Rev. Heidi Heath

Death Penalty repeal bill for 2019 is now public

Please support the NH Council of Churches financially as we provide Biblical and Christian support for death penalty repeal in 2019!

There is a bill to repeal the death penalty before NH legislators for 2019 and it is now available to the public! It has been assigned the number HB 455. You can read the entire text on the NH General Court website. You might also want to read the NH Council of Churches statement on the death penalty, unanimously approved in 2010.

As you read the bill you might notice:

  • This bill is already sponsored by 9 representatives and 3 senators. The sponsors are both Republican and Democrat, making this a bipartisan bill.
  • It is assigned to the House Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. You can see the committee membership here. Do any of them represent you?
  • The effect of the bill is simply put: “This bill changes the penalty for capital murder to life imprisonment without the possibility for parole.“
  • The bill has a Fiscal Note stating that eliminating the death penalty will save the State of New Hampshire millions of dollars in legal costs.

There are, of course, many moral and spiritual reasons to oppose the death penalty in addition to its expense. As the session continues, we will give you updates, invite you to relevant Committee meetings and help you engage your local congregation with Biblical resources about death penalty abolition.