On March 12, Delaware State Senator Karen Peterson intro­duced a bill to repeal the state’s death penal­ty and replace it with life with­out parole. ​“I don’t think the state should be in the busi­ness of killing peo­ple,” Peterson said. ​“It just is so bizarre to me that we would say to some­body that what you did was so hor­ri­ble, that now we’re going to do it.” Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson, a Republican, is also back­ing the bill. The bill is retroac­tive, mean­ing that it would also replace the sen­tences of those on death row with life with­out parole. Supporters of the bill say that the death penal­ty is too cost­ly and does not deter crime. Two police orga­ni­za­tions oppose the bill, say­ing that the death penal­ty should be avail­able for those who mur­der police offi­cers. Governor Jack Markell has not tak­en a posi­tion, say­ing he has ​“an open mind” regard­ing death penal­ty repeal. Delaware has car­ried out 16 exe­cu­tions since rein­stat­ing the death penal­ty and has 17 peo­ple on death row.

(J. Starkey, ​“Death Penalty Repeal Revs Up As Police Groups Voice Opposition,” News Journal, March 12, 2013.) See Recent Legislation and Delaware.

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