States Introduce Bills to Abolish Death Penalty

Several states have recent­ly intro­duced leg­is­la­tion to abol­ish or lim­it the death penal­ty. Bills to end cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment have been intro­duced in at least eight states: Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, New Hampshire, Maryland, Washington, and Kansas. For some of these states, the high costs of the death penal­ty has been an impor­tant fac­tor in the leg­isla­tive debates. For exam­ple, Colorado’s bill to abol­ish the death penal­ty spec­i­fies that the mon­ey saved from not pur­su­ing exe­cu­tions could be used for solv­ing cold cases. 

Other states, such as Virginia and Georgia, have pro­posed leg­is­la­tion that would expand the use of capital punishment. 

(DPIC, Feb. 10, 2009). See Recent Legislative Activity and Costs.