Today, April 25, 2012, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed into law legislation that ends the use of the death penalty in his state. Connecticut joins four other states that have abandoned the death penalty in recent years and is the 17th non-death penalty state in the United States. In the statement released by his office, Governor Malloy notes that “As our state moves beyond this divisive debate, I hope we can all redouble our efforts and common work to improve the fairness and integrity of our criminal justice system, and to minimize its fallibility.”
Here’s a statement from Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center:
With Governor Malloy’s action, Connecticut joins sixteen other states that have already concluded that the death penalty is too risky, too expensive, and too arbitrary to continue. By replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole, Connecticut officials have reduced the risk of executing the innocent and freed up taxpayer dollars for other programs that prevent crime more effectively and better serve victims’ families.
Read the Governor’s full statement as printed in the Hartford Courant.