Nebraska lawmakers overrode Governor Pete Ricketts’s veto of their vote to repeal the death penalty Wednesday, making it the first Republican-dominated state to abolish capital punishment in about 40 years.
America’s 1,407 executions since 1976, mapped
Christophe Haubursin was a senior producer for the Vox video team. Since joining the team in 2016, he has produced for Vox’s YouTube channel and Emmy-nominated shows Glad You Asked and Explained.
The state hasn’t executed a prisoner since 1997.
Here’s what America’s cumulative executions look like on a map.
(Pew Research Center)
Texas is the clear standout — it has used the death penalty to execute 524 people since 1976, more than Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Alabama, and Georgia combined.
Support for the death penalty is the lowest it’s been in 40 years, but a majority of Americans still back the death penalty. According to a recent Pew poll, 56 percent favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder, while 38 percent oppose it.
The number of people on death row has dropped significantly, as well, down almost 13 percent from what it was a decade ago. Death row executions peaked in 1999, and have fallen ever since.
Currently the death penalty is legal in 32 states, and six states have repealed the punishment since 2004.
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