NewsTracker Answers for week of June 01, 2015

Q: Nebraska lawmakers last week overrode their governor's veto and banned capital punishment, becoming the 19th state without an enforceable death penalty statute. Where is Nebraska?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The lawmakers' vote was 30 to 19. Nebraska's Legislature has only one chamber. What is this type of legislature called?

A. Bicameral 

B. Nonpartisan

C. Partisan

D. Unicameral 

D. Nebraska is the only state in the United Sates with a unicameral legislature. It also is the only state legislature that is nonpartisan – members are elected with no party affiliation next to their names on the ballot.

Q: Nebraska is the latest state to eliminate the death penalty. What state on the Canadian border was the first state to ban capital punishment?

A. Connecticut

B. Iowa

C. Michigan

D. West Virginia

C. Michigan in 1846 became the first English-speaking government in the world to totally abolish the death penalty for ordinary crimes. While capital punishment was technically legal from statehood in 1837, the state of Michigan has never executed anyone.

Q: A Supreme Court decision suspended capital punishment from 1972 through 1976. What state on the Mexican border has executed the most people since 1976?

A. South Carolina

B. Texas

C. Utah

D. Virginia

B. Texas has executed 525 people since 1976 – nearly five times more than any other state. But, Utah was the first state to resume executions in 1977.

Q: The 50th state, Hawaii, abolished the death penalty before statehood. What other state to gain statehood in 1959 also banned capital punishment as a U.S. territory?

A. Alaska

B. Arizona

C. New Mexico

D. Oklahoma

A. Both Hawaii and Alaska banned the death penalty in 1957, but Alaska executed eight men while it was a territory  (1900–1959).