title: John, King of England

text: John had already begun to improve his Channel forces before the loss of Normandy and he rapidly built up further maritime capabilities after its collapse. Most of these ships were placed along the Cinque Ports, but Portsmouth was also enlarged. By the end of 1204 he had around 50 large galleys available; another 54 vessels were built between 1209 and 1212. William of Wrotham was appointed "keeper of the galleys", effectively John's chief admiral. Wrotham was responsible for fusing John's galleys, the ships of the Cinque Ports and pressed merchant vessels into a single operational fleet. John adopted recent improvements in ship design, including new large transport ships called "buisses" and removable forecastles for use in combat.


title: John, King of England

text: Baronial unrest in England prevented the departure of the planned 1205 expedition, and only a smaller force under William Longespée deployed to Poitou. In 1206 John departed for Poitou himself, but was forced to divert south to counter a threat to Gascony from Alfonso VIII of Castile. After a successful campaign against Alfonso, John headed north again, taking the city of Angers. Philip moved south to meet John; the year's campaigning ended in stalemate and a two-year truce was made between the two rulers.


title: John, King of England

text: During the truce of 1206–1208, John focused on building up his financial and military resources in preparation for another attempt to recapture Normandy. John used some of this money to pay for new alliances on Philip's eastern frontiers, where the growth in Capetian power was beginning to concern France's neighbours. By 1212 John had successfully concluded alliances with his nephew Otto IV, a contender for the crown of Holy Roman Emperor in Germany, as well as with the counts Renaud of Boulogne and Ferdinand of Flanders. The invasion plans for 1212 were postponed because of fresh English baronial unrest about service in Poitou. Philip seized the initiative in 1213, sending his elder son, Louis, to invade Flanders with the intention of next launching an invasion of England. John was forced to postpone his own invasion plans to counter this threat. He launched his new fleet to attack the French at the harbour of Damme. The attack was a success, destroying Philip's vessels and any chances of an invasion of England that year. John hoped to exploit this advantage by invading himself late in 1213, but baronial discontent again delayed his invasion plans until early 1214, in what was his final Continental campaign.


title: John, King of England

text: In the late 12th and early 13th centuries the border and political relationship between England and Scotland was disputed, with the kings of Scotland claiming parts of what is now northern England. John's father, Henry II, had forced William the Lion to swear fealty to him at the Treaty of Falaise in 1174. This had been rescinded by Richard I in exchange for financial compensation in 1189, but the relationship remained uneasy. John began his reign by reasserting his sovereignty over the disputed northern counties. He refused William's request for the earldom of Northumbria, but did not intervene in Scotland itself and focused on his continental problems. The two kings maintained a friendly relationship, meeting in 1206 and 1207, until it was rumoured in 1209 that William was intending to ally himself with Philip II of France. John invaded Scotland and forced William to sign the Treaty of Norham, which gave John control of William's daughters and required a payment of £10,000. This effectively crippled William's power north of the border, and by 1212 John had to intervene militarily to support William against his internal rivals. John made no efforts to reinvigorate the Treaty of Falaise, though, and William and his son Alexander II of Scotland in turn remained independent kings, supported by, but not owing fealty to, John.


title: John, King of England

text: John remained Lord of Ireland throughout his reign. He drew on the country for resources to fight his war with Philip on the continent. Conflict continued in Ireland between the Anglo-Norman settlers and the indigenous Irish chieftains, with John manipulating both groups to expand his wealth and power in the country. During Richard's rule, John had successfully increased the size of his lands in Ireland, and he continued this policy as king. In 1210 the King crossed into Ireland with a large army to crush a rebellion by the Anglo-Norman lords; he reasserted his control of the country and used a new charter to order compliance with English laws and customs in Ireland. John stopped short of trying to actively enforce this charter on the native Irish kingdoms, but historian David Carpenter suspects that he might have done so, had the baronial conflict in England not intervened. Simmering tensions remained with the native Irish leaders even after John left for England.


title: John, King of England

text: Royal power in Wales was unevenly applied, with the country divided between the marcher lords along the borders, royal territories in Pembrokeshire and the more independent native Welsh lords of North Wales. John took a close interest in Wales and knew the country well, visiting every year between 1204 and 1211 and marrying his illegitimate daughter, Joan, to the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great. The King used the marcher lords and the native Welsh to increase his own territory and power, striking a sequence of increasingly precise deals backed by royal military power with the Welsh rulers. A major royal expedition to enforce these agreements occurred in 1211, after Llywelyn attempted to exploit the instability caused by the removal of William de Braose, through the Welsh uprising of 1211. John's invasion, striking into the Welsh heartlands, was a military success. Llywelyn came to terms that included an expansion of John's power across much of Wales, albeit only temporarily.


title: John, King of England

text: When the Archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Walter, died on 13 July 1205, John became involved in a dispute with Pope Innocent III that would lead to the King's excommunication. The Norman and Angevin kings had traditionally exercised a great deal of power over the church within their territories. From the 1040s onwards, however, successive popes had put forward a reforming message that emphasised the importance of the Church being "governed more coherently and more hierarchically from the centre" and established "its own sphere of authority and jurisdiction, separate from and independent of that of the lay ruler", in the words of historian Richard Huscroft. After the 1140s, these principles had been largely accepted within the English Church, albeit with an element of concern about centralising authority in Rome. These changes brought the customary rights of lay rulers such as John over ecclesiastical appointments into question. Pope Innocent was, according to historian Ralph Turner, an "ambitious and aggressive" religious leader, insistent on his rights and responsibilities within the church.


title: John, King of England

text: John wanted John de Gray, the Bishop of Norwich and one of his own supporters, to be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, but the cathedral chapter for Canterbury Cathedral claimed the exclusive right to elect the Archbishop. They favoured Reginald, the chapter's sub-prior. To complicate matters, the bishops of the province of Canterbury also claimed the right to appoint the next archbishop. The chapter secretly elected Reginald and he travelled to Rome to be confirmed; the bishops challenged the appointment and the matter was taken before Innocent. John forced the Canterbury chapter to change their support to John de Gray, and a messenger was sent to Rome to inform the papacy of the new decision. Innocent disavowed both Reginald and John de Gray, and instead appointed his own candidate, Stephen Langton. John refused Innocent's request that he consent to Langton's appointment, but the Pope consecrated Langton anyway in June 1207.


title: John, King of England

text: John was incensed about what he perceived as an abrogation of his customary right as monarch to influence the election. He complained both about the choice of Langton as an individual, as John felt he was overly influenced by the Capetian court in Paris, and about the process as a whole. He barred Langton from entering England and seized the lands of the archbishopric and other papal possessions. Innocent set a commission in place to try to convince John to change his mind, but to no avail. Innocent then placed an interdict on England in March 1208, prohibiting clergy from conducting religious services, with the exception of baptisms for the young, and confessions and absolutions for the dying.


title: John, King of England

text: John treated the interdict as "the equivalent of a papal declaration of war". He responded by attempting to punish Innocent personally and to drive a wedge between those English clergy that might support him and those allying themselves firmly with the authorities in Rome. John seized the lands of those clergy unwilling to conduct services, as well as those estates linked to Innocent himself; he arrested the illicit concubines that many clerics kept during the period, releasing them only after the payment of fines; he seized the lands of members of the church who had fled England, and he promised protection for those clergy willing to remain loyal to him. In many cases, individual institutions were able to negotiate terms for managing their own properties and keeping the produce of their estates. By 1209 the situation showed no signs of resolution, and Innocent threatened to excommunicate John if he did not acquiesce to Langton's appointment. When this threat failed, Innocent excommunicated the King in November 1209. Although theoretically a significant blow to John's legitimacy, this did not appear to worry the King greatly. Two of John's close allies, Emperor Otto IV and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, had already suffered the same punishment themselves, and the significance of excommunication had been somewhat devalued. John simply tightened his existing measures and accrued significant sums from the income of vacant sees and abbeys: one 1213 estimate, for example, suggested the church had lost an estimated 100,000 marks (equivalent to £66,666 at the time) to John. Official figures suggest that around 14% of annual income from the English church was being appropriated by John each year.


title: John, King of England

text: Innocent gave some dispensations as the crisis progressed. Monastic communities were allowed to celebrate Mass in private from 1209 onwards, and late in 1212 the Holy Viaticum for the dying was authorised. The rules on burials and lay access to churches appear to have been steadily circumvented, at least unofficially. Although the interdict was a burden to much of the population, it did not result in rebellion against John. By 1213, though, John was increasingly worried about the threat of French invasion. Some contemporary chroniclers suggested that in January Philip II of France had been charged with deposing John on behalf of the papacy, although it appears that Innocent merely prepared secret letters in case Innocent needed to claim the credit if Philip did successfully invade England.


title: John, King of England

text: Under mounting political pressure, John finally negotiated terms for a reconciliation, and the papal terms for submission were accepted in the presence of the papal legate Pandulf Verraccio in May 1213 at the Templar Church at Dover. As part of the deal, John offered to surrender the Kingdom of England to the papacy for a feudal service of 1,000 marks (equivalent to £666 at the time) annually: 700 marks (£466) for England and 300 marks (£200) for Ireland, as well as recompensing the Church for revenue lost during the crisis. The agreement was formalised in the , or Golden Bull. This resolution produced mixed responses. Although some chroniclers felt that John had been humiliated by the sequence of events, there was little public reaction. Innocent benefited from the resolution of his long-standing English problem, but John probably gained more, as Innocent became a firm supporter of John for the rest of his reign, backing him in both domestic and continental policy issues. Innocent immediately turned against Philip, calling upon him to reject plans to invade England and to sue for peace. John paid some of the compensation money he had promised the Church, but he ceased making payments in late 1214, leaving two-thirds of the sum unpaid; Innocent appears to have conveniently forgotten this debt for the good of the wider relationship.


