On March 26, Delaware​’s Senate passed (11 – 10) a bill to repeal the death penal­ty, after amend­ing it to exclude cur­rent death row inmates. Those who tes­ti­fied in sup­port of the repeal cit­ed racial dis­par­i­ties, a lack of deter­rent effect, and the high costs asso­ci­at­ed with cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The bill will now move on to the House of Representatives, which is expect­ed to con­sid­er the mea­sure in April. On the same day, Colorado​’s House Judiciary Committee vot­ed (6 – 4) against a repeal bill. Legislators heard nine hours of tes­ti­mo­ny regard­ing the bill, large­ly from sup­port­ers of the mea­sure. Seventeen states have either con­sid­ered leg­is­la­tion to repeal the death penal­ty this year or will like­ly con­sid­er it in the next ses­sion. Earlier in March, a bill to repeal the death penal­ty passed the Maryland General Assembly, and the gov­er­nor has pledged to sign it into law, mak­ing Maryland the 18th state to do away with the death penalty.

(I. Moreno, ​“Colorado law­mak­ers vote to keep death penal­ty,” Associated Press, March 26, 2013; ​“Delaware Senate approves repeal of death penal­ty,” Associated Press, March 26, 2013). See Recent Legislative Activity.

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