The death penalty does exist in some of the states in the United States. There are some states, who have done away totally with the death penalty and there are some who continue to have it. Scroll down to know the number of states, where death penalty is still awarded.
There are different ways in which death penalty is referred to. It is also known as capital punishment and execution. It is the method, where death is inflicted on a person through a judicial process for an offense committed by a person. The term capital punishment has Latin origin and is taken from the Latin word capitalis, which literally translated means “regarding the head”. Therefore, previously capital punishment always meant severing the head from the body. The death penalty is normally given for offense categorized as capital crimes or capital offenses. Although there are arguments for and against the death penalty the world over, it continues to exist in a number of countries, including the United States. Like there are some countries, which have totally done away with the death penalty, there are some states in the United States, who have abolished the death penalty. On the other hand, there are some states, where the death penalty has been suspended and there are some states, where it continues to exist. This brings us to the question, how many states have the death penalty. There are 34 states in the United States, which continue to have the death penalty.
Names of States in the United States with the Death Penalty
Now that we know there are about 34 states, where death penalty is still given, the next natural question is which are the states in the United States, that continue to have the death penalty. There are different methods used for executing the death penalty. Some of the methods currently used include decapitation, firing squad, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging, lethal injection, shooting, etc. Since there are different methods used for execution, there are some issues, due to which execution has been put on hold in some of the states, although there are some states that have resumed the death penalty.
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wyoming
After reading the list of states that do have the death penalty, there may be questions about the state of Illinois. According to a legislation passed by the Illinois State Legislature, the death penalty has been banned in the state. With this I hope you know the total number of states where death penalty is still given. I would like to bring it to your notice, that District of Columbia also does NOT have the death penalty. Therefore, the other states that do not have the death penalty are Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Michigan was the first state to ban the death penalty. The last state of them all to abolish the death penalty is Illinois.
There are a number of people rallying behind abolishing the death penalty altogether for various reasons. Some of the prominent reasons include staggering costs that have to be borne by the tax payers. When capital punishment was introduced, it was to deter anyone from the capital offenses, however, as of now it does not seem to have worked. At the same time, one cannot forget the number of innocent people, who have been executed. It has been recommended that the punishment of life without parole be awarded to people for committing heinous crimes.