title: John, King of England

text: Tensions between John and the barons had been growing for several years, as demonstrated by the 1212 plot against the King. Many of the disaffected barons came from the north of England; that faction was often labelled by contemporaries and historians as "the Northerners". The northern barons rarely had any personal stake in the conflict in France, and many of them owed large sums of money to John; the revolt has been characterised as "a rebellion of the king's debtors". Many of John's military household joined the rebels, particularly amongst those that John had appointed to administrative roles across England; their local links and loyalties outweighed their personal loyalty to John. Tension also grew across North Wales, where opposition to the 1211 treaty between John and Llywelyn was turning into open conflict. For some the appointment of Peter des Roches as justiciar was an important factor, as he was considered an "abrasive foreigner" by many of the barons. The failure of John's French military campaign in 1214 was probably the final straw that precipitated the baronial uprising during John's final years as king; James Holt describes the path to civil war as "direct, short and unavoidable" following the defeat at Bouvines.


title: John, King of England

text: In 1214 John began his final campaign to reclaim Normandy from Philip. He was optimistic, as he had successfully built up alliances with the Emperor Otto, Renaud of Boulogne and Ferdinand of Flanders; he was enjoying papal favour; and he had successfully built up substantial funds to pay for the deployment of his experienced army. Nonetheless, when John left for Poitou in February 1214, many barons refused to provide military service; mercenary knights had to fill the gaps. John's plan was to split Philip's forces by pushing north-east from Poitou towards Paris, whilst Otto, Renaud and Ferdinand, supported by William Longespée, marched south-west from Flanders.


title: John, King of England

text: The first part of the campaign went well, with John outmanoeuvring the forces under the command of Prince Louis and retaking the county of Anjou by the end of June. John besieged the castle of Roche-au-Moine, a key stronghold, forcing Louis to give battle against John's larger army. The local Angevin nobles refused to advance with John; left at something of a disadvantage, John retreated back to La Rochelle. Shortly afterwards, King Philip won the hard-fought battle of Bouvines in the north against Otto and John's other allies, bringing an end to John's hopes of retaking Normandy. A peace agreement was signed in which John returned Anjou to Philip and paid him compensation; the truce was intended to last for six years. John arrived back in England in October.


title: John, King of England

text: Within a few months of John's return, rebel barons in the north and east of England were organising resistance to his rule. John held a council in London in January 1215 to discuss potential reforms and sponsored discussions in Oxford between his agents and the rebels during the spring. He appears to have been playing for time until Pope Innocent III could send letters giving him explicit papal support. This was particularly important for John, as a way of pressuring the barons but also as a way of controlling Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the meantime, John began to recruit fresh mercenary forces from Poitou, although some were later sent back to avoid giving the impression that John was escalating the conflict. The King announced his intent to become a crusader, a move which gave him additional political protection under church law.


title: John, King of England

text: Letters of support from the Pope arrived in April but by then the rebel barons had organised. They congregated at Northampton in May and renounced their feudal ties to John, appointing Robert fitz Walter as their military leader. This self-proclaimed "Army of God" marched on London, taking the capital as well as Lincoln and Exeter. John's efforts to appear moderate and conciliatory had been largely successful, but once the rebels held London they attracted a fresh wave of defectors from John's royalist faction. John instructed Langton to organise peace talks with the rebel barons.


title: John, King of England

text: John met the rebel leaders at Runnymede, near Windsor Castle, on 15 June 1215. Langton's efforts at mediation created a charter capturing the proposed peace agreement; it was later renamed , or "Great Charter". The charter went beyond simply addressing specific baronial complaints, and formed a wider proposal for political reform, albeit one focusing on the rights of free men, not serfs and unfree labour. It promised the protection of church rights, protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, new taxation only with baronial consent and limitations on scutage and other feudal payments. A council of twenty-five barons would be created to monitor and ensure John's future adherence to the charter, whilst the rebel army would stand down and London would be surrendered to the King.


title: John, King of England

text: Neither John nor the rebel barons seriously attempted to implement the peace accord. The rebel barons suspected that the proposed baronial council would be unacceptable to John and that he would challenge the legality of the charter; they packed the baronial council with their own hardliners and refused to demobilise their forces or surrender London as agreed. Despite his promises to the contrary, John appealed to Innocent for help, observing that the charter compromised the Pope's rights under the 1213 agreement that had appointed him John's feudal lord. Innocent obliged; he declared the charter "not only shameful and demeaning, but illegal and unjust" and excommunicated the rebel barons. The failure of the agreement led rapidly to the First Barons' War.


title: John, King of England

text: The rebels made the first move in the war, seizing the strategic Rochester Castle, owned by Langton but left almost unguarded by the archbishop. John was well prepared for a conflict. He had stockpiled money to pay for mercenaries and ensured the support of the powerful marcher lords with their own feudal forces, such as William Marshal and Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. The rebels lacked the engineering expertise or heavy equipment necessary to assault the network of royal castles that cut off the northern rebel barons from those in the south. John's strategy was to isolate the rebel barons in London, protect his own supply lines to his key source of mercenaries in Flanders, prevent the French from landing in the south-east, and then win the war through slow attrition. John put off dealing with the badly deteriorating situation in North Wales, where Llywelyn the Great was leading a rebellion against the 1211 settlement.


title: John, King of England

text: John's campaign started well. In November John retook Rochester Castle from rebel baron William d'Aubigny in a sophisticated assault. One chronicler had not seen "a siege so hard pressed or so strongly resisted", whilst historian Reginald Brown describes it as "one of the greatest [siege] operations in England up to that time". Having regained the south-east John split his forces, sending William Longespée to retake the north side of London and East Anglia, whilst John himself headed north via Nottingham to attack the estates of the northern barons. Both operations were successful and the majority of the remaining rebels were pinned down in London. In January 1216 John marched against Alexander II of Scotland, who had allied himself with the rebel cause. John took back Alexander's possessions in northern England in a rapid campaign and pushed up towards Edinburgh over a ten-day period.


title: John, King of England

text: The rebel barons responded by inviting the French prince Louis to lead them: Louis had a claim to the English throne by virtue of his marriage to Blanche of Castile, a granddaughter of Henry II. Philip may have provided him with private support but refused to openly support Louis, who was excommunicated by Innocent for taking part in the war against John. Louis' planned arrival in England presented a significant problem for John, as the prince would bring with him naval vessels and siege engines essential to the rebel cause. Once John contained Alexander in Scotland, he marched south to deal with the challenge of the coming invasion.


title: John, King of England

text: Prince Louis intended to land in the south of England in May 1216, and John assembled a naval force to intercept him. Unfortunately for John, his fleet was dispersed by bad storms and Louis landed unopposed in Kent. John hesitated and decided not to attack Louis immediately, either due to the risks of open battle or over concerns about the loyalty of his own men. Louis and the rebel barons advanced west and John retreated, spending the summer reorganising his defences across the rest of the kingdom. John saw several of his military household desert to the rebels, including his half-brother, William Longespée. By the end of the summer the rebels had regained the south-east of England and parts of the north.


title: John, King of England

text: In September 1216, John began a fresh, vigorous attack. He marched from the Cotswolds, feigned an offensive to relieve the besieged Windsor Castle, and attacked eastwards around London to Cambridge to separate the rebel-held areas of Lincolnshire and East Anglia. From there he travelled north to relieve the rebel siege at Lincoln and back east to Lynn, probably to order further supplies from the continent. In Lynn, John contracted dysentery, which would ultimately prove fatal. Meanwhile, Alexander II invaded northern England again, taking Carlisle in August and then marching south to give homage to Prince Louis for his English possessions; John narrowly missed intercepting Alexander along the way. Tensions between Louis and the English barons began to increase, prompting a wave of desertions, including William Marshal's son William and William Longespée, who both returned to John's faction.


title: John, King of England

text: John returned west but is said to have lost a significant part of his baggage train along the way. Roger of Wendover provides the most graphic account of this, suggesting that the King's belongings, including the English Crown Jewels, were lost as he crossed one of the tidal estuaries which empties into the Wash, being sucked in by quicksand and whirlpools. Accounts of the incident vary considerably between the various chroniclers and the exact location of the incident has never been confirmed; the losses may have involved only a few of his pack-horses. Modern historians assert that by October 1216 John faced a "stalemate", "a military situation uncompromised by defeat".


title: John, King of England

text: John's illness grew worse and by the time he reached Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire, he was unable to travel any farther; he died on the night of 18/19 October. Numerous—probably fictitious—accounts circulated soon after his death that he had been killed by poisoned ale, poisoned plums or a "surfeit of peaches". His body was escorted south by a company of mercenaries and he was buried in Worcester Cathedral in front of the altar of St Wulfstan. A new sarcophagus with an effigy was made for him in 1232, in which his remains now rest.


title: John, King of England

text: In his will, John ordered that his niece Eleanor, who might have had a claim to the throne of his successor, Henry III, never be released from prison.


