On February 14, the Montana state Senate passed a bill that would repeal the death penal­ty and replace it with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. In a 26 – 24 vote, all of the Senate’s Democrats and four Republicans sup­port­ed end­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, mark­ing the sec­ond straight leg­isla­tive ses­sion for such a vote. Senator David Wanzenried, who intro­duced the bill, said that the death penal­ty is not a fair pun­ish­ment, does not bring clo­sure for vic­tims, or serve as a deter­rent to mur­der. He said the ​“cur­rent sys­tem can’t be made fair and it can’t be made infal­li­ble.” Other con­cerns cit­ed by sup­port­ers of the repeal bill were the high risks of wrong­ful con­vic­tions, the pun­ish­men­t’s dis­pro­por­tion­al use against racial minori­ties and the poor, and the finan­cial costs of imple­ment­ing the pun­ish­ment. Republican Senator Ryan Zinke said, ​“Whether you are or not with the moral issue, there is a prac­ti­cal issue of spend­ing mon­ey.” The bill faces one more pro­ce­dur­al Senate vote and will then be passed on to the House.

(S. Dockery, ​“Montana Senate endors­es repeal of death penal­ty,” The Missoulian, February 14, 2011). See Costs, Victims and Recent Legislative Activity.

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