The Governor of Connecticut has repealed the State’s capital punishment’s provisions. However, the repeal only applies to future cases. Democratic Governor Daniel Malloy signed the legislation stating it was “a moment for sober reflection, not celebration.”
The law will replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole and the State of Connecticut is now the 16th state to have abolished capital punishment. Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey and New York have all abolished the death penalty.
Executive Director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, Ben Jones commented “Some people were in tears when it was signed and they were very thankful to the governor.”
The Governor had come “to oppose capital punishment while working as a prosecutor....I learned firsthand that our system of justice is imperfect...I came to believe that doing away with the death penalty was the only way to ensure that it would not be unfairly imposed.”