Late last month, Pennsylvania House Bill 999 to repeal the death penalty passed out of the Judiciary Committee on a vote of 15-10. It was supported by all the Democrats and one of the Republicans on the committee.
Democratic state Rep. Chris Rabb sponsored the bill, arguing that the repeal is imperative for many reasons, including its astronomical cost and the high risk of executing an innocent person. City & State Pennsylvania reports that Rabb asked the committee members what they would say to the 11 people sentenced to death in the state who, since 1973, have been exonerated based on evidence of their innocence (according to the Death Penalty Information Center). And Democratic Rep. Chris Pielli, a former corrections officer, said, “We can stop the collateral damage of killing innocent, wrongfully accused defendants by stopping this flawed process,” according to City & State.
HB 999 has several more hurdles to clear. It must pass the full House and the state Senate before being sent to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Pennsylvania has had a moratorium on the death penalty since Gov. Tom Wolfe called for it in 2015. It continued when Gov. Josh Shapiro took office in January, announced he would not issue any execution warrants during his term, and called on lawmakers to repeal it.
The state’s last execution was in 1999. There are 127 individuals on death row.
Ohio is also continuing deliberations on repealing capital punishment. Both the House and the Senate have abolition bills pending. In the Senate earlier this month, the Judiciary Committee held its second hearing on SB 101, introduced in March, which would replace the death penalty with life in prison without parole. A companion repeal bill in the House, HB 259, was reintroduced in September. Sponsors of both bills say they have bipartisan support.
Ohio has 122 people on death row. Its last execution was in 2018, the result of the state’s inability to obtain lethal injection drugs.
