HARTFORD — After more than nine hours of debate, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to repeal the state’s death penalty, following a similar vote in the State Senate last week. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill, which would make Connecticut the 17th state — the 5th in five years — to abolish capital punishment for future cases.
Mr. Malloy’s signature will leave New Hampshire and Pennsylvania as the only states in the Northeast that still have the death penalty. New Jersey repealed it in 2007. New York’s statute was ruled unconstitutional by the state’s highest court in 2004, and lawmakers have not moved to fix the law.
The vote, after more than two decades of debate and the 2009 veto of a similar bill by the governor at the time, M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, came against the backdrop of one of the state’s most horrific crimes: a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire in which Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were held hostage and murdered, two of the three raped, and their house set afire by two habitual criminals who are now on death row. Ms. Hawke-Petit’s husband, Dr. William A. Petit Jr., who was badly beaten but escaped, has since been an ardent advocate for keeping the death penalty.
The bill exempts the 11 men currently on death row, including Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven J. Hayes, the men convicted of the Petit murders.
The measure was approved by a vote of 86 to 62, largely along party lines.
Source: The New York Times, April 11, 2012
Amnesty International Praises Connecticut Lawmakers on Death Penalty Repeal; Urges Governor to Sign Bill Following House Vote
Amnesty International USA today praised the Connecticut House of Representatives for voting to abolish the death penalty and urged Gov. Daniel P. Malloy to keep his promise and sign Senate Bill 280 into law, making Connecticut the 17th U.S. state to abolish the death penalty.
With Governor Malloy's signature, Connecticut will join 2/3 of all nations (141) and nearly one-third of the U.S. states (currently 16) that have eliminated this cruel and irrevocable punishment. Amnesty International’s recent global death penalty survey placed the United States among the top 5 countries that continue to execute prisoners, with China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The vote was 82-62.
“The death penalty is the ultimate affront to human rights – an inhuman and irreversible punishment in a mistake-prone judicial system,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director, Amnesty International USA. “The Connecticut Legislature has shown great political courage and leadership by abandoning a practice that most countries that respect human rights reject. We are confident more states will follow its lead. If we say a government is wrong to torture, how can we then justify giving our governments the power to kill prisoners?
Amnesty International said Connecticut could better use funds spent in capital trials on policies that make the public safer by preventing and solving crimes support the families of victims.
“Millions of dollars are wasted every year on capital punishment,” said Nossel. “This money is desperately needed to prevent and solve crimes, especially given that about one-third of all homicides in the United States go unsolved every year.”
In the lead up to the legislative vote, Amnesty International activists statewide called, wrote and visited lawmakers in Connecticut in support of the bill.
Studies show that capital punishment in Connecticut is plagued by bias and imposed in an arbitrary way. The relatives of 179 murder victims signed a letter of support for the bill.
Amnesty International said repeal of the death penalty in Connecticut is part of a clear trend away from capital punishment in the United States and throughout the world. Death sentences in the United States have plunged in the last decade to historic lows – largely due to the public’s increased awareness about glaring flaws inherent to capital punishment. 140 people have been exonerated from U.S. death rows.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
Source: Amnesty International USA, April 12, 2012
Statement of Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, on the passage of death penalty repeal legislation by the Connecticut House of Representatives
“Connecticut legislators took a principled stand in voting to repeal the death penalty. They found what a growing number of states have already concluded: that the death penalty diverts taxpayers dollars away from more effective crime-fighting programs, it fails victims’ family members, and risks executing innocent people, while most often falling on the poor, the mentally ill, and people of color. As they join other states that have taken similar action, the people of Connecticut will be safer without the death penalty."
The Connecticut Senate passed the repeal bill on April 5. The Governor has said he intends to sign the legislation.
For key facts on the death penalty nationwide and quotes from Connecticut experts in law enforcement, policymakers and victims’ families, see “Death Penalty At A Glance” at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/DPAtAGlance.pdf
The Death Penalty Information Center (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. DPIC was founded in 1990 and prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, conducts briefings for the media, and serves as a resource to those working on this issue.
Source: Death Penalty Information Center, April 11, 2012
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