State Summaries

Round Separator

In addition, the U.S. Government and the U.S. Military retain the death penalty.

STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY (23)

In addition, the District of Columbia has abolished the death penalty. For more information about Connecticut, Delaware, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington, see the notes below.

DEATH PENALTY STATES WITH GUBERNATORIAL MORATORIA (3)

In addition, the U.S. Government has declared a moratorium on executions.

In 1979, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island held that the state’s statute imposing a mandatory death sentence for an inmate who killed a fellow prisoner was unconstitutional. The legislature repealed the law and removed it from the state criminal code in 1984.

In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals held that a portion of the state’s death penalty law was unconstitutional. In 2007, the court ruled that its prior holding applied to the last remaining person on the state’s death row. The legislature has voted down attempts to restore the statute.

In March 2009, New Mexico voted to abolish the death penalty. However, the repeal was not retroactive, leaving two people on the state’s death row. The New Mexico Supreme Court vacated those sentences on June 28, 2019 and ordered the two prisoners be resentenced to life in prison.

In April 2012, the Connecticut legislature voted to abolish the death penalty for future crimes. By its terms, the repeal law did not affect the status of the 11 prisoners then on the state’s death row. The Connecticut Supreme Court subsequently ruled in August 2015 that the death penalty violated the state constitution. The Court reaffirmed that holding in May 2016 and reiterated that the state’s remaining death row prisoners must be resentenced to life without possibility of parole.

On August 2, 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court held that the state’s capital sentencing procedures were unconstitutional and struck down Delaware’s death penalty statute. On August 15, 2016, the Delaware Attorney General’s office announced that it would seek U.S. Supreme Court review of the decision. In December 2016, the court ruled that its decision applied to the 13 remaining prisoners on the state’s death row.

On October 11, 2018, the Washington Supreme Court declared the state’s death penalty statute unconstitutional, saying that it was applied in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner.

In May 2019, the New Hampshire legislature voted to abolish the death penalty. However, the repeal was not retroactive, leaving one person on the state’s death row.

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