On April 12, the Connecticut leg­is­la­ture’s Judiciary Committee approved (26 – 17) a bill to repeal the death penal­ty for future crimes and replace the sen­tence with life with­out parole. Supporters of the bill said it would avoid the risk of wrong­ful exe­cu­tions and save tax­pay­ers the costs of lengthy tri­als and appeals. Both sup­port­ers and oppo­nents of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment agreed that the state’s cur­rent sys­tem is not work­ing. Sen. Eric Coleman said the state’s jus­tice sys­tem ​“is not infal­li­ble.” He also not­ed that the state spends $3.4 mil­lion per year enforc­ing the death penal­ty. Since the U.S. Supreme Court rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1976, there has only been one exe­cu­tion in Connecticut, an inmate who waived his appeals and has­tened his exe­cu­tion. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives. In March, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill repeal­ing the death penal­ty in his state. Several oth­er states have con­sid­ered bills to repeal the death penal­ty dur­ing their 2011 leg­isla­tive ses­sion, includ­ing Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

(J. Rabe, ​“Death penal­ty repeal bill approved by Judiciary Committee,” Connecticut Mirror, April 12, 2011). See Recent Legislative Activity.

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