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Death penalty by state in the United States
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As of January 2023, the death penalty was legal in 27 states. In three of these states (California, Pennsylvania, and Oregon), the death penalty had been placed under a gubernatorial moratorium, though the laws providing for the death penalty in those states remained on the books. The remaining states disallowed the death penalty. The death penalty is permitted under federal law, as well.[1]
In 1846, Michigan became the first state to abolish the death penalty. Between 1846 and 1911, four states banned the practice. For the 46 years following Minnesota's 1911 repeal of capital punishment, no other states followed suit. Between 1957 and 1965, five additional states abolished the death penalty. During the 1970s and early 1980s, four more states followed suit. In 2007, both New Jersey and New York prohibited the death penalty. Nine states abolished the death penalty between 2007 and 2020. In August 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional. In March 2020, the Colorado State Legislature passed and Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill repealing the state's death penalty.[2] A year later, the Virginia State Legislature passed and Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed a bill repealing the state's death penalty, making Virginia the first southern state to do so.[3]
Footnotes
- ↑ ProCon.org, "States with the Death Penalty, Death Penalty Bans, and Death Penalty Moratoriums," accessed January 9, 2023
- ↑ Death Penalty Information Center, "States With and Without the Death Penalty," accessed April 6, 2018
- ↑ Axios, "Virginia becomes first Southern state to abolish death penalty," March 24, 2021
