In the united states capital punishment has existed since the founding of the original colonies and was utilized for a large number of crimes including burglary murder treason counterfeiting and arson outside of the law lynch mobs often formed to bring the accused to justice. Capital punishment in early canada one of the earliest recorded executions in canada was in 1749 in newly founded halifax a sailor named peter cartcel was charged with killing a man he was tried before a general court of halifaxs governor and six councillors. The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the eighteenth century bc in the code of king hammurabi of babylon which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes