The History of Northeast Florida

Florida likes to execute people.  Since centralizing judicial execution in 1923, the State of Florida has executed more than 300 convicted criminals.  Prior to that, when executions were carried out by individual counties, documentation is scarce.  While Florida ranks sixth overall in state-sanctioned executions historically , it holds a solid fourth place since 1976, behind only Texas , Oklahoma , and Virginia , a period during which some states have slowed or outlawed executions altogether . Capital punishment worldwide has a long history that extends back thousands of years.  In Florida , there is evidence of Native American tribes executing members for various offenses.  As early as the 1500s, French explorers documented the beheading of Timucua sentinels for the crime of falling asleep at their posts.  It could have been worse for them, as boiling was another method of execution used by the natives. When the Spanish arrived in 1565, they brought...