The chart above chronicles the United States' use of the death penalty over the years. The chart highlights the rise in use of capital punishment in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; a peak in the mid-1930s; a subsequent decline in use and moratorium; and a trend toward more executions in recent years. [Source: Executions in the U.S. 1608-1987: The Espy File;" with recent years added by Death Penalty Information Center, http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/]
