Iowa and the Death Penalty | A Troubled Relationship | 1834 - 1965

Forty-six men (no women) were hanged on Iowa gallows between 1834 and 1965, the time span when capital punishment was the law of the land in Iowa. “Iowa and the Death Penalty” tells who the men were, what they did, what issues they and their crimes raised. Forty-three were murderers, three were rapists. They committed some of the most heinous crimes in Iowa history, but their deaths have left behind lingering questions. Iowa’s experience with the death penalty was not a comfortable one.