The death penalty’s history in New York dates back to the colonial era. Before the introduction of electrocution, most people were hung to death (Banner, 2022). In 1973, the New York assembly revised the state’s constitution to mandate the death penalty for the assassination of a law enforcement officer, a prison guard, or a prisoner incarcerated for life who commits a crime in prison (New York, 2017). However, in 2007, New York became the 50th state to do away with the death penalty (Banner, 2022). Banner (2022) cites that the statute explains how the New York Court of Appeals ruled that a component of the country’s death-penalty punishment legislation (CPL 400.27) violated the constitutionality of the state’s constitution.
The following states, as listed below, have statutes legalizing the death penalty (Montez et al., 2020):
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wyoming
On the other hand, the following states have had the death penalty statutes abolished from their laws: Colorado (2020), Virginia (2021), New Hampshire (2019), New Mexico (2009), and New York (2007). No state in the history of the USA has not had the death sentence statute at one point in its policies. States that support capital punishment say that it provides a reasonable payback for some crimes, discourages criminal behavior, and maintains moral order. Firstly, states that have done away with the death penalty do so because they feel it costs taxpayers and provides no value to community security. They think that the death penalty does not effectively deter violent crime.
These jurisdictions have placed raising the number of police officers, reducing the amount of drug usage, and building a better economy with more jobs as the greatest strategies to minimize violence. Those issues related to the existence of the death penalty encompass severe sentences required for lawbreakers who have engaged in the worst crimes, that justice is effective at discouraging criminal behavior. Moreover, another concern is that the death penalty serves as a deterrence against violent offenses and that harsh punishment is required to prevent murder and terrorist acts.
References
Banner, S. (2022). The death penalty. In The Death Penalty. Harvard University Press.
Montez, J. K., Beckfield, J., Cooney, J. K., Grumbach, J. M., Hayward, M. D., Koytak, H. Z., Woolf, S. H., & Zajacova, A. (2020). US state policies, politics, and life expectancy. The Milbank Quarterly, 98(3), 668-699. Web.
New York. (2017). Death Penalty Information Center. Web.