Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have abolished capital punishment, and four more states have halted executions through governor-imposed moratoriums while keeping the law on the books. That distinction matters when you look at the full picture of states without the death penalty: abolition stays in place until a legislature reverses it, while a moratorium can end the day a new governor is sworn in.
The 23 States That Have Abolished the Death Penalty
These states have fully repealed capital punishment, with the year each repeal took effect:
- Michigan — 1847
- Wisconsin — 1853
- Maine — 1887
- Minnesota — 1911
- Alaska — 1957
- Hawaii — 1957
- Iowa — 1965
- West Virginia — 1965
- Vermont — 1972
- North Dakota — 1973
- Massachusetts — 1984
- Rhode Island — 1984
- New Jersey — 2007
- New York — 2007
- New Mexico — 2009
- Illinois — 2011
- Connecticut — 2012
- Maryland — 2013
- Delaware — 2016
- New Hampshire — 2019
- Colorado — 2020
- Virginia — 2021
- Washington — 2023
The District of Columbia abolished capital punishment in 1981. Alaska and Hawaii ended it in 1957, two years before either became a state, so both entered the union without capital punishment in their legal frameworks.
Not every repeal came from a legislature. New York’s death penalty effectively ended in 2004 when the Court of Appeals ruled in People v. LaValle that the statute’s jury deadlock instruction was unconstitutional, and the legislature never rewrote the law to cure the defect.1Justia. People v Stephen LaValle Delaware’s supreme court struck down that state’s capital statute in 2016 in Rauf v. State, finding it violated the right to a jury trial by letting judges determine aggravating factors and by allowing non-unanimous death verdicts; the legislature formally removed the death penalty from Delaware’s code in 2024.2Death Penalty Information Center. Delaware Officially Removes Death Penalty from State Statutes
Washington took a layered path. Governor Jay Inslee declared a moratorium in 2014, the state supreme court ruled in State v. Gregory in 2018 that the death penalty was applied in an arbitrary and racially biased way, and the legislature finally stripped the penalty from the criminal code with Senate Bill 5087 in 2023.3Washington State Senate Democrats. Washington Officially Abolishes the Death Penalty Virginia’s 2021 repeal, signed by Governor Ralph Northam as HB 2263 with an effective date of July 1, made it the first former Confederate state to end capital punishment.4Virginia’s Legislative Information System. HB2263 – 2021 Session New Hampshire’s 2019 repeal came over Governor Chris Sununu’s veto, with override votes of 16–8 in the Senate and 247–123 in the House.5New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Becomes 21st State to Abolish Death Penalty
Four States Where Executions Are Paused
California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Ohio all keep capital punishment on the books but have stopped executions through gubernatorial action. The core risk is simple: a successor who supports the death penalty can resume executions without any legislative or judicial approval.
California has the largest death row in the country. Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-09-19 in March 2019, granting reprieves to everyone sentenced to death, withdrawing the state’s lethal injection protocol, and ordering the execution chamber at San Quentin closed.6State of California. Executive Order N-09-19 The order does not commute sentences or release anyone from prison. Because California’s death penalty sits in the state constitution through voter-approved ballot measures, only voters can repeal it permanently.
Oregon has had a moratorium since Governor John Kitzhaber declared one in 2011. Governor Kate Brown kept it in place and in 2022 commuted all death sentences on Oregon’s death row. Governor Tina Kotek, who took office in January 2023, said she would maintain the pause. The death penalty is also part of Oregon’s constitution, so only a statewide ballot measure can abolish it.
Pennsylvania has operated under a moratorium since Governor Tom Wolf imposed one in 2015. Governor Josh Shapiro continued the pause when he took office in 2023, saying he will sign a reprieve every time an execution warrant reaches his desk. He has also called on the legislature to repeal the death penalty, and a repeal bill was introduced in the 2025–2026 session.
Ohio has a less formal moratorium. Governor Mike DeWine has repeatedly issued reprieves for scheduled executions, citing the state’s inability to obtain lethal injection drugs and concerns about the protocol. In February 2025, DeWine said he does not anticipate any executions during the remainder of his term, which runs through 2026.
What Happens to People Already on Death Row
When a state abolishes capital punishment, what happens to existing death sentences depends on how the repeal is written. Most legislative repeals are prospective, applying only to future cases and leaving existing death sentences in place. No one in U.S. history, however, has been executed after their state abolished the death penalty.
Two patterns usually follow a repeal. In some states, the governor issues blanket commutations around the time of the law change, converting death sentences to life without parole. Colorado took that route when Governor Jared Polis signed the 2020 repeal and commuted the sentences of the state’s three death-row prisoners.7Colorado General Assembly. SB20-100 Repeal The Death Penalty Illinois followed the same pattern in 2011, when Governor Pat Quinn signed the abolition bill and commuted all 15 remaining death sentences to life without parole.8Illinois Secretary of State. Illinois State Archives – Death Penalty Abolished 2011 New Jersey’s 2007 law replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole and gave existing death-row inmates 60 days to petition for resentencing.9New Jersey Legislature. Bill S171
In other states, courts eventually step in. New Mexico’s 2009 repeal was prospective, and the two people then on death row stayed there until the state supreme court reduced their sentences a decade later. Virginia is the only state since 1976 whose legislative repeal applied retroactively, automatically removing everyone from death row. New Hampshire’s 2019 law went the opposite direction and applied only to future cases, leaving one person on death row under the prior sentence. That individual is the only person in the country still on death row under a repealed statute.
Commutation mechanics vary. In some states the governor acts alone. In others, the governor needs a recommendation from a clemency board, and in a few states that recommendation must be unanimous. California’s governor faces an extra hurdle: commuting the sentence of anyone convicted of two or more felonies requires a recommendation from the state supreme court with at least four justices concurring.
The Federal Death Penalty Still Applies in Every State
Living in an abolitionist state offers no protection against a federal death sentence. Federal prosecutors can seek capital punishment for federal crimes committed anywhere in the country, including states that have repealed the death penalty for their own offenses. Federal capital offenses include terrorism, espionage, murder of federal officials, drug-trafficking murders, and crimes involving weapons of mass destruction.
This has played out in practice. Federal prosecutors have sought death sentences in Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, and New York. In Massachusetts, federal prosecutors secured a death sentence for the Boston Marathon bombing even though the state had abolished capital punishment decades earlier. In Puerto Rico, a federal judge pushed back on the practice, and Puerto Rico’s governor filed a brief opposing a capital prosecution in the territory.
Federal capital prosecutions became more active in early 2025. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”10The White House. Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum on February 5, 2025, lifting the federal execution moratorium that had been in place since July 2021 and establishing a presumption that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the murder of law enforcement officers and for capital crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.11Library of Congress. Federal Capital Punishment – Recent Executive Action
D.C. and the U.S. Territories
The District of Columbia repealed capital punishment through the District of Columbia Death Penalty Repeal Act of 1980, which took effect on February 26, 1981.12D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Death Penalty Repeal Act of 1980 Because D.C. remains subject to congressional oversight, the federal government has sought the death penalty in murder cases that occurred within the District even though local law prohibits it.
Puerto Rico has the strongest territorial prohibition. Its 1952 constitution includes a five-word provision in the Bill of Rights: “The death penalty shall not exist.”13Justia. Puerto Rico Constitution Article II Section 7 Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands also lack local death penalty statutes. Federal capital prosecutions can still proceed in any of these jurisdictions.