title: John, King of England

text: In the aftermath of John's death, William Marshal was declared the protector of the nine-year-old Henry III. The civil war continued until royalist victories at the battles of Lincoln and Dover in 1217. Louis gave up his claim to the English throne and signed the Treaty of Lambeth. The failed agreement was resuscitated by Marshal's administration and reissued in an edited form in 1217 as a basis for future government. Henry III continued his attempts to reclaim Normandy and Anjou until 1259, but John's continental losses and the consequent growth of Capetian power in the 13th century proved to mark a "turning point in European history".


title: John, King of England

text: John's first wife, Isabella, Countess of Gloucester, was released from imprisonment in 1214; she remarried twice, and died in 1217. John's second wife, Isabella of Angoulême, left England for Angoulême soon after the king's death; she became a powerful regional leader, but largely abandoned the children she had had by John. Their eldest son, Henry III, ruled as King of England for the majority of the 13th century. Richard of Cornwall became a noted European leader and ultimately the King of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire. Joan became Queen of Scotland on her marriage to Alexander II. Isabella was Holy Roman Empress as the wife of Emperor Frederick II. The youngest daughter, Eleanor, married William Marshal's son, also called William, and later the famous English rebel Simon de Montfort. By various mistresses John had eight, possibly nine, sons—Richard, Oliver, John, Geoffrey, Henry, Osbert Gifford, Eudes, Bartholomew and probably Philip—and two or three daughters—Joan, Maud and probably Isabel. Of these, Joan became the most famous, marrying Prince Llywelyn the Great of Wales.


title: John, King of England

text: Historical interpretations of John have been subject to considerable change over the centuries. Medieval chroniclers provided the first contemporary, or near contemporary, histories of John's reign. One group of chroniclers wrote early in John's life, or around the time of his accession, including Richard of Devizes, William of Newburgh, Roger of Hoveden and Ralph de Diceto. These historians were generally unsympathetic to John's behaviour under Richard's rule, but slightly more positive towards the very earliest years of John's reign. Reliable accounts of the middle and later parts of John's reign are more limited, with Gervase of Canterbury and Ralph of Coggeshall writing the main accounts; neither of them were positive about John's performance as king. Much of John's later, negative reputation was established by two chroniclers writing after his death, Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris, the latter claiming that John attempted conversion to Islam in exchange for military aid from the Almohad ruler Muhammad al-Nasir—a story modern historians consider untrue.


title: John, King of England

text: In the 16th century political and religious changes altered the attitude of historians towards John. Tudor historians were generally favourably inclined towards the King, focusing on his opposition to the Papacy and his promotion of the special rights and prerogatives of a king. Revisionist histories written by John Foxe, William Tyndale and Robert Barnes portrayed John as an early Protestant hero, and Foxe included the King in his "Book of Martyrs". John Speed's "Historie of Great Britaine" in 1632 praised John's "great renown" as a king; he blamed the bias of medieval chroniclers for the King's poor reputation.


title: John, King of England

text: By the Victorian period in the 19th century, historians were more inclined to draw on the judgements of the chroniclers and to focus on John's moral personality. Kate Norgate, for example, argued that John's downfall had been due not to his failure in war or strategy, but due to his "almost superhuman wickedness", whilst James Ramsay blamed John's family background and his cruel personality for his downfall. Historians in the "Whiggish" tradition, focusing on documents such as the Domesday Book and , trace a progressive and universalist course of political and economic development in England over the medieval period. These historians were often inclined to see John's reign, and his signing of in particular, as a positive step in the constitutional development of England, despite the flaws of the King himself. Winston Churchill, for example, argued that "[w]hen the long tally is added, it will be seen that the British nation and the English-speaking world owe far more to the vices of John than to the labours of virtuous sovereigns".


title: John, King of England

text: In the 1940s, new interpretations of John's reign began to emerge, based on research into the record evidence of his reign, such as pipe rolls, charters, court documents and similar primary records. Notably, an essay by Vivian Galbraith in 1945 proposed a "new approach" to understanding the ruler. The use of recorded evidence was combined with an increased scepticism about two of the most colourful chroniclers of John's reign, Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris. In many cases the detail provided by these chroniclers, both writing after John's death, was challenged by modern historians. Interpretations of and the role of the rebel barons in 1215 have been significantly revised: although the charter's symbolic, constitutional value for later generations is unquestionable, in the context of John's reign most historians now consider it a failed peace agreement between "partisan" factions. There has been increasing debate about the nature of John's Irish policies. Specialists in Irish medieval history, such as Sean Duffy, have challenged the conventional narrative established by Lewis Warren, suggesting that Ireland was less stable by 1216 than was previously supposed.


title: John, King of England

text: Most historians today, including John's recent biographers Ralph Turner and Lewis Warren, argue that John was an unsuccessful monarch, but note that his failings were exaggerated by 12th- and 13th-century chroniclers. Jim Bradbury notes the current consensus that John was a "hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general", albeit, as Turner suggests, with "distasteful, even dangerous personality traits", including pettiness, spitefulness and cruelty. John Gillingham, author of a major biography of Richard I, follows this line too, although he considers John a less effective general than do Turner or Warren, and describes him "one of the worst kings ever to rule England". Bradbury takes a moderate line, but suggests that in recent years modern historians have been overly lenient towards John's numerous faults. Popular historian Frank McLynn maintains a counter-revisionist perspective on John, arguing that the King's modern reputation amongst historians is "bizarre", and that as a monarch John "fails almost all those [tests] that can be legitimately set". According to C. Warren Hollister, "The dramatic ambivalence of his personality, the passions that he stirred among his own contemporaries, the very magnitude of his failures, have made him an object of endless fascination to historians and biographers."


title: John, King of England

text: Popular representations of John first began to emerge during the Tudor period, mirroring the revisionist histories of the time. The anonymous play "The Troublesome Reign of King John" portrayed the King as a "proto-Protestant martyr", similar to that shown in John Bale's morality play "Kynge Johan", in which John attempts to save England from the "evil agents of the Roman Church". By contrast, Shakespeare's "King John", a relatively anti-Catholic play that draws on "The Troublesome Reign" for its source material, offers a more "balanced, dual view of a complex monarch as both a proto-Protestant victim of Rome's machinations and as a weak, selfishly motivated ruler". Anthony Munday's play "The Downfall and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington" portrays many of John's negative traits, but adopts a positive interpretation of the King's stand against the Roman Catholic Church, in line with the contemporary views of the Tudor monarchs. By the middle of the 17th century, plays such as Robert Davenport's "King John and Matilda", although based largely on the earlier Elizabethan works, were transferring the role of Protestant champion to the barons and focusing more on the tyrannical aspects of John's behaviour.


