On Wednesday, the Utah state Senate voted to approve a legislation that would abolish the death penalty. As one of the most conservative states in the nation, Utah advances in what had been considered a longshot proposal.
Republican Senator Steve Urquhart is leading the matter this year to repeal the death penalty. The Senator cited conservative themes of imperfect governments and capital punishment as costly and inefficient policy.
ABC News reported that lawmakers voted to reinstate the use of the firing squad as a backup execution procedure in Utah last year. They argued that if Utah has a shortage of lethal injection drugs, then it must still find a method to kill death row inmates.
As Sen. Urquhart's bill was revealed three weeks ago, he recognized that it's not going an easy battle to win approval in a state with strong support for the capital punishment. However, he said that libertarian leanings of the Legislature gave him hope. In Utah, legislations must be read three separate times in each of the two chambers.
The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Urquhart, prohibits death sentences for aggravated murders committed on or after May 10, as reported by The Washington Post. It also bans capital punishment for crimes committed before that date if the death penalty has not been sought yet.
According to The Wall Street Journal, death punishment has been abolished in six states since 2007. These states include Maryland, New York, New Mexico, New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut.
In the US, the use of the death penalty is gradually declining. A study by the Death Penalty Information Center says that 28 people were executed in 2015, which is the lowest number since 1991. Utah's database center revealed that the state has nine death-row inmates and has executed seven prisoners since 1976, and most recently in 2010.
Proposals to repeal death penalty have been introduced in at least eight other states in the US over the past year. However, there have been no reports yet of how many are close to joining 19 states and the District of Columbia in abolishing the death penalty.
