MARYLAND has become the 18th US state to abolish the death penalty with Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley, an outspoken critic of capital punishment, signing the measure into law.
The death penalty will be replaced by life imprisonment without parole in the eastern US state, which borders the capital Washington.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton quickly issued a statement supporting the move, saying she hoped it would “encourage other US States to follow suit”.
In March, when Maryland state lawmakers voted to end use of the death penalty, O’Malley hailed the development, calling capital punishment a policy “that is proven not to work”.
“Evidence shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias and it costs three times as much as life in prison without parole,” the governor said in a statement.
The death penalty has been in use in Maryland since 1638, when the territory was a British colony.
However, Maryland has neither executed a prisoner nor issued a death penalty since 2005, before O’Malley took office, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.
The law signed on Thursday only applies to future cases. There are currently five prisoners on death row in Maryland, and O’Malley must decide what to do with them.
Death Penalty Information Center executive director Richard Dieter has said he expects O’Malley to commute their sentences to life in prison without parole.
According to a recent Washington Post opinion poll, 60 per cent of Maryland residents nevertheless support use of the death penalty, against 38 per cent who favour its abolition.
Tags: 18th US state, Martin O'Malley, MARYLAND
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