title: John, King of England

text: Nineteenth-century fictional depictions of John were heavily influenced by Sir Walter Scott's historical romance, "Ivanhoe", which presented "an almost totally unfavourable picture" of the King; the work drew on 19th-century histories of the period and on Shakespeare's play. Scott's work influenced the late-19th-century children's writer Howard Pyle's book "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood", which in turn established John as the principal villain within the traditional Robin Hood narrative. During the 20th century, John was normally depicted in fictional books and films alongside Robin Hood. Sam De Grasse's role as John in the black-and-white 1922 film version shows John committing numerous atrocities and acts of torture. Claude Rains played John in the 1938 colour version alongside Errol Flynn, starting a trend for films to depict John as an "effeminate ... arrogant and cowardly stay-at-home". The character of John acts either to highlight the virtues of King Richard, or contrasts with the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is usually the "swashbuckling villain" opposing Robin. An extreme version of this trend can be seen in the 1973 Disney cartoon version, for example, which depicts John, voiced by Peter Ustinov, as a "cowardly, thumbsucking lion". Popular works that depict John beyond the Robin Hood legends, such as James Goldman's play and later film, "The Lion in Winter", set in 1183, commonly present him as an "effete weakling", in this instance contrasted with the more masculine Henry II, or as a tyrant, as in A. A. Milne's poem for children, "King John's Christmas".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie Kim (; born January 16, 1996), known mononymously as Jennie, is a South Korean singer and rapper. Born and raised in South Korea, Jennie studied in New Zealand for five years before returning to South Korea in 2010. She debuted as a member of the girl group Blackpink, formed by YG Entertainment, in August 2016. In November 2018, Jennie made her debut as a solo artist with the single "Solo". The song was commercially successful, topping both the Gaon Digital Chart and "Billboard"s World Digital Songs chart. In 2023, she will be making her acting debut in the HBO series "The Idol", under the stage name Jennie Ruby Jane.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie Kim was born in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on January 16, 1996, as an only child. She initially attended Cheongdam Elementary School in Seoul before moving to New Zealand. When she was eight years old, she went on a trip with her family to Australia and New Zealand. When her mother asked her if she liked New Zealand and wanted to stay, Jennie replied "yes"; one year later, she was sent to study at Waikowhai Intermediate School in Auckland and lived with a home-stay family. Jennie spoke about her experience learning a new language on the MBC's documentary "English, Must Change to Survive" (2006). During her adolescent years, she dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer. After completing intermediate, she enrolled at ACG Parnell College.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie first heard of K-pop while in New Zealand, particularly finding an interest in YG Entertainment's music. Her mother planned to move her to Florida in the United States at the age of 14 to continue her studies to become a lawyer or teacher; however, she did not like the idea and was concerned about not finding work she liked while living alone. Her family supported her decision, and she moved back to South Korea in 2010, where she studied at Cheongdam Middle School. Jennie auditioned for YG Entertainment that same year with Rihanna's "Take a Bow", succeeding in joining the label as a trainee. Through "High Cut" Korea, she revealed because she was afraid of strangers and reluctant to take initiative, she could barely introduce herself during her audition. Initially a vocalist, the company believed she should embrace the role of a rapper as most songs she covered included raps and she was the only trainee fluent in English at the time, along with her native Korean; she also knows basic Japanese and has learned French.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: On April 10, 2012, Jennie was introduced through a photo titled "Who's that girl?" via the official blog of YG Entertainment. Her photograph gained interest from netizens, soon becoming the most searched topic on portal sites under the name "Mystery Girl". On August 30, YG Entertainment released a YouTube video through their blog titled "YG Trainee - Jennie Kim", in which she covered B.o.B.'s song "Strange Clouds" featuring Lil Wayne. On September 1, Jennie made her first public appearance as the lead actress in G-Dragon's music video "That XX" from his extended play "One of a Kind." On January 21, 2013, another video titled "Jennie Kim - YG New Artist", in which she covered the song "Lotus Flower Bomb" by rapper Wale, was released. In March, Lee Hi featured Jennie on her B-side track, "Special" from her debut album, "First Love". In August, Jennie featured on Seungri's B-side track "GG Be" from his extended play "Let's Talk About Love." In September, she featured on G-Dragon's B-side track "Black", recording the hook in less than five days before the release of his album "Coup d'Etat". On September 8, she made her first stage appearance alongside G-Dragon on SBS' "Inkigayo".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: On June 1, 2016, Jennie was the first member to be revealed for YG Entertainment's newest girl group, its first in seven years since 2NE1. On August 8, 2016, she debuted as a member of Blackpink, alongside Kim Jisoo, Roseanne Park and Lalisa Manobal, with the release of their single album "Square One" alongside double A-side singles "Boombayah" and "Whistle" . According to band-mate Jisoo, Jennie was responsible for the general duties and decision making of the group. Jennie recounted her six-year experience as a trainee through V Live, stating each month a group, dance, and solo song were performed for the label's CEO, producers and artists to watch and evaluate the progress of their training. She also recalled memories preparing outfits and songs, making musical accompaniments, and practicing choreography.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie appeared with Blackpink member Jisoo on "Running Man" in July 2018. A video of Jennie crying after going through a horror room with Lee Kwang-soo went viral in South Korea, gaining over one million views on one site and a total of over three million views across multiple platforms, VODs, and social media. She was subsequently selected as one of the best variety stars of 2018 following her discovery on "Running Man". Jennie was invited to the show again after attracting attention during her previous appearance. Jennie was said to have ranked first among casting choices and received multiple offers from different variety shows. On October 1, Jennie was confirmed to join as a cast member for SBS' new variety show "Village Survival, the Eight", her first permanent casting in a television series.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: In mid-October 2018, an announcement of Jennie's official solo debut was made. Following a series of promotional teasers, it was revealed she would release a single album titled "Solo" with a lead single of the same name. In the midst of preparation for her debut, it was decided that her single "Solo" would first be revealed through Blackpink's "In Your Area" tour in Seoul on November 10, ahead of release two days later. Jennie explained how "Solo" became the song for her debut through her press conference on November 12, stating, "When I'm at Teddy's studio, he'll make a song and I'll just record the guide for it. It wasn't that he was working on a solo track for me. He just said, 'I have something new, let's try it.' So I recorded the song he had, and it happened to be a great fit". The song was described as a hip hop track with pop elements and was designed to showcase Jennie's sides as both a "delicate girl" and "independent woman".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Upon release, "Solo" debuted on Gaon Music Chart at number one and achieved a triple crown for simultaneously topping the domestic digital, download, and streaming charts. The single remained the on the digital and mobile charts for two further consecutive weeks and on the streaming chart for a further three consecutive weeks. "Solo" was certified platinum for streaming by the KMCA and soon won the Song of the Year award for the month of November at the eighth Gaon Chart Music Awards, as well as the Digital Bonsang award at the 34th Golden Disc Awards. Overseas, "Solo" topped the "Billboard"'s World Digital Songs chart. It was also featured in the "New York Times"' playlist. At the time of release, the music video for "Solo" became the most viewed by a female Korean solo artist of all time within a 24 hour period on YouTube. Jennie also became the first and only female Korean solo artist to surpass 300 million views on the platform within six months of release. Because her first appearance as a solo artist on SBS' "Inkigayo" and MBC "Show! Music Core" was postponed as broadcasters had cancelled all the performances scheduled for that week, YG Entertainment uploaded choreography videos for the song on YouTube for fans. YG Entertainment then aired the "Jennie – 'Solo' Diary" series on YouTube, sharing glimpses of her work throughout the promotion period of the single. On November 25, Jennie received her first music show win as a solo artist on "Inkigayo".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: In April 2019, Jennie became the first Korean solo artist to perform at Coachella. Her performance was included in "The 10 Best Things We Saw at Coachella 2019" list by "Billboard", which called it "mind-blowing" and "stunning" for fans and casual passersby.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie co-wrote the single "Lovesick Girls" for Blackpink, which was released on October 2, 2020, as the third single from the group's first Korean-language studio album, "The Album".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: In 2022, it was announced Jennie would be making her acting debut in the television series "The Idol" created by Abel "the Weeknd" Tesfaye, Reza Fahim, and Sam Levinson for HBO under the stage name Jennie Ruby Jane.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: When Jennie first began to rap, she studied the work of artists she admired and respected, such as Lauryn Hill and TLC. Jennie cited Rihanna as her main musical influence and role model. While working on Blackpink's "The Album", Jennie listened to artists such as Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, Harry Hudson, H.E.R. and Kacey Musgraves. Vocal coach Shin Yoo-mi, who worked with Blackpink for six years until their debut, trained Jennie for her solo debut. In an interview, Shin described Jennie as a multi-player had talent for singing, rapping, and writing lyrics.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie began reading fashion magazines and looking at different clothing styles when she was a child. Her interest in fashion came from her mother. Jennie told "Elle" Indonesia that Chanel was a part of her life from a young age and that she still remembered her first memory involving the fashion house: "I remember when I was little, I look through my mother's wardrobe, and search for whatever vintage Chanel I could find". For her solo debut, she was involved in planning and styling her own wardrobe and put together more than 20 outfits for the music video of "Solo". Jennie recalled in an interview with "Billboard" that during the music video filming, she considered the way each would fit the song and what she could change, which helped her to learn many new ways of approaching fashion. She stated in an interview with "Elle" Korea that fashion became an important aspect in her career as she tried to convey the message of her music both aurally and visually.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Although Jennie has been noted for her chic and strong image on stage, her off-stage personality is characterized by a cute reversal charm. She describes herself as "quiet" and "shy", especially around strangers. In an interview with "Harper's Bazaar", Jennie remarked, "My personality may be what people think about my personality. But rather than being a person that other people have branded me as, I want to be a good individual who thinks for herself". Jung Chul-min, producer of "Village Survival, the Eight," described Jennie as "really funny": "Contrary to the charisma she shows on stage, she is a shy person who has girlish, baby-like charms. Jennie gets more comfortable with each episode, she brings out more fun and enjoys it even more". When asked by "Elle" Korea about being described as "icon" and "unique", Jennie responded that "it's really an honor to be an inspiration and iconic being for someone. When you express me with these words, I feel like [I need] to look nicer and better".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie, instrumental in Blackpink's fashion image, has been nicknamed "Human Gucci" and "Human Chanel". Her style portfolio ranges from Gucci and Saint Laurent to niche labels such as Marine Serre and Richard Quinn. Jennie's sense of fashion earned her invitations to fashion events such as Saint Laurent's Summer 17 Collection Launch Party by Anthony Vaccarello, Chanel's Mademoiselle Privé exhibition, and Prada's Comics Collection Launch Party. Chanel chose her as House Ambassador after noting her ripple commercial impact. The hairpins Jennie wore in a five-by-five partition during her performances of her debut single "Solo" instantly trended in South Korea and were referred to as "Jennie's hairpins".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie's first magazine cover and a solo pictorial were for "Dazed" Korea with Saint Laurent in April 2017. She was the first Korean celebrity to model for "Boucheron Paris", a 160-year-old luxury jewellery brand; it was said that Jennie's "elegant" and "luxurious" atmosphere moved Boucheron to focus more on their image marketing. The pictorial, presented in the high-end membership magazine "Heren" in 2017, was described as "art that embodies light". Jennie has since appeared on the covers of numerous fashion magazines, including "Dazed", "Harper's Bazaar", "Elle", "Marie Claire", "High Cut", "Cosmopolitan", "W", "Vogue", "Wonderland", and "Billboard".


