On Wednesday, New Hampshire’s House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly, 225 to 104, to repeal the death penalty. The fate of the bill in the state’s Senate is less certain, but many give it a strong chance of passage. And the new governor, Maggie Hassan, is prepared to sign it, a change from 2000, when a repeal bill last made it to the governor’s desk, where it was vetoed.
If New Hampshire abolishes the death penalty, it would become the 19th state to do so. Before 2007, no state had abolished it since the 1960s. But six states — Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York — have abolished it in the last six years.
Death penalty opponents say the momentum is on their side, with New Hampshire the latest example; the House vote Wednesday was the most lopsided ever for repeal, and it was strongly bipartisan. New Hampshire is the last state in New England to have the death penalty, though it has not executed anyone since 1939.
“New Hampshire is not acting in a vacuum,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. While polls show that a majority of Americans still support the death penalty, that support is at its lowest level in 40 years.
Source: The New York Times, March 12, 2014
