Where the network is organized.
More than twenty states, the District of Columbia, and the federal campaign. Eight states have removed the exception and one never wrote it. All nine are in the enforcement phase. The rest are moving amendments through their legislatures or onto their ballots. Each entry links to the state coalition and, where one exists, the state's record.
The year is the removal year for states that have removed the exception, and the target election year for states still fighting. Where a target year has passed, the tracker has not yet set the next one, and the entry says so rather than guessing.
Statuses and bills from the network's state tracker, last verified September 22, 2026. The map on the home page shows every state's constitutional text.
"Stripes but no Stars." Asheville, North Carolina, 1892, sold as a postcard. The exception was a tourist sight before it was a policy question. Every jurisdiction below still carries it, has removed it, or is deciding.
T. H. Lindsey. Public domain.No exception in the constitution. Now enforcing it.
Eight states removed the exception by amendment. One, Rhode Island, never wrote it. The year shown is the year of removal, or for Rhode Island the year its prohibition entered the constitution.
No coalition listed.
Never wrote the exception. Prohibits slavery in its text since 1843. Silent on involuntary servitude
Vermont Racial Justice Alliance
Amended in 2022 to prohibit slavery and indentured servitude in any form
Moving to remove it.
Slavery and involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
HJR1013 (2023)
Involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
ACA 8 (2023); Proposition 6 failed November 2024
Defers to the 13th Amendment
Defers to the 13th Amendment
Organizers active. No standing coalition.
Involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
Involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
Senate Study Bill 1144
Slavery and involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
HB 295, SR 117
Decarcerate Louisiana
Involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
Defers to the 13th Amendment
End Slavery Michigan
Involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
HJR G (2023)
Slavery and involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
H.F. 3335 and S.F. 3536 (94th Legislature, 2025 to 2026), proposing a constitutional amendment to Article I, Section 2. Audit findings published.
The Coalition to End Slavery NJ
Defers to the 13th Amendment
SCR 16, SR 91 (2026); plea disclosure petition filed April 17, 2026
Defers to the 13th Amendment
No Slavery in NY Act, S225/A3412; Fairness and Opportunity, S6747/A7452
EPIC Ohio
Involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
House Joint Resolution 2 (135th)
Coalition to Abolish Slavery in Texas (CAST)
Defers to the 13th Amendment
Wisconsin Justice Initiative, No Exceptions
Slavery and involuntary servitude permitted as punishment for a crime
SJR 95, AJR 102 (2023)
Two layers. One belongs to Congress.
CAEPR, Coalición para la Abolición de la Esclavitud en Puerto Rico
Carries the exception in Article II, Section 12, which Puerto Rico may amend by its own process. Beneath it, the federal exception of the Thirteenth Amendment and the Jones Act, which only Congress can remove. The enrolled Section 12 text differs from the text the Convention approved.
Campaign to remove the exception from Article II, Section 12 launched March 22, 2026, el Día de la Abolición de la Esclavitud, at Casa Sofía, Santurce. Scorecard submitted to the UN Special Committee on Decolonization, June 22, 2026, Petitioner No. 230; monograph published July 25, 2026.
The Abolition Amendment.
The Thirteenth Amendment carries the exception
H.J. Res. 216 and S.J. Res. 214, the Abolition Amendment, introduced September 15, 2026 (119th Congress) by Rep. Nikema Williams with 59 original cosponsors and by Sen. Jeff Merkley with Sen. Cory Booker and eleven others. "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to prohibit the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime." Both referred to the Judiciary Committees.
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Cite this page. Abolish Slavery National Network, “The Punishment Exception by State and Territory,” https://abolishslavery.us/jurisdictions.html.