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie is known for her brand recognition and marketing power, having placed first on the Korean Business Research Institute's monthly "Individual Girl Group Members Brand Power Ranking" numerous times. Photos from her social media accounts headline articles, and the items she features become trends. In 2018, Jennie ranked second, receiving 12.2% of votes, in the Most Favorite Idols survey conducted annually by Gallup Korea that involved 1,501 Korean male and female respondents aged 13 to 29. Instagram named Jennie's account the "Most Loved Account of 2018" in South Korea based on the number of views and likes received by her Instagram stories and posts that year.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: "Forbes" acknowledged that Jennie has been "gaining a new foothold in Korea's beauty trends" and cited it as one of the reasons why Blackpink topped "Forbes" Korea Power Celebrity in April 2019. She was the most-searched female K-pop idol of 2019 according to Google's mid-year chart. That year, Jennie was also ranked as the seventh most popular female K-pop idol in a survey of soldiers completing mandatory military service in South Korea. In Gallup Korea's music poll in 2019, Jennie was voted the eighth most popular idol in South Korea, ahead of her bandmates. Jennie's "Jentle Home" collection, launched in April 2020, sold out immediately on multiple occasions the collection's products being restocked. On December 2, 2020, Chinese singer and former "Youth With You" contestant Ye Ziming released a song titled "Jennie", which featured lyrics about his admiration of Jennie.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: On January 16, 2021, her 25th birthday, Jennie started her official YouTube channel. It gained one million subscribers in less than seven hours, becoming the fastest channel to do so on the platform. Within 24 hours, she accumulated over 1.75 million subscribers and became the second most subscribed YouTube user within the timeframe, following Brazilian singer Marília Mendonça. Sales losses suffered by Chum Churum, a soju brand under Lotte Corporation, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were reported to have recovered by 14–15% after they secured Jennie to promote their product. It was also reported that Ace Bed stock price soaring 28.14% after naming Jennie as their new brand model. Former K-pop girl group After School member Jung Ah nicknamed her baby Jennie, calling it a "cute and pretty" name and citing her admiration of Jennie as an idol. In August 2021, Jennie was voted the sixth most well-rounded idol with talents in songwriting, dancing, and singing. She was the highest rank female idol on the list with 2,025 votes. Jennie became the first Korean individual to amass 50 million followers on Instagram. In November 2021, "Osen" reported that Jennie was ranked sixth in celebrity endorsement earnings in 2021, with an estimated ₩5 billion, despite only appearing in five advertisements that year.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: On February 23, 2022, a day after the release of her "Jentle Garden" app, it was reported that it had ranked number one in the "popularity" category of the Korean App Store, surpassing social media platform TikTok. In March 2022, YG Family's video titled 'Fifteen Nights on a Business Trip 2' with Jennie as a special guest has surpassed 10 million views on YouTube. The clothes she wore went viral, including search phrases on portal sites.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Various artists have cited Jennie as an influence and role model, such as Hot Issue's Dana, Woo!ah!'s Nana, Cignature's Belle, LinQ's Miyu Kaneko, Nmixx's Lily, Sullyoon and Jiwoo, Aespa's Ningning and Lightsum's Jian. Olympic athletes Hwang Sun-woo and Kang So-hwi are also fans of Jennie.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: In 2019, Jennie became the face of Hera, a South Korean luxury beauty brand owned by Amore Pacific, choosing Jennie to represent their brand due to her "elegant and luxurious" image. Hera's first lip advertisement with Jennie, the Red Vibe lip series, saw an increase in sales by five times compared to Hera's previous lip product. Due to their growing popularity, they were dubbed "Jennie's lipsticks". In April 2021, Hera launched their Rouge Holic line on Amazon with Jennie serving as their global ambassador. In April 2022, Jennie promoted Hera's Silky Stay Foundation.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: KT Corporation, South Korea's largest telephone company, recruited Jennie as an endorsement model alongside Soojoo for the Samsung Galaxy S20 Aura Red and Blue, respectively, in February 2020. The product, named "Jennie Red", was launched exclusively for KT customers residing in South Korea. On June 11, 2020 Lotte Confectionery announced Jennie as their brand endorser for their latest snack product, Air Baked. They considered Jennie to be "trendy" within their targeted customer demographic, women in their 20s and 30s, for the product.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: On February 2, 2021, Jennie was announced as the face of Chum Churum, a soju brand under Lotte Corporation. On February 10, Lotte Chilsung released Jennie's promotional material for the brand for the first time. On March 8, Jennie became the advertisement model of Kwangdong Vita500, a vitamin drink brand. On April 8, Dashing Diva, a global nail brand, introduced Jennie as their new brand model. On August 17, she became a model for South Korean bed and mattress brand Ace Bed. In August 2022, Jennie became the face of soju brand Lotte Soonhari. In September 2022, Jennie became a model for South Korean perfume brand Tamburins.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie was chosen as the new muse for Chanel Korea Beauty and shot her first pictorial for the brand with "Harper's Bazaar" Korea in January 2018. She became the ambassador of Chanel Korea in June. A spokesperson for Chanel Korea explained that Jennie's loyalty to the brand, as well as her trendy style, was in line with Chanel's image as they targeted young millennials in addition to their current consumers. Jennie attended the launch of Chanel's new fragrance, Les Eaux De Chanel, in Deauville, France, that same month. She met and interviewed Chanel's in-house perfume creator, Olivier Polge, and shot a pictorial for his new collection of fragrances with "Cosmopolitan" Korea. In October, Jennie was named global ambassador for Chanel with label-mate G-Dragon. She attended her first Chanel fashion show as a Korean representative during Paris Fashion Week, sitting front-row next to Pharrell Williams and Pamela Anderson. On September 23, 2021, Jennie became the face of Chanel's Coco Neige 2021-22 campaign with photos taken by Dutch photographers Inez and Vinoodh.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: On May 18, 2021, Jennie became the face of Calvin Klein's Spring 2021 collection, Drop 02, a collaboration between Calvin Klein and Heron Preston. Her campaign images were shot by photographer Kim Hee June and directed by Qiu Bohan. On September 9, 2021, Jennie became a model for Calvin Klein's Fall 2021 campaign, called The Language of Calvin Klein, as part of the brand's #MyCalvins digital campaign. Her photos were shot by Hong Jang Hyun. On February 16, 2022, Jennie became the face of Calvin Klein's Spring 2022 Campaign.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie served as one of the fashion editors for "Vogue" Korea's March 2021 issue. According to the magazine, she participated in photoshoots as a planner and helped decide the concept, hair and makeup drafts, and styling.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: On April 15, 2020, it was announced that Jennie had collaborated with Gentle Monster, a South Korean luxury eyewear brand, to create a collection called "Jentle Home", inspired by Jennie's childhood memories. Jennie designed the items herself, including glasses, sunglasses, eyewear chains, and more. In May 2020, Gentle Monster and Jennie opened a dollhouse-themed pop up store in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. On February 18, 2022, Gentle Monster announced the launch of the mobile game "Jentle Garden", their second collaboration with Jennie, which released on February 22 in the Google Play Store and App Store. The game was launched to commemorate the next product collaboration, scheduled to be launched in mid-March. On March 10, 2022, Jennie and Gentle Monster released their third collaboration, an eyewear collection called "Jentle Garden". The campaign photos were shot by French photographer Hugo Comte. Days later, Jennie and Gentle Monster opened a fantasy world-themed pop up store in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The house at the pop up store was designed by Jennie. In April 2022, Jennie and Gentle Monster released a limited eyewear collection titled "Lesyeuxdenini" which were only available at Gentle Monster's Los Angeles flagship store. Jennie also designed the collection's leather package and flower keyring. On October 12, 2022, it was announced that Jennie had begun a partnership with German auto company Porsche, and helped in the design process of a custom car made for herself, named "Jennie Ruby Jane" in the model of a Taycan 4S Cross Turismo.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: Jennie has been part of the Cheongdam Woori Animal Hospital's "Protect Our Family" campaign since 2018, which helps to protect pets and rescue abandoned dogs.


title: Jennie (singer)

text: All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association's database, unless otherwise noted.


title: Capital punishment

text: Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that the person is responsible for violating norms that warrant said punishment. The sentence ordering that an offender is to be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is "condemned" and is commonly referred to as being "on death row".


title: Capital punishment

text: Crimes that are punishable by death are known as "capital crimes", "capital offences", or "capital felonies", and vary depending on the jurisdiction, but commonly include serious crimes against the person, such as murder, mass murder, aggravated cases of rape (often including child sexual abuse), terrorism, aircraft hijacking, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, along with crimes against the state such as attempting to overthrow government, treason, espionage, sedition, and piracy, among other crimes. Also, in some cases, acts of recidivism, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping, in addition to drug trafficking, drug dealing, and drug possession, are capital crimes or enhancements. However, states have also imposed punitive executions, for an expansive range of conduct, for political or religious beliefs and practices, for a status beyond one's control, or without employing any significant due process procedures. Judicial murder is the intentional and premeditated killing of an innocent person by means of capital punishment. For example, the executions following the show trials in Russia during the Great Purge of 1937–1938 were an instrument of political repression.


title: Capital punishment

text: Etymologically, the term "capital" (lit. "of the head", derived via the Latin ' from ', "head") refers to execution by beheading, but executions are carried out by many methods, including hanging, shooting, lethal injection, stoning, electrocution, and gassing.


title: Capital punishment

text: As of 2022, 55 countries retain capital punishment, 109 countries have completely abolished it "de jure" for all crimes, seven have abolished it for ordinary crimes (while maintaining it for special circumstances such as war crimes), and 24 are abolitionist in practice. Although the majority of nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where the death penalty is retained, such as China, India, the United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan, and Taiwan.


title: Capital punishment

text: Capital punishment is controversial in several countries and states, and positions can vary within a single political ideology or cultural region. Amnesty International declares that the death penalty breaches human rights, stating "the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." These rights are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. In the European Union (EU), Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment. The Council of Europe, which has 46 member states, has sought to abolish the use of the death penalty by its members absolutely, through Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, this only affects those member states which have signed and ratified it, and they do not include Armenia and Azerbaijan. The United Nations General Assembly has adopted, throughout the years from 2007 to 2020, eight non-binding resolutions calling for a global moratorium on executions, with a view to eventual abolition.


