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Map: Where (And How) The Government Can Execute People

The Nebraska state Legislature voted Wednesday to repeal the death penalty in the state. The 30-19 vote overrides Gov. Pete Ricketts' veto of a law the Legislature passed last week getting rid of the policy.

This makes Nebraska the 19th state in the nation (along with the District of Columbia) to outlaw the death penalty, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit organization that studies the policy. And as the New York Times reports, it's also now the first conservative state to ban the death penalty since North Dakota in 1973.

In the 31 states that still have the death penalty, lethal injection is by far the most common method allowed. Still, a few states have more antiquated methods on the books as well: Washington, New Hampshire and Delaware still allow hanging and Utah and Oklahoma can use firing squads, for example. Utah authorized the use of the firing squad just this year for times when lethal-injection drugs aren't available.

Below, here's where — and how — states can execute convicts.

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Danielle Kurtzleben is a political reporter assigned to NPR's Washington Desk. She appears on NPR shows, writes for the web, and is a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast. She is covering the 2020 presidential election, with particular focuses on on economic policy and gender politics.
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