On February 21, 2007, Governor Martin O'Malley testified before the Maryland General Assembly that the death penalty should be abolished in the state because it is "inherently unjust." His push to repeal the death penalty at this time failed, but in January 2013, O'Malley announced that he would introduce legislation in an effort to accomplish a repeal. The death penalty is a contentious issue in the US. It is illegal in seventeen states, with five states, most recently Connecticut, abolishing it within the past five years and one other, Oregon, putting a moratorium on it.


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Learn more about the death penalty from the JURIST news archive.

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