title: Capital punishment

text: Execution of criminals and dissidents has been used by nearly all societies since the beginning of civilizations on Earth. Until the nineteenth century, without developed prison systems, there was frequently no workable alternative to ensure deterrence and incapacitation of criminals. In pre-modern times the executions themselves often involved torture with cruel and painful methods, such as the breaking wheel, keelhauling, sawing, hanging, drawing, and quartering, burning at the stake, flaying, slow slicing, boiling alive, impalement, mazzatello, blowing from a gun, schwedentrunk, and scaphism. Other methods which appear only in legend include the blood eagle and brazen bull.


title: Capital punishment

text: The use of formal execution extends to the beginning of recorded history. Most historical records and various primitive tribal practices indicate that the death penalty was a part of their justice system. Communal punishments for wrongdoing generally included blood money compensation by the wrongdoer, corporal punishment, shunning, banishment and execution. In tribal societies, compensation and shunning were often considered enough as a form of justice. The response to crimes committed by neighbouring tribes, clans or communities included a formal apology, compensation, blood feuds, and tribal warfare.


title: Capital punishment

text: A blood feud or vendetta occurs when arbitration between families or tribes fails or an arbitration system is non-existent. This form of justice was common before the emergence of an arbitration system based on state or organized religion. It may result from crime, land disputes or a code of honour. "Acts of retaliation underscore the ability of the social collective to defend itself and demonstrate to enemies (as well as potential allies) that injury to property, rights, or the person will not go unpunished."


title: Capital punishment

text: In most countries that practise capital punishment, it is now reserved for murder, terrorism, war crimes, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice. In some countries sexual crimes, such as rape, fornication, adultery, incest, sodomy, and bestiality carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as Hudud, Zina, and Qisas crimes, such as apostasy (formal renunciation of the state religion), blasphemy, moharebeh, hirabah, Fasad, Mofsed-e-filarz and witchcraft. In many countries that use the death penalty, drug trafficking and often drug possession is also a capital offence. In China, human trafficking and serious cases of corruption and financial crimes are punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world courts-martial have imposed death sentences for offences such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny.


title: Capital punishment

text: Elaborations of tribal arbitration of feuds included peace settlements often done in a religious context and compensation system. Compensation was based on the principle of "substitution" which might include material (for example, cattle, slaves, land) compensation, exchange of brides or grooms, or payment of the blood debt. Settlement rules could allow for animal blood to replace human blood, or transfers of property or blood money or in some case an offer of a person for execution. The person offered for execution did not have to be an original perpetrator of the crime because the social system was based on tribes and clans, not individuals. Blood feuds could be regulated at meetings, such as the Norsemen "things". Systems deriving from blood feuds may survive alongside more advanced legal systems or be given recognition by courts (for example, trial by combat or blood money). One of the more modern refinements of the blood feud is the duel.


title: Capital punishment

text: In certain parts of the world, nations in the form of ancient republics, monarchies or tribal oligarchies emerged. These nations were often united by common linguistic, religious or family ties. Moreover, expansion of these nations often occurred by conquest of neighbouring tribes or nations. Consequently, various classes of royalty, nobility, various commoners and slaves emerged. Accordingly, the systems of tribal arbitration were submerged into a more unified system of justice which formalized the relation between the different "social classes" rather than "tribes". The earliest and most famous example is Code of Hammurabi which set the different punishment and compensation, according to the different class or group of victims and perpetrators. The Torah/Old Testament lays down the death penalty for murder, kidnapping, practicing magic, violation of the Sabbath, blasphemy, and a wide range of sexual crimes, although evidence suggests that actual executions were exceedingly rare, if they occurred at all.


title: Capital punishment

text: A further example comes from Ancient Greece, where the Athenian legal system replacing customary oral law was first written down by Draco in about 621 BC: the death penalty was applied for a particularly wide range of crimes, though Solon later repealed Draco's code and published new laws, retaining capital punishment only for intentional homicide, and only with victim's family permission. The word draconian derives from Draco's laws. The Romans also used the death penalty for a wide range of offences.


title: Capital punishment

text: Protagoras (whose thought is reported by Plato) criticizes the principle of revenge, because once the damage is done it cannot be canceled by any action. So, if the death penalty is to be imposed by society, it is only to protect the latter against the criminal or for a dissuasive purpose. "The only right that Protagoras knows is therefore human right, which, established and sanctioned by a sovereign collectivity, identifies itself with positive or the law in force of the city. In fact, it finds its guarantee in the death penalty which threatens all those who do not respect it."


title: Capital punishment

text: Plato, for his part, saw the death penalty as a means of purification, because crimes are a "defilement". Thus in the Laws, he considered necessary the execution of the animal or the destruction of the object which caused the death of a Man by accident. For the murderers, he considered that the act of homicide is not natural and is not fully consented by the criminal. Homicide is thus a disease of the soul, which must be reeducated as much as possible, and, as a last resort, sentence to death if no rehabilitation is possible.


title: Capital punishment

text: According to Aristotle, for whom free will is proper to man, the citizen is responsible for his acts. If there was a crime, a judge must define the penalty allowing the crime to be annulled by compensating it. This is how pecuniary compensation appeared for criminals the least recalcitrant and whose rehabilitation is deemed possible. But for others, the death penalty is necessary according to Aristotle.


title: Capital punishment

text: This philosophy aims on the one hand to protect society and on the other hand to compensate to cancel the consequences of the crime committed. It inspired Western criminal law until the 17th century, a time when the first reflections on the abolition of the death penalty appeared.


title: Capital punishment

text: In ancient Rome, the application of the death penalty against Roman citizens was unusual and considered exceptional. They preferred alternative sentences ranging, depending on the crime and the criminal, from private or public reprimand to exile, including the confiscation of his property, or torture, or even prison, and as a last resort, death. A historic debate, followed by a vote, took place in the Roman Senate to decide the fate of Catiline's allies when he tried to take power in December −63. Then Roman consul, argued in favor of the killing of conspirators without judgment by decision of the Senate (Senatus consultum ultimum) and was supported by the majority of senators; among the minority voices opposed to the execution, most notable was that of Julius Caesar. The custom was quite different for foreigners who were considered inferior to Roman citizens, and especially for slaves, who were considered transferrable property.


title: Capital punishment

text: Although many are executed in the People's Republic of China each year in the present day, there was a time in the Tang dynasty (618–907) when the death penalty was abolished. This was in the year 747, enacted by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (r. 712–756). When abolishing the death penalty Xuanzong ordered his officials to refer to the nearest regulation by analogy when sentencing those found guilty of crimes for which the prescribed punishment was execution. Thus depending on the severity of the crime a punishment of severe scourging with the thick rod or of exile to the remote Lingnan region might take the place of capital punishment. However, the death penalty was restored only 12 years later in 759 in response to the An Lushan Rebellion. At this time in the Tang dynasty only the emperor had the authority to sentence criminals to execution. Under Xuanzong capital punishment was relatively infrequent, with only 24 executions in the year 730 and 58 executions in the year 736.


title: Capital punishment

text: The two most common forms of execution in the Tang dynasty were strangulation and decapitation, which were the prescribed methods of execution for 144 and 89 offences respectively. Strangulation was the prescribed sentence for lodging an accusation against one's parents or grandparents with a magistrate, scheming to kidnap a person and sell them into slavery, and opening a coffin while desecrating a tomb. Decapitation was the method of execution prescribed for more serious crimes such as treason and sedition. Despite the great discomfort involved, most of the Tang Chinese preferred strangulation to decapitation, as a result of the traditional Tang Chinese belief that the body is a gift from the parents and that it is, therefore, disrespectful to one's ancestors to die without returning one's body to the grave intact.


title: Capital punishment

text: Some further forms of capital punishment were practised in the Tang dynasty, of which the first two that follow at least were extralegal. The first of these was scourging to death with the thick rod which was common throughout the Tang dynasty especially in cases of gross corruption. The second was truncation, in which the convicted person was cut in two at the waist with a fodder knife and then left to bleed to death. A further form of execution called Ling Chi (slow slicing), or death by/of a thousand cuts, was used from the close of the Tang dynasty (around 900) to its abolition in 1905.


title: Capital punishment

text: When a minister of the fifth grade or above received a death sentence the emperor might grant him a special dispensation allowing him to commit suicide in lieu of execution. Even when this privilege was not granted, the law required that the condemned minister be provided with food and ale by his keepers and transported to the execution ground in a cart rather than having to walk there.


title: Capital punishment

text: Nearly all executions under the Tang dynasty took place in public as a warning to the population. The heads of the executed were displayed on poles or spears. When local authorities decapitated a convicted criminal, the head was boxed and sent to the capital as proof of identity and that the execution had taken place.


title: Capital punishment

text: In medieval and early modern Europe, before the development of modern prison systems, the death penalty was also used as a generalized form of punishment for even minor offences.


title: Capital punishment

text: In early modern Europe, a massive moral panic regarding witchcraft swept across Europe and later the European colonies in North America. During this period, there were widespread claims that malevolent Satanic witches were operating as an organized threat to Christendom. As a result, tens of thousands of women were prosecuted for witchcraft and executed through the witch trials of the early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries).


