Now that the Connecticut Senate has voted to repeal the death penalty, a similar House vote is expected within weeks, and the state would become the 17th to take similar action, says the Hartford Courant. For opponents of capital punishment, the state is a key piece in their strategy to take the question of the constitutionality of the death penalty to the U.S. Supreme Court once at least 26 states have done away with the practice.
The bill would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of release. It stipulates that the 11 men currently on Connecticut’s death row would still face execution; capital punishment would only be abolished for those convicted of capital offenses in the future. Gov. Dannel Malloy supports repeal, telling the Courant, “Almost the entire industrialized world has made this decision, and I remain hopeful that Connecticut will.”