Colonial criminal law was notably less bloodthirsty than England’s

Evidence

Neither in theory nor in practice was colonial law very bloodthirsty. There were fewer capital crimes on the books than in England. In England, death was a possible punishment for many thieves; in Massachusetts, only for repeaters. The Quaker laws of West New Jersey substituted restitution of property or hard labor for hanging. The death penalty was not carried out very frequently in the colonies. One study found a total of forty executions in the colonies, before 1660. The figure is perhaps a bit understated, but it does not suggest wholesale carnage. There were fifteen executions in Massachusetts in this period: four for murder, two for infanticide, two for adultery, two for witchcraft, one for “buggery”; four Quakers were also put to death. But later on, nobody was executed for adultery or for the crime of being a Quaker. The Quakers themselves, in their strongholds, were loath to execute anyone, except for murder or treason. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 348