In the last 30 years New Mexico has carried out one execution and currently have two people on death row.

On March 18, 2009 the Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, signed the bill abolishing the death penalty. New Mexico is the 15th state to repeal the death penalty and is the first of the western states.

From March 13th, when the law was legislated, until the 18th, the governor’s office recieved 10,847 e-mails, phone-calls and walk-in comments from people who wanted the Governor to hear their opinion. 8,102 of those were for the repeal of the death penalty, 2,745 were against. A survey from 2008 showed that 64% of the New Mexican population supported repealing the death penalty. The death penalty will be replaced with life-sentence without parole but the legislation will not affect the people who currently are on death row.

A death penalty sentence is long and expensive. Studies shows that a death penalty trials typically cost far more than a non-death penalty trial, often more than twice as much. Also criminologists say that the death penalty doesn’t discourage murder. FBI reports show that the South has the highest murder rates. The executions in the Southern States is over 80% of the total executions. Only 1% of the police chiefs in the US believe that expanding the death penalty will reduce the murder rates.

With the new law the state of New Mexico has received more money to enhance law enforcements, public works and other important things.

Map of Death Penalty State statutes in the United States

• Blue: No current death penalty statute
• Orange: Death penalty statute declared unconstitutional (New York Court of Appeals declared statute unconstitutional June 24, 2004)
• Green: No one executed since 1976
• Red: Has performed execution since 1976
  

  Death penalty status in the United States of America

My opinion on the matter

First a little summarization on the flaws in the death penalty.

Capital punishment is supposed to be a deterent to murder but in fact it has next to no deteterring effect. Very few murderers consider the punishment before they kill. In fact the murder rates are highest in the states that still practice the death penalty. The costs of executing a person sentenced to the death penalty is more than twice as expensive as sending the same person to a high security prison. There is also a risk of executing an innocent person. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 133 persons have been freed from death row, four of these were in New Mexico.

To me it seems like a bad solution, a primitive way of getting rid of the problem. In theory the capital punishment should discourage criminals from comitting murder. In reality it has almost no detering effect. If thats the main reason for practicing the death penalty. then it does’nt work. They should consider other options instead of continuing the practice of capital punishment. New Mexico as the first of the Western US states sends a message to the rest of America, that this is something that they can change and turn to their benefit.

As Bill Richardson says, “While today’s focus will be on the repeal of the death penalty, I want to make clear that this bill I’m signing actually makes New Mexico safer.”, I think that repleaing the death penalty will make the US safer.

Sources

• CNN
  • Emanuella Grinberg, CNN (2009), New Mexico governor repeals death penalty in state <http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/18/new.mexico.death.penalty/>, 21 May. 2009.
  • Brett Roegiers, CNN (2009), Budget concerns force states to reconsider the death penalty <http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/02/economy.death.penalty/>, 21 May. 2009.
• Wikipedia
  • Wikipedia (2009), Capital punishment in the United States <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States>, 21 May. 2009.
  • Wikipedia (2009), New Mexico <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico#Law_and_government>, 21 May. 2009.
• Death Penalty Information Center
  • Death Penalty Information Center (2009) ‘Facts about the death penalty’, 17 Apr., p. 1-4.
  • Death Penalty Information Center (2009), Death Penalty Abolished in New Mexico–Governor Says Repeal Will Make the State Safer <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-abolished-new-mexico-governor-says-repeal-will-make-state-safer>, 21 May. 2009.
• Dallas News
  • Dallas News (2007), The Myth of Deterrence: Death penalty does not reduce homicide rate <http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-deterrence_1202edi.ART.State.Edition1.36bbe2f.html>, 21 May. 2009.