Nebraska has pretty much abolished the death penalty

[Stephanie66]

I heard this was in the works, but I didn't think it would pass with a veto-proof majority. Wow. It gets voted on one more time (It gained votes the second time) then goes to the Governor, who will veto. Then it goes back for the final vote. This is the first red state to repeal the death penalty since North Dakota in 1973.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... iesfromnpr

One of the men currently on death row is John Lotter, who was convicted of murdering Brandon Teena, the subject of the movie, "Boys Don't Cry."

[crazyforkate]

Great! Welcome to civilization, Nebraska. Now if only the rest of the death penalty states would follow.

[doggie]

For the most part if you live in red you are dead

[theinvisiblegirl]

They abolished it in my state, too. Will this affect people that are currently on death row, though? I know, in my state, if you were on death row before it was abolished, you could still be put to death should your appeals become exhausted/you just give up, etc.

[Trynn]

Good question. My state abolished the death penalty so long ago that I truly have no idea. It's like, the only one of two things I'm proud of us for. (The other being legalized medical marihuana)

[imokit]

They abolished it in my state, too. Will this affect people that are currently on death row, though? I know, in my state, if you were on death row before it was abolished, you could still be put to death should your appeals become exhausted/you just give up, etc.

Presumably it would be quite easy to appeal against the existing sentence, arguing that if the crime were committed now, x wouldn't be put to death, and that the state believes it to be wrong (they banned it) so shouldn't continue to do something it believes wrong and has legislated against.

[Stephanie66]

In Illinois and New York, I believe they just converted death sentences to life without parole.

[louisa05]

Presumably it would be quite easy to appeal against the existing sentence, arguing that if the crime were committed now, x wouldn't be put to death, and that the state believes it to be wrong (they banned it) so shouldn't continue to do something it believes wrong and has legislated against.

An ongoing issue in Nebraska has been not being able to obtain the proper drugs to administer lethal injection since use of the electric chair was declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court in 2008. The new governor just acquired drugs from India, but there are some questions about that (not sure exactly what...I'm too stressed in my own life to follow every detail). Given that issue, I'm guessing the sentences will be changed to life without parole. There are 11 prisoners currently on death row here.

[louisa05]

So an update...

The governor, as was expected, vetoed the repeal today. The legislature needs 30 votes to override the veto (we have a one house or "unicameral" legislature here). They passed the bill with 32 votes.

However, since it was passed, a police officer was killed in Omaha. Some pro-death penalty groups are using that to argue against the repeal and I just saw that at least one senator who voted for it has now pledged to not vote for the override.

So this thing may not go through yet. :angry-banghead:

[The Duggar's Mohel]

I have spent a fair amount of time in Nebraska and I will say, it might be one of the least red states of all the red states. It's a fairly nice place, at least the few parts I've spent time in.

[louisa05]

I have spent a fair amount of time in Nebraska and I will say, it might be one of the least red states of all the red states. It's a fairly nice place, at least the few parts I've spent time in.

Nebraskans tend to feel that we should all be friendly and mind our own business. Some things are just not discussed because it is not polite. So even though we have crazy Tea Party people and our fair share of loony fundies and Omaha is teeming with evangelical mega-churches...shoving any of it on your neighbors, much less strangers, just isn't done. We don't talk about religion and politics with co-workers or acquaintances here. It just isn't done. I have tried to explain that to people not from here and they don't get it at all. I am personally kind of fascinated by the notion of people being harassed for being atheists because that stuff doesn't go on here. Mostly because no one would really ever ask you what you believe.

As an example, we live in a duplex. Our landlady and her 9 year old son live in the other half. We feed each other's pets when we're gone. We have a drink on the patio together occasionally. We talk about our jobs, families, and stuff we do. I have known her for seven years and my husband has known her for over ten years. And we don't have the slightest clue what her religious views are, if she ever attends any church, if she was raised in a church...nothing. And no one around here would find us not knowing that to be in the least bit odd. I doubt she could tell you which church we go to, either. She may assume we go as we have mentioned teaching there on Wednesday nights (as in...we were gone to teach at church and no other details).

