Connecticut will be the 17th state to abolish the death penalty and the fifth to do so in the past five years. Nor is it likely to be the last: other states are reconsidering capital punishment. Repeal bills have been proposed in a number of states, including (unsuccessfully) Florida, which has 402 people on death row. In November Californian voters will vote on whether to repeal their death penalty. Kentucky’s House of Representatives recently passed a measure setting up a body to review and reform the death penalty. Pennsylvania and Oregon are also reviewing their death-penalty laws, and Georgia and Delaware this week each granted a stays of execution in a murder case. For six months Ohio had an unofficial moratorium because the state failed to follow its execution protocols. But a judge has now allowed the resumption of capital punishment. The first execution after the pause took place on April 18th.