title: Capital punishment

text: The death penalty also targeted sexual offences such as sodomy. In the early history of Islam (7th–11th centuries), there is a number of "purported (but mutually inconsistent) reports" ("athar") regarding the punishments of sodomy ordered by some of the early caliphs. Abu Bakr, the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, apparently recommended toppling a wall on the culprit, or else burning him alive, while Ali ibn Abi Talib is said to have ordered death by stoning for one sodomite and had another thrown head-first from the top of the highest building in the town; according to Ibn Abbas, the latter punishment must be followed by stoning. Other medieval Muslim leaders, such as the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad (most notably al-Mu'tadid), were often cruel in their punishments. In early modern England, the Buggery Act 1533 stipulated hanging as punishment for "buggery". James Pratt and John Smith were the last two Englishmen to be executed for sodomy in 1835. In 1636 the laws of Puritan governed Plymouth Colony included a sentence of death for sodomy and buggery. The Massachusetts Bay Colony followed in 1641. Throughout the 19th century, U.S. states repealed death sentences from their sodomy laws, with South Carolina being the last to do so in 1873.


title: Capital punishment

text: Historians recognize that during the Early Middle Ages, the Christian populations living in the lands invaded by the Arab Muslim armies between the 7th and 10th centuries suffered religious discrimination, religious persecution, religious violence, and martyrdom multiple times at the hands of Arab Muslim officials and rulers. As People of the Book, Christians under Muslim rule were subjected to "dhimmi" status (along with Jews, Samaritans, Gnostics, Mandeans, and Zoroastrians), which was inferior to the status of Muslims. Christians and other religious minorities thus faced religious discrimination and religious persecution in that they were banned from proselytising (for Christians, it was forbidden to evangelize or spread Christianity) in the lands invaded by the Arab Muslims on pain of death, they were banned from bearing arms, undertaking certain professions, and were obligated to dress differently in order to distinguish themselves from Arabs. Under "sharia", Non-Muslims were obligated to pay "jizya" and "kharaj" taxes, together with periodic heavy ransom levied upon Christian communities by Muslim rulers in order to fund military campaigns, all of which contributed a significant proportion of income to the Islamic states while conversely reducing many Christians to poverty, and these financial and social hardships forced many Christians to convert to Islam. Christians unable to pay these taxes were forced to surrender their children to the Muslim rulers as payment who would sell them as slaves to Muslim households where they were forced to convert to Islam. Many Christian martyrs were executed under the Islamic death penalty for defending their Christian faith through dramatic acts of resistance such as refusing to convert to Islam, repudiation of the Islamic religion and subsequent reconversion to Christianity, and blasphemy towards Muslim beliefs.


title: Capital punishment

text: Despite the wide use of the death penalty, calls for reform were not unknown. The 12th-century Jewish legal scholar Moses Maimonides wrote: "It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent man to death." He argued that executing an accused criminal on anything less than absolute certainty would lead to a slippery slope of decreasing burdens of proof, until we would be convicting merely "according to the judge's caprice". Maimonides's concern was maintaining popular respect for law, and he saw errors of commission as much more threatening than errors of omission.


title: Capital punishment

text: While during the Middle Ages the expiatory aspect of the death penalty was taken into account, this is no longer the case under the Lumières. These define the place of man within society no longer according to a divine rule, but as a contract established at birth between the citizen and the society, it is the social contract. From that moment on, capital punishment should be seen as useful to society through its dissuasive effect, but also as a means of protection of the latter vis-à-vis criminals.


title: Capital punishment

text: In the last several centuries, with the emergence of modern nation states, justice came to be increasingly associated with the concept of natural and legal rights. The period saw an increase in standing police forces and permanent penitential institutions. Rational choice theory, a utilitarian approach to criminology which justifies punishment as a form of deterrence as opposed to retribution, can be traced back to Cesare Beccaria, whose influential treatise "On Crimes and Punishments" (1764) was the first detailed analysis of capital punishment to demand the abolition of the death penalty. In England Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), the founder of modern utilitarianism, called for the abolition of the death penalty. Beccaria, and later Charles Dickens and Karl Marx noted the incidence of increased violent criminality at the times and places of executions. Official recognition of this phenomenon led to executions being carried out inside prisons, away from public view.


title: Capital punishment

text: In England in the 18th century, when there was no police force, Parliament drastically increased the number of capital offences to more than 200. These were mainly property offences, for example cutting down a cherry tree in an orchard. In 1820, there were 160, including crimes such as shoplifting, petty theft or stealing cattle. The severity of the so-called Bloody Code was often tempered by juries who refused to convict, or judges, in the case of petty theft, who arbitrarily set the value stolen at below the statutory level for a capital crime.


title: Capital punishment

text: In Nazi Germany there were three types of capital punishment; hanging, decapitation and death by shooting. Also, modern military organisations employed capital punishment as a means of maintaining military discipline. In the past, cowardice, absence without leave, desertion, insubordination, shirking under enemy fire and disobeying orders were often crimes punishable by death (see decimation and running the gauntlet). One method of execution, since firearms came into common use, has also been firing squad, although some countries use execution with a single shot to the head or neck.


title: Capital punishment

text: Various authoritarian states—for example those with Fascist or Communist governments—employed the death penalty as a potent means of political oppression. According to Robert Conquest, the leading expert on , more than one million Soviet citizens were executed during the Great Purge of 1937–38, almost all by a bullet to the back of the head. Mao Zedong publicly stated that "800,000" people had been executed in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Partly as a response to such excesses, civil rights organizations started to place increasing emphasis on the concept of human rights and an abolition of the death penalty.


title: Capital punishment

text: By continent, all European states but one have abolished capital punishment; many Oceanian states have abolished it; most states in the Americas have abolished its use, while a few actively retain it; less than half of countries in Africa retain it; and the majority of countries in Asia retain it.


title: Capital punishment

text: Abolition was often adopted due to political change, as when countries shifted from authoritarianism to democracy, or when it became an entry condition for the EU. The United States is a notable exception: some states have had bans on capital punishment for decades, the earliest being Michigan where it was abolished in 1846, while other states still actively use it today. The death penalty in the United States remains a contentious issue which is hotly debated.


title: Capital punishment

text: In retentionist countries, the debate is sometimes revived when a miscarriage of justice has occurred though this tends to cause legislative efforts to improve the judicial process rather than to abolish the death penalty. In abolitionist countries, the debate is sometimes revived by particularly brutal murders though few countries have brought it back after abolishing it. However, a spike in serious, violent crimes, such as murders or terrorist attacks, has prompted some countries to effectively end the moratorium on the death penalty. One notable example is Pakistan which in December 2014 lifted a six-year moratorium on executions after the Peshawar school massacre during which 132 students and 9 members of staff of the Army Public School and Degree College Peshawar were killed by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists, a group distinct from the Afghan Taliban, who condemned the attack.


title: Capital punishment

text: In 2017, two major countries, Turkey and the Philippines, saw their executives making moves to reinstate the death penalty. In the same year, passage of the law in the Philippines failed to obtain the Senate's approval.


title: Capital punishment

text: On 29 December 2021, after a 20-year moratorium, the Kazakhstan government enacted the 'On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Abolition of the Death Penalty' signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as part of series of Omnibus reformations of the Kazak legal system 'Listening State' initiative.


title: Capital punishment

text: In 724 AD in Japan, the death penalty was banned during the reign of Emperor Shōmu but the abolition only lasted a few years. In 818, Emperor Saga abolished the death penalty under the influence of Shinto and it lasted until 1156. In China, the death penalty was banned by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang in 747, replacing it with exile or scourging. However, the ban only lasted 12 years. Following his conversion to Christianity in 988, Vladimir the Great abolished the death penalty in Kievan Rus', along with torture and mutilation; corporal punishment was also seldom used.


title: Capital punishment

text: In England, a public statement of opposition was included in The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards, written in 1395. Sir Thomas More's "Utopia", published in 1516, debated the benefits of the death penalty in dialogue form, coming to no firm conclusion. More was himself executed for treason in 1535.


title: Capital punishment

text: More recent opposition to the death penalty stemmed from the book of the Italian Cesare Beccaria "Dei Delitti e Delle Pene" ("On Crimes and Punishments"), published in 1764. In this book, Beccaria aimed to demonstrate not only the injustice, but even the futility from the point of view of social welfare, of torture and the death penalty. Influenced by the book, Grand Duke Leopold II of Habsburg, the future Emperor of Austria, abolished the death penalty in the then-independent Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the first permanent abolition in modern times. On 30 November 1786, after having "de facto" blocked executions (the last was in 1769), Leopold promulgated the reform of the penal code that abolished the death penalty and ordered the destruction of all the instruments for capital execution in his land. In 2000, Tuscany's regional authorities instituted an annual holiday on 30 November to commemorate the event. The event is commemorated on this day by 300 cities around the world celebrating Cities for Life Day. In the United Kingdom, it was abolished for murder (leaving only treason, piracy with violence, arson in royal dockyards and a number of wartime military offences as capital crimes) for a five-year experiment in 1965 and permanently in 1969, the last execution having taken place in 1964. It was abolished for all offences in 1998. Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, first entering into force in 2003, prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances for those states that are party to it, including the United Kingdom from 2004.


title: Capital punishment

text: In the post-classical Republic of Poljica, life was ensured as a basic right in its Poljica Statute of 1440. The short-lived revolutionary Roman Republic banned capital punishment in 1849. Venezuela followed suit and abolished the death penalty in 1863 and San Marino did so in 1865. The last execution in San Marino had taken place in 1468. In Portugal, after legislative proposals in 1852 and 1863, the death penalty was abolished in 1867. The last execution in Brazil was 1876; from then on all the condemnations were commuted by the Emperor Pedro II until its abolition for civil offences and military offences in peacetime in 1891. The penalty for crimes committed in peacetime was then reinstated and abolished again twice (1938–1953 and 1969–1978), but on those occasions it was restricted to acts of terrorism or subversion considered "internal warfare" and all sentences were commuted and not carried out.


