Nearly one third of all states that still have a death penalty system have not used it in at least a decade.
There are 31 states, plus the federal government and military that still allow the death penalty. Of the inactive states, New Hampshire has gone the longest without an execution with their last dating back to 1939. The other inactive states include California, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.
For those on death row in California, the largest death row in the country population-wise, the leading causes of death are natural causes, followed by suicide. Executions come in a distant third.
On the federal level, there has not been an execution since 2003, and the military has not carried out an execution in 57 years.
We’ll just take this as further evidence that the appetite for the death penalty is declining in the country, even in states that have yet to formally do away with the system. Instead of continuing to waste millions of taxpayer dollars every year, states should repeal their death penalty laws and direct the resources to programs that actually deter violence.
