Capital punishment in Wisconsin was abolished in 1853. Wisconsin was one of the earliest

United States state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

s to abolish capital punishment, and is the only state that has performed only one execution in its history. Since its admission to the Union in 1848, as the 30th State, the only execution carried out in Wisconsin was the

botched execution A botched execution is defined by political science professor Austin Sarat as: Botched executions occur when there is a breakdown in, or departure from, the 'protocol' for a particular method of execution. The protocol can be established by the nor ...

of immigrant farmer

John McCaffary John McCaffary (1820 – August 21, 1851) was an Irish-American farmer who was convicted and executed for the murder of his wife, Bridgett McCaffary. His execution by hanging was botched; he was unintentionally strangled for over 20 minutes unt ...

, who was hanged on August 21, 1851, in

Kenosha County Kenosha County is located in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 169,151 as of the 2020 census, making it the eighth most populous county in Wisconsin. The county shares the same name as the city of Kenosh ...

for drowning his wife in a backyard

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

. Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853 just two years after McCaffary's execution. In 2006, an

advisory referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

showed 55.5% of Wisconsin voters were in favor of reinstating capital punishment. The

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

did not adopt any statute to apply the popular vote.

References

{{CapPun-US Legal history of Wisconsin Wisconsin

See also

References