Carol S. Steiker & Jordan Steiker, A Tale of Two Nations: Implementation of the Death Penalty in "Executing" Versus "Symbolic" States in the United States, 84 Tex. L. Rev. 1869 (2006).
Abstract: This article describes the three types of death penalty jurisdictions in the United States: states without the death penalty by law ("abolitionist states"), states with the death penalty but insignificant numbers of executions ("symbolic states") and states with both the death penalty in law and practice - states actively carrying out executions ("executing states"), focusing on death penalty implementation distinctions between the latter two types of jurisdictions.