Washington Senate votes to abolish death penalty
Republican Sen. Maureen Walsh is spearheading the bipartisan efforts.
Republican Sen. Maureen Walsh, ushers in a bill that would abolish the death penalty which is heading to the House for a vote.
Washington’s state senate has just passed a bill that would abolish the death penalty, and the bill will now head to the House for a vote.
Republican Sen. Maureen Walsh, of Walla Walla, the sponsor of the bill, said that she put the measure forward because “simply, this seems to be a flawed policy.”
The bill passed in a bipartisan vote, with five Republicans, including Walsh, voting yes and a few Democrats voting no.
If the House passes the bill, capital punishment would no longer be an option for sentencing in Washington. Instead, people accused of aggravated murder would receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Walsh noted that a recent study from Seattle University found that the state was spending about $1 million more for death penalty cases than other cases.
“We spend a lot of money, our tax money, appealing these decisions, and we have done this for many, many years,” Walsh told the Seattle Times. “I have no sympathy for people that kill people, that’s not why I’m doing this. I’m doing this maybe because I feel like it’s somewhat our responsibility as legislators to vet these issues here in this forum, in this venue.”
Will it pass the House?
While the measure passed the Senate, it remains to be seen how the House will vote, especially since Democrats only have a narrow majority there.
Democratic Rep. Laurie Jinkins, chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that she supported the bill and would give it a hearing before her committee, but couldn’t guarantee how the House would vote.
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“I will work very, very hard to make that happen,” she said. “This is a deeply moral decision for every single lawmaker. It’s going to require bipartisan support probably to make it out of committee and most certainly to move off the floor of the House.”
While the bill’s future is still uncertain, it should also be noted that in 2014, Gov. Jay Inslee put a moratorium on the death penalty. Despite this, efforts to ban it entirely have stalled.
The death penalty has been abolished or overturned in 19 states and the District of Columbia thus far. The last execution in Washington set came in 2010.
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