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 Continue Reading →