On January 15 at a press con­fer­ence with lead­ers of the NAACP, Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley announced he will be mak­ing the repeal of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment a pri­or­i­ty in the upcom­ing leg­isla­tive ses­sion and will sub­mit a repeal bill to the leg­is­la­ture lat­er this week. Among the con­cerns about the death penal­ty expressed by the gov­er­nor were its high costs and the lack of any ben­e­fit to soci­ety: ​“Is it worth wast­ing tax­pay­er dol­lars on a pol­i­cy that does not work?” Senate President Mike Miller, who sup­ports the death penal­ty, said the bill will be giv­en a vote in the full Senate and will like­ly pass this year. Maryland has not had an exe­cu­tion or death sen­tence since 2005, and the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures have not been approved by the courts.

(R. Lang, ​“O’Malley: Death Penalty ​‘Does Not Work’,” WBAL​.com (Associated Press), January 15, 2013. See Recent Legislative Activity.

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