The US retains the dubious distinction of joining China, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia as nations that continue to execute their citizens. Employing the case study method, this book focuses on nine out of the 12 US states that have eliminated this practice.

This landmark study is the first to examine the history and motivations of those jurisdictions that abolished capital punishment and that have resisted the move to reinstate death penalty statutes. Employing the case study method, the work focuses on the nine states - Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Hawaii, Alaska, Iowa, and West Virginia - that took legislative action. Three other states - Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont - that banned the death penalty through court decisions are discussed, as is the District of Columbia's courageous fight against Congressional efforts to reestablish the death penalty in the nation's capital. The inquiry delves into the local relationship between death penalty abolition and numerous empirical factors, including: economic conditions, public sentiment, the roles of the political, social and economic elite, the mass media, population diversity, murder rates, and the regional history of executions. With its solid research and methodology, this work provides invaluable historical and practical information to advocates striving to abolish capital punishment in other states.