A recent col­umn in The Economist exam­ined the grow­ing num­ber of gov­er­nors and oth­er polit­i­cal lead­ers in the U.S. who are chal­leng­ing the death penal­ty. In Arkansas, Governor Mike Beebe (pic­tured) announced in January that he would sign a death penal­ty abo­li­tion bill if the leg­is­la­ture sent him one. In Maryland, Governor Martin O’Malley has led a push to repeal the death penal­ty. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said he is recon­sid­er­ing his sup­port for the death penal­ty as that state con­sid­ers its repeal. New Hampshire​’s new gov­er­nor, Maggie Hassan, indi­cat­ed she would sign a repeal bill if it reach­es her, after two pre­vi­ous gov­er­nors vetoed such actions. In Oregon, Governor John Kitzhaber sus­pend­ed exe­cu­tions for the remain­der of his term and asked leg­is­la­tors to review the issue. The Republican gov­er­nors of Ohio and Kansas also have reser­va­tions about the death penal­ty. Governor John Kasich of Ohio has grant­ed four com­mu­ta­tions in cap­i­tal cas­es, cit­ing the need for fair tri­als, and Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas said cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment should be reserved for fig­ures like Osama bin Laden. The author in The Economist con­trast­ed these devel­op­ments with Arkansas’ for­mer gov­er­nor, Bill Clinton, who flew home from cam­paign­ing for pres­i­dent in 1992 to over­see an exe­cu­tion. The arti­cle stat­ed, “[T]he death-penal­ty debate has changed in ways that go beyond day-to-day pol­i­tics. It is less loud and more scep­ti­cal, giv­ing thought­ful gov­er­nors room to ques­tion a pol­i­cy that caus­es them anguish — because they think it arbi­trary, inef­fec­tive and cost­ly, and because they impose it.”

(“Death in Little Rock,” Lexington col­umn, The Economist, February 9, 2013.) See Recent Legislation and New Voices.

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