Is New York a death penalty state?
Capital punishment in New York
While laws regarding the imposition of capital punishment in the State of New York are still on the books, it is no longer enforced as it is been declared unconstitutional in the state and this ruling has not been overturned. The last execution took place in 1963, when Eddie Mays was electrocuted at Sing Sing Prison. The state was the first to adopt the electric chair as a method of execution, which replaced hanging. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling declaring existing capital punishment statutes unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia (1972), New York was without a death penalty until 1995, when then-Governor George Pataki signed a new statute into law, which provided for execution by lethal injection.
Capital punishment in the United States
In addition to the above, Kansas (last execution 1965) and New Hampshire (last execution 1939) have also had no executions for over ten years, but in these states it is because of the lack of death row inmates having exhausted the appeal process.