The New Hampshire General Court, the state legislature, overrode Governor Chris Sununu’s veto to end the death penalty. With a two-thirds majority needed for final action, the New Hampshire Senate voted 16-8 on Thursday. The House had voted to override May 23.

“It’s up to us to stop this practice that is archaic, costly, discriminatory and final,” Sen. Melanie Levesque said during Senate debate prior to the vote.

New Hampshire has not executed anyone since 1939 and there is only one person on death row. The new law would not apply to that inmate, Michael Addison, who killed a police officer in 2006. Addison is black in an overwhelmingly white state. Race and the clearly disproportionate number of blacks on death row was at the center of the legislative debate.

New Hampshire becomes the last state in New England to ban the death penalty. 21 states nationwide have now abolished capital punishment, and an additional five states — California, Colorado, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have governor-imposed moratoriums. Following a number of horrific, “botched” executions during the past decade, in which prisoners languished in pain before dying, states have been even more reluctant to execute.

Latest News

  • new nga

    Photo credit: iStock.com/yevtony Last week, the National Governors Association (NGA) elected Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) as its new Chair and Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) as NGA Vice Chair. Cox succeeds New Jersey Governor [...]

  • ranked-choice voting
    Categories: Elections, Politics

    Photo credit: iStock.com/Torsten Asmus Texas voters have already submitted their ballots for the 2022 primary election. More states have their primary elections on the horizon. With the 2022 primary election season nearly upon us, many [...]

  • Categories: Politics

    Photo credit: iStock.com/triocean DMGS has previously reviewed state government public health measures, as they have imposed and rescinded masking requirements. Now, over two years into the pandemic and after various COVID-related emergency declarations being implemented, [...]

  • Categories: Elections, Politics

    Photo credit: iStock.com/outline205. Automatic voter registration allows eligible individuals to become automatically registered to vote when they interact with certain agencies in the government, such as a state agency overseeing motor vehicles. While most people [...]