1 min read

Yes.

Maine abolished the death penalty in 1887 after previously abolishing and then reinstating capital punishment over the preceding years.

A year after Maine became a state in 1820, it enacted laws requiring the death penalty for treason, murder, arson, rape, burglary and robbery. But in 1829, the state passed another law that reduced the sentence for rape, burglary and robbery to life in prison.

Treason, murder and arson continued to carry the death penalty until 1876, when it was abolished for all crimes. However, capital punishment was reinstated for first-degree murder in 1883.

But just two years later, the botched hanging of a convicted murderer — causing him to die slowly of strangulation — reinvigorated the movement to ban executions in the state. Maine abolished the death penalty permanently in 1887.

There have been multiple attempts by Maine lawmakers to reinstate capital punishment — most recently in 2005 — but all have failed.

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