Nebraska

37 people have been executed in Nebraska, 3 of whom were killed after reinstatement of Nebraska's death penalty in 1976. Later, at least two people were found likely to be innocent.  In 1979 the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature passed a bill to abolish the death penalty, but it was vetoed by Governor Charley Thone. Nebraska used electrocution as the method of execution until 2008, when it became the last state to adopt lethal injection. 

In 2015, the Nebraska state legislature abolished the death penalty, cutting across party lines to override a veto by Governor Pete Ricketts and becoming the nineteenth U.S. state to abolish capital punishment. However, in 2016, Nebraska voters approved a ballot question that reversed the legislature's 2015 repeal of the death penalty, and restored capital punishment in the state. 

Currently, 11 prisoners sit on Nebraska’s death row.

Nebraska Fact Sheet

For more information and ways to get involved, contact your state's organizations:

Nebraska Catholic Conference

The Church has a proper role in the political order and a responsibility to contribute to the public debate on issues having significant moral dimensions. This role and this responsibility flow from a Gospel mandate, from the Church’s moral and social teaching and from Her concern for the common good.

Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty was founded in 1981 after Governor Thone had vetoed a bill passed by Nebraska’s unicameral legislature that would have repealed the death penalty in Nebraska. Since its founding, it has been a politically active organization that has supported death penalty abolition efforts in the Nebraska legislature.

More Information at Death Penalty Center