Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 87.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

37 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

number  of  these  States  that  is  significant,  but  the  con­
sistency  of  the  direction  of  change.’ ”  Roper,  543  U. S.,  at 
566  (quoting  Atkins,  supra,  at  315)  (finding  significant 
that  five  States  had  abandoned  the  death  penalty  for 
juveniles,  four  legislatively  and  one  judicially,  since  the
Court’s  decision  in  Stanford  v.  Kentucky,  492  U. S.  361 
(1989)).  Judged  in  that  way,  capital  punishment  has 
indeed become unusual.  Seven States have abolished the 
death penalty in the last decade, including (quite recently)
Nebraska.  DPIC,  States  With  and  Without  the  Death 
Penalty,  supra.  And  several  States  have  come  within  a 
single  vote  of  eliminating  the  death  penalty.    Seelye,
Measure to Repeal Death Penalty Fails by a Single Vote in
New  Hampshire  Senate,  N. Y.  Times,  Apr.  17,  2014,  p.
A12; Dennison, House Deadlocks on Bill To Abolish Death 
Penalty  in  Montana,  Billings  Gazette,  Feb.  23,  2015;  see 
also  Offredo,  Delaware  Senate  Passes  Death  Penalty
Repeal Bill, Delaware News Journal, Apr. 3, 2015.  Eleven 
States, as noted earlier, have not executed anyone in eight 
years.  Supra, at 34–35.  And several States have formally
stopped executing inmates.  See Yardley, Oregon’s Gover­
nor Says He Will Not Allow Executions, N. Y. Times, Nov. 
23,  2011,  p.  A14  (Oregon);  Governor  of  Colorado,  Exec.
Order  No.  D2013–006,  May  22,  2013  (Colorado);  Lovett,
Executions  Are  Suspended  by  Governor  in  Washington, 
N. Y.  Times,  Feb.  12,  2014,  p.  A12  (Washington);  Begley,
Pennsylvania  Stops  Using  the  Death  Penalty,  Time,  Feb.
13,  2015  (Pennsylvania);  see  also  Welsh-Huggins,  Associ­
ated  Press,  Ohio  Executions  Rescheduled,  Jan.  30,  2015 
(Ohio).

Moreover,  the  direction  of  change  is  consistent.  In  the 
past  two  decades,  no  State  without  a  death  penalty  has
passed  legislation  to  reinstate  the  penalty.  See  Atkins, 
supra,  at  315–316;  DPIC,  States  With  and  Without  the 
Death Penalty, supra.  Indeed, even in many States most 
associated with the death penalty, remarkable shifts have