AN ACT relating to the abolition of the death penalty.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 532 to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole for inmates presently sentenced to death; amend KRS 532.030 to remove the death penalty; amend KRS 640.040 to prohibit life imprisonment without benefit of parole for a juvenile offender convicted of a capital offense; amend KRS 640.010 to define "serious intellectual disability" and "significant subaverage general intellectual functioning"; amend KRS 422.285, 532.050, 532.100, and 533.010 to conform; repeal KRS 431.213, 431.2135, 431.218, 431.220, 431.223, 431.224, 431.240, 431.250, 431.260, 431.270, 507A.060, 532.025, 532.075, 532.130, 532.135, 532.140, 532.300, 532.305, and 532.309.

Introduced: March 2, 2026

Last action: March 2, 2026

To Committee On Committees (S)

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This bill would end the use of the death penalty in Kentucky. People currently on death row would instead serve life in prison without the possibility of parole, and the bill would also prohibit that same sentence for juvenile offenders convicted of capital crimes. Who it may affect: people currently sentenced to death in Kentucky, juvenile offenders convicted of capital crimes, and their families.

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