1786: Pennsylvania
Drops Death Penalty
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In 1786, Pennsylvania became the first of the 13 American
states to drop the death penalty for sodomy.
The new sentence was 10 years in prison and the forfeiture
of all property. The liberalism in Pennsylvania's
legislature did not reflect a new found sympathy for
sodomites, but rather a general liberalization of the legal
code the young United States had inherited from
England. Other states eventually followed
Pennsylvania's example, though convicted sodomites could be
sentenced to death in South Carolina until 1873. |
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