AN ACT relating to the abolition of the death penalty.
SB350 would abolish capital punishment in Kentucky effective on the bill’s effective date. Any person already sentenced to death whose sentence has not yet been carried out would instead be resentenced to life imprisonment without probation or parole. The bill also repeals a large set of statutes governing death-penalty procedures, execution methods, appellate review of death sentences, and related protections and procedures, effectively removing the death penalty from Kentucky law.
Beyond eliminating capital punishment, the bill revises several sentencing and post-conviction provisions to conform state law to a no-death-penalty system. It expands and clarifies DNA-testing procedures for certain convicted persons, including those previously eligible for capital-case testing, and requires preservation of evidence while DNA petitions are pending. It also updates sentencing statutes for felonies, probation, jail placement, youthful offenders, and presentence investigations, removing references to death sentences and adjusting rules for capital offenses, juvenile transfer, and sentencing options accordingly.
The bill would substantially amend Kentucky’s criminal code by striking death-penalty language from sentencing statutes, repealing execution-related provisions, and replacing capital punishment with life imprisonment without parole for existing death sentences. It would also modify KRS chapters governing sentencing, probation, jail custody, youthful offender treatment, and DNA testing, affecting courts, prosecutors, defense counsel, the Department of Corrections, jails, and incarcerated persons. In practical terms, it would eliminate the state’s authority to seek or carry out executions and require courts to apply the revised sentencing framework in capital cases and related proceedings.
The available record does not include committee testimony or recorded votes, so there is no direct evidence of floor or committee sentiment in the provided materials. Based on the bill’s content, it is a major criminal-justice reform measure with a clear policy direction toward abolition of capital punishment and greater post-conviction review through DNA testing. The absence of recorded opposition or support in the context means sentiment cannot be measured from the transcript or vote history here.
The central point of contention is the abolition of the death penalty itself, including whether existing death sentences should be converted to life without parole and whether Kentucky should permanently remove execution procedures from statute. Related areas likely to draw debate include the bill’s treatment of juvenile offenders, the removal of death-penalty-specific safeguards and appellate review provisions, and the expanded DNA-testing access for certain inmates. Because no committee transcript or vote data is provided, the specific lawmakers, advocates, or opponents raising these issues are not identified in the record supplied.