If someone doesn't go to your church (thus you see them there), most people here just don't consider it proper or appropriate to be asking those questions unless it is a much closer relationship.

[The Duggar's Mohel]

Nebraskans tend to feel that we should all be friendly and mind our own business. Some things are just not discussed because it is not polite. So even though we have crazy Tea Party people and our fair share of loony fundies and Omaha is teeming with evangelical mega-churches...shoving any of it on your neighbors, much less strangers, just isn't done. We don't talk about religion and politics with co-workers or acquaintances here. It just isn't done. I have tried to explain that to people not from here and they don't get it at all. I am personally kind of fascinated by the notion of people being harassed for being atheists because that stuff doesn't go on here. Mostly because no one would really ever ask you what you believe.

As an example, we live in a duplex. Our landlady and her 9 year old son live in the other half. We feed each other's pets when we're gone. We have a drink on the patio together occasionally. We talk about our jobs, families, and stuff we do. I have known her for seven years and my husband has known her for over ten years. And we don't have the slightest clue what her religious views are, if she ever attends any church, if she was raised in a church...nothing. And no one around here would find us not knowing that to be in the least bit odd. I doubt she could tell you which church we go to, either. She may assume we go as we have mentioned teaching there on Wednesday nights (as in...we were gone to teach at church and no other details).

If someone doesn't go to your church (thus you see them there), most people here just don't consider it proper or appropriate to be asking those questions unless it is a much closer relationship.

Thanks, nice to hear the prospective from a Nebraska resident.

Admittedly, while I have spent some time in Omaha, most of my time in Nebraska has been in Lincoln, and I find it to be fairly liberal, I guess a big university will do that.

[louisa05]

Thanks, nice to hear the prospective from a Nebraska resident.

Admittedly, while I have spent some time in Omaha, most of my time in Nebraska has been in Lincoln, and I find it to be fairly liberal, I guess a big university will do that.

Omaha could be construed as more liberal than Lincoln. It is the majority of our Second Congressional District which elected a Democratic Representative last November. In 2008, the Second District went to Obama, getting him an extra electoral vote as ours can actually be split. But, on the other hand, they elected a very conservative mayor last year while Lincoln just re-elected a Democratic mayor. The state gets more conservative as you go west from the two cities, though. Yet there has not been as much pushback against this death penalty repeal as I expected and the recent vote to raise the minimum wage was overwhelmingly in favor. The legislature made an attempt to reign that raise in by trying to set a lower minimum for workers under 19 and there was an immense pushback against that idea, too.

[louisa05]

Override passed 30-19. Death penalty is repealed.

And within ten minutes one of the Tea Party senators announced the formation of a group to reinstate it via referendum.

If there is a vote, it will be reinstated, I'm sure. :evil: :angry-banghead:

[The Duggar's Mohel]

Override passed 30-19. Death penalty is repealed.

And within ten minutes one of the Tea Party senators announced the formation of a group to reinstate it via referendum.

If there is a vote, it will be reinstated, I'm sure. :evil: :angry-banghead:

Glad it's been repealed, good on Nebraska.

Hopefully these tea party voices will be hushed soon.

[Geechee Girl]

Yay, Nebraska! It would be great if other states followed suit. FL will probably be one of the last holdouts. When I left the state, there were about 400 inmates on death row. That random bit of trivia was from our SDA prison ministry in which I participated at a distance by being a pen pal to inmates across the state. At the time, inmates had the option of choosing lethal injection or electrocution by Old Sparky.

[louisa05]

This legislature, with a Republican majority, also finally voted to allow Dreamers to get driver's licenses and raised the gas tax to fund infrastructure. And over rode the right wing governor's veto of both of those bills as well.

I have a small bit of hope for the government of our state right now.