|
Year of Reenactment
(since 1972 suspension) |
1973 | |
|
Year of First Execution
(since reenactment) |
No executions since 1845 |
|
|
Year of Abolition
|
1984 | |
|
History
|
1822-1972: hanging |
|
|
Current Method
|
None |
The last execution in Rhode Island took place in 1845, when Irish immigrant John Gordon was executed for the murder of a prominent mill owner. Gordon was posthumously pardoned in 2011. The death penalty was abolished in Rhode Island from 1852 to 1873.
In 1973, Rhode Island instituted a mandatory death sentence for murder committed while under confinement in a state penitentiary. This law was ruled unconstitutional in 1979 and was removed from state law in 1984.