Big things continue to build in Ohio! Just this week a new bill to repeal the state’s death penalty was introduced with significant bipartisan support. Conservative coalitions are revving up, and it looks like the Buckeye State has a good shot at success. If you are in the state, you can contact your lawmakers here to let them know you want to see them pass this bill. You can also read more about this effort here.
With a bipartisan bill that moved through its legislature at a rapid pace, Virginia became the twenty-third state to repeal the death penalty this month. The state house and senate passed identical but separate bills that will now need to be reconciled before moving on to the governor for his signature. There are no roadblocks anticipated in the final phases of the process. Virginia is the first southern state to end its death penalty system and was formerly one of the leading executioners in the country.
At the end of February, Colorado’s legislature voted to repeal the state’s death penalty. The governor is expected to sign the bill within the next week, and the legislation would go into affect on July 1st. Once these actions occur, Colorado will become the 22nd state to repeal its use of capital punishment. Combined with three other states that have moratoriums in place, that brings the grand total to 25 states without the death penalty. We’ve officially hit a tipping point and half the country has turned away from this antiquated practice in favor of systems that actually protect human life, deter crime, and use taxpayer dollars wisely. Who will be next? It’s quickly becoming a question of if and not when several other states considering this action will move. Colorado’s neighbors, Wyoming and Utah, are both at its heels and may pursue similar actions soon. In the meantime, Colorado deserves praise for taking this monumental step forward.
The Colorado state senate has voted 19 to 13 to pass legislation that will repeal the state’s death penalty statute. The senate has, for many years, been the hold-up on such passage. Republican Senators Jack Tate, Owen Hill, and Kevin Priola were all sponsors of the bill. Now, the bill will go to the state house, which is expected to present an easier pathway forward. The job is not done, but Colorado is well on its way to being the 22nd state to repeal the death penalty. Read more here.
Republicans and Democrats banded together to override the Governor’s veto of a bill to repeal the death penalty in the state, making the Granite State the 21st to do away with capital punishment. When accounting for the states that have placed moratoriums on the death penalty, that brings us to half of all states that have made this move. Of the 25 states that still have the death penalty, over a third of them have not used it in a decade or more as executions continue to fall out of favor on both the right and left. Which state will be the next to go?
Last week, Louisiana and Georgia both saw Republican-sponsored bills to repeal the death penalty introduced, making them the ninth and tenth states to see bills of this nature introduced in the 2019 session. This remarkable year is set to break records for the numbers of conservative lawmakers pushing repeal, and is surely evidence of a growing bipartisan wave against capital punishment.
On Tuesday, April 2nd the New Hampshire Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to repeal the death penalty with a vote of 4-1! The bill will now move on to the full senate as soon as next week. Congratulations to our New Hampshire coalition and all of the amazing activists there!
In 2016 and 2017, Republicans introduced one-third of all death penalty repeal bills in state legislatures across the country. With a 60% decrease in death penalty sentences since 1999 and an execution rate down 45% since that same time, it’s been apparent that the death penalty is dying in the United States for quite some time. What hasn’t been so apparent, however, is the Right’s responsibility for this trend. Considering the nation’s death penalty system is plagued with issues of ineffective legal counsel, geographical bias, innocence, racial discrimination, and astronomical costs, it’s no wonder conservatives are deciding that this practice does not align with their values. Not only that, but there is ample proof that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent. In fact, regions of the country who do not utilize their death penalty as often, such as the Northeast, have very low homicide rates, while areas that use the death penalty the most, like the South, continue to see the highest rates of violent crime. When you consider the vast amounts of money being spent on the death penalty, at least $2 million per case above the costs of sentencing som
