21Giovanni Carmignani to Thomas Jefferson, 7 April 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
. Although he published an essay defending the death penalty in 1795, he later retracted that position, even refusing a judgeship in 1808 because of his opposition to capital punishment. Carmignani became a professor of public law at the University of Pisa, taught criminal law for much of his career, and in 1840 assumed a new professorship in legal philosophy at
22To James Madison from George Joy, 17 April 1817 (Madison Papers)
satisfaction that there has been no capital punishment for high treason? A better cause of satisfaction would have been that no one had deserved it.Monroe wrote: “and I add, with peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime of high treason” (
23To James Madison from G. F. H. Crockett, 24 September 1823 (Madison Papers)
An Address to the Legislature of Kentucky, on the Abolition of Capital Punishments in the United States, and the Substitution of Exile for Life
24Crime and Punishment in Federalist New York: Editorial Note (Jay Papers)
Jay reviewed recent capital punishment cases in the months prior to the passage of the reform bill. Between November 1795 and April 1796, he issued several stays of execution.In addition to noting the influence of granting pardons for capital punishment crimes at the state level,