title: Capital punishment

text: Abolition occurred in Canada in 1976 (except for some military offences, with complete abolition in 1998); in France in 1981; and in Australia in 1973 (although the state of Western Australia retained the penalty until 1984). In South Australia, under the premiership of then-Premier Dunstan, the "Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935" (SA) was modified so that the death sentence was changed to life imprisonment in 1976.


title: Capital punishment

text: In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly affirmed in a formal resolution that throughout the world, it is desirable to "progressively restrict the number of offences for which the death penalty might be imposed, with a view to the desirability of abolishing this punishment".


title: Capital punishment

text: In the United States, Michigan was the first state to ban the death penalty, on 18 May 1846. The death penalty was declared unconstitutional between 1972 and 1976 based on the "Furman v. Georgia" case, but the 1976 "Gregg v. Georgia" case once again permitted the death penalty under certain circumstances. Further limitations were placed on the death penalty in "Atkins v. Virginia" (2002; death penalty unconstitutional for people with an intellectual disability) and "Roper v. Simmons" (2005; death penalty unconstitutional if defendant was under age 18 at the time the crime was committed). In the United States, 23 states and the District of Columbia ban capital punishment.


title: Capital punishment

text: Many countries have abolished capital punishment either in law or in practice. Since World War II, there has been a trend toward abolishing capital punishment. Capital punishment has been completely abolished by 108 countries, a further seven have done so for all offences except under special circumstances and 26 more have abolished it in practice because they have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice against carrying out executions.


title: Capital punishment

text: Most nations, including almost all developed countries, have abolished capital punishment either in law or in practice; notable exceptions are the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea. Additionally, capital punishment is also carried out in China, India, and most Islamic states.


title: Capital punishment

text: Since World War II, there has been a trend toward abolishing the death penalty. 54 countries retain the death penalty in active use, 109 countries have abolished capital punishment altogether, 7 have done so for all offences except under special circumstances, and 25 more have abolished it in practice because they have not used it for at least 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice against carrying out executions.


title: Capital punishment

text: According to Amnesty International, 18 countries are known to have performed executions in 2020. There are countries which do not publish information on the use of capital punishment, most significantly China and North Korea. According to Amnesty International, around 1,000 prisoners were executed in 2017. Amnesty reported in 2004 and 2009 that Singapore and Iraq respectively had the world's highest per capita execution rate. According to Al Jazeera and UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed, Iran has had the world's highest per capita execution rate. A 2012 EU report from the Directorate-General for External Relations' policy department pointed to Gaza as having the highest per capita execution rate in the MENA region.


title: Capital punishment

text: The use of the death penalty is becoming increasingly restrained in some retentionist countries including Taiwan and Singapore. Indonesia carried out no executions between November 2008 and March 2013. Singapore, Japan and the United States are the only developed countries that are classified by Amnesty International as 'retentionist' (South Korea is classified as 'abolitionist in practice'). Nearly all retentionist countries are situated in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The only retentionist country in Europe is Belarus. During the 1980s, the democratisation of Latin America swelled the ranks of abolitionist countries.


title: Capital punishment

text: This was soon followed by the fall of Communism in Europe. Many of the countries which restored democracy aspired to enter the EU. The EU and the Council of Europe both strictly require member states not to practise the death penalty (see Capital punishment in Europe). Public support for the death penalty in the EU varies. The last execution in a member state of the present-day Council of Europe took place in 1997 in Ukraine. In contrast, the rapid industrialisation in Asia has seen an increase in the number of developed countries which are also retentionist. In these countries, the death penalty retains strong public support, and the matter receives little attention from the government or the media; in China there is a small but significant and growing movement to abolish the death penalty altogether. This trend has been followed by some African and Middle Eastern countries where support for the death penalty remains high.


title: Capital punishment

text: Some countries have resumed practising the death penalty after having previously suspended the practice for long periods. The United States suspended executions in 1972 but resumed them in 1976; there was no execution in India between 1995 and 2004; and Sri Lanka declared an end to its moratorium on the death penalty on 20 November 2004, although it has not yet performed any further executions. The Philippines re-introduced the death penalty in 1993 after abolishing it in 1987, but again abolished it in 2006.


title: Capital punishment

text: The United States and Japan are the only developed countries to have recently carried out executions. The U.S. federal government, the U.S. military, and 27 states have a valid death penalty statute, and over 1,400 executions have been carried in the United States since it reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Japan has 106 inmates with finalized death sentences , after executing Tomohiro Katō, who was charged with killing seven and injured ten in Akihabara massacre in June 2008.


title: Capital punishment

text: The most recent country to abolish the death penalty was Kazakhstan on 2 January 2021 after a moratorium dating back 2 decades.


title: Capital punishment

text: According to an Amnesty International report released in April 2020, Egypt ranked regionally third and globally fifth among the countries that carried out most executions in 2019. The country increasingly became ignorant of international human rights concerns and criticism. In March 2021, Egypt executed 11 prisoners in a jail, who were convicted in cases of "murder, theft, and shooting".


title: Capital punishment

text: According to Amnesty International's 2021 report, at least 483 people were executed in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The figure excluded the countries that classify death penalty data as state secret. The top five executioners for 2020 were China, Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.


title: Capital punishment

text: The public opinion on the death penalty varies considerably by country and by the crime in question. Countries where a majority of people are against execution include Norway, where only 25% are in favour. Most French, Finns, and Italians also oppose the death penalty. A 2020 Gallup poll shows that 55% of Americans support the death penalty for an individual convicted of murder, down from 60% in 2016, 64% in 2010, 65% in 2006, and 68% in 2001. In 2020, 43% of Italians expressed support for the death penalty.


title: Capital punishment

text: In Taiwan, polls and research have consistently shown strong support for the death penalty at 80%. This includes a survey conducted by the National Development Council of Taiwan in 2016, showing that 88% of Taiwanese people disagree with abolishing the death penalty. Its continuation of the practice drew criticism from local rights groups.


title: Capital punishment

text: The support and sentencing of capital punishment has been growing in India in the 2010s due to anger over several recent brutal cases of rape, even though actual executions are comparatively rare. While support for the death penalty for murder is still high in China, executions have dropped precipitously, with 3,000 executed in 2012 versus 12,000 in 2002. A poll in South Africa, where capital punishment is abolished, found that 76% of millennial South Africans support re-introduction of the death penalty due to increasing incidents of rape and murder.


title: Capital punishment

text: A 2017 poll found younger Mexicans are more likely to support capital punishment than older ones. 57% of Brazilians support the death penalty. The age group that shows the greatest support for execution of those condemned is the 25 to 34-year-old category, in which 61% say they are in favor.


title: Capital punishment

text: The death penalty for juvenile offenders (criminals aged under 18 years at the time of their crime although the legal or accepted definition of "juvenile offender" may vary from one jurisdiction to another) has become increasingly rare. Considering the age of majority is not 18 in some countries or has not been clearly defined in law, since 1990 ten countries have executed offenders who were considered juveniles at the time of their crimes: The People's Republic of China (PRC), Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United States, and Yemen. China, Pakistan, the United States, Yemen and Saudi Arabia have since raised the minimum age to 18. Amnesty International has recorded 61 verified executions since then, in several countries, of both juveniles and adults who had been convicted of committing their offences as juveniles. The PRC does not allow for the execution of those under 18, but child executions have reportedly taken place.


title: Capital punishment

text: One of the youngest children ever to be executed was the infant son of Perotine Massey on or around 18 July 1556. His mother was one of the Guernsey Martyrs who was executed for heresy, and his father had previously fled the island. At less than one day old, he was ordered to be burned by Bailiff Hellier Gosselin, with the advice of priests nearby who said the boy should burn due to having inherited moral stain from his mother, who had given birth during her execution.


title: Capital punishment

text: Starting from 1642 in Colonial America until the present day in the United States, an estimated 365 juvenile offenders were executed by various colonial authorities and (after the American Revolution) the federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court abolished capital punishment for offenders under the age of 16 in "Thompson v. Oklahoma" (1988), and for all juveniles in "Roper v. Simmons" (2005).


title: Capital punishment

text: In Prussia, children under the age of 14 were exempted from the death penalty in 1794. Capital punishment was cancelled by the Electorate of Bavaria in 1751 for children under the age of 11 and by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1813 for children and youth under 16 years. In Prussia, the exemption was extended to youth under the age of 16 in 1851. For the first time, all juveniles were excluded for the death penalty by the North German Confederation in 1871, which was continued by the German Empire in 1872. In Nazi Germany, capital punishment was reinstated for juveniles between 16 and 17 years in 1939. This was broadened to children and youth from age 12 to 17 in 1943. The death penalty for juveniles was abolished by West Germany, also generally, in 1949 and by East Germany in 1952.


title: Capital punishment

text: In the Hereditary Lands, Austrian Silesia, Bohemia and Moravia within the Habsburg monarchy, capital punishment for children under the age of 11 was no longer foreseen by 1770. The death penalty was, also for juveniles, nearly abolished in 1787 except for emergency or military law, which is unclear in regard of those. It was reintroduced for juveniles above 14 years by 1803, and was raised by general criminal law to 20 years in 1852 and this exemption and the alike one of military law in 1855, which may have been up to 14 years in wartime, were also introduced into all of the Austrian Empire.