What+year+was+the+death+penalty+first+used?

The first legalized death penalty laws first started as far as back as the 1700's and early 1800's but, the death penalty could have started as far back as before 1000 b.c in China

Sites used: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/federal-death-penalty __ http://www.karisable.com/crpundeath.htm http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061113163532AAtDeAJ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment __