens Prosecutor Lied to Convict Three Men Wrongfully Imprisoned in 1990s Death-Penalty Case

A New York City judge has released three men from prison after 24 years impris­on­ment for mur­der, find­ing that a high-rank­ing pros­e­cu­tor in the Queens County District Attorney’s office delib­er­ate­ly con­cealed exculp…

New York Judge Finds Queens Prosecutor Lied to Convict Three Men Wrongfully Imprisoned in 1990s Death-Penalty Case

Sentencing Alternatives

Nov 01, 2018

LWOP Post-Repeal

Life Without Parole Laws in States That Recently Repealed the Death Penalty…

Arbitrariness

Sep 11, 2018

Defense Moves to Bar Death Penalty in New York Bike-Path Killings, Citing ​“Nakedly Political” Tweets

Defense attor­neys for Sayfullo Saipov (pic­tured), the man accused of killing eight peo­ple by dri­ving a truck onto a Manhattan bike path on October 31, 2017, have asked a New York fed­er­al dis­trict court to bar the U.S. gov­ern­ment f…

Defense Moves to Bar Death Penalty in New York Bike-Path Killings, Citing “Nakedly Political” Tweets

Deterrence

Jan 12, 2018

Experience Shows No ​“Parade of Horribles” Following Abolition of the Death Penalty

States that have recent­ly abol­ished the death penal­ty have not expe­ri­enced the ​“parade of hor­ri­bles” — includ­ing increased mur­der rates — pre­dict­ed by death-penal­ty pro­po­nents, accord­ing to death-penal­ty experts who par­tic­i­pat­ed in a pan­el discussion …

Experience Shows No “Parade of Horribles” Following Abolition of the Death Penalty

Innocence

May 04, 2016

Two Capital Cases Involving Innocence Claims Resolved Decades After Conviction

This week, two decades-old cas­es involv­ing men with inno­cence claims reached final res­o­lu­tion: Louisiana inmate Gary Tyler (pic­tured) was released after 42 years in prison and Paul Gatling was exo…

Two Capital Cases Involving Innocence Claims Resolved Decades After Conviction

Intellectual Disability

Mar 16, 2016

Judge Finds Ronell Wilson Has Intellectual Disability, Removes His Federal Death Sentence

United States District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis (pic­tured) ruled on March 15 that fed­er­al death row inmate Ronell Wilson is inel­i­gi­ble fo…

Judge Finds Ronell Wilson Has Intellectual Disability, Removes His Federal Death Sentence

Botched Executions

Mar 11, 2015

Botched Executions in American History

REPORTS OF BOTCHED EXECUTIONS BY FIRING SQUAD A report in the Salt Lake City Tribune takes a dif­fer­ent view of the sug­ges­tion that there have been no botched exe­cu­tions by fir­ing squad. From Hal Schindler, ”

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View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: No
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 0
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 1130
  • Current Death Row Population: 0
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 0
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 0
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): 1973, 1995
  • Dates of Abolition: 1984, 2007
  • Location of Death Row: N/A
  • Capital: Albany
  • Region: Northeast
  • Population: 20,201,249*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 2.87
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: No
  • Method of Execution: N/A
  • Clemency Process: N/A
  • Governor: Kathy Hochul

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