apital punishment have homicide rates below the national average, Federal Bureau of Investigation data shows, while half the states with the death penalty have homicide rates above the national average (Bonner & Fessenden). In a state-by-state analysis, The New York Times found that during the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48 percent to 101 percent higher than in states without the death penalty (Bonner & Fessenden). The poverty rate in states with the death penalty, as a whole, was 13.4 percent in 1990, compared with 11.4 percent in states without the death penalty (Bonner & Fessenden). The homicide rate in North Dakota, which does not have the death penalty, was lower than the homicide rate in South Dakota, which does have it, according to F.B.I. statistics for 1998. Massachusetts, which abolished capital punishment in 1984, has a lower rate than Connecticut, which has six people on death row; the homicide rate in West Virginia is 30 percent below that of Virginia, which has one of the highest execution rates in the country (Bonner & Fessenden). In addition to Michigan, the states without the death penalty are Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Alaska, Hawaii, West Virginia, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. No single factor explains why these states have chosen not to impose capital punishment. Culture and religion play a role, as well as political vagaries in each state (Bonner & Fessenden).Opponents of capital punishment are finding their fortunes finally changing: For the first time in years, polls show public support for death penalty weakening (Pambiancon). Politicians opposed to capital punishment have been emboldened to come out of hiding with proposals at both state and federal levels to adopt moratoriums on executions.The arguments for and against the death penalty have not changed much (Bonner & Fessenden). At Michigan's constitutional convention in 1961, the delegates he...
