CT to repeal the death penalty
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Author Topic: CT to repeal the death penalty  (Read 21011 times)
Tender Branson
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« on: April 06, 2012, 12:01:56 PM »

Connecticut moves to abolish death penalty

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — After executing just one prisoner in more than 50 years, Connecticut moved Thursday to become the fifth state in five years to do away with the death penalty for good.

But the repeal wouldn't be a lifeline for the state's 11 death row inmates, including two men who killed a woman and two children in a horrifying home invasion supporters touted as a key reason to keep the law on the books. The state Senate debated for hours Thursday about whether the law would reverse those sentences before voting 20-16 to repeal the law.

After the state Senate's 20-16 Thursday vote to repeal the law, the heavily Democratic state House of Representatives is expected to follow with approval within weeks. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the first Democratic governor elected in two decades, has vowed to sign the same bill vetoed by his Republican predecessor.

The wealthy, liberal state is one of the last in the Northeast to have a death penalty law and would join New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey and New York as the most recent to outlaw capital punishment. Repeal proposals are also pending in several other states including Kansas and Kentucky, while an initiative to end the death penalty goes before California voters in November.

Like Connecticut, states that have recently decided to abolish capital punishment were among those that in practice rarely executed inmates. New Jersey, for example, hasn't executed anyone in more than 40 years; Connecticut's death row population is more than seven times below the national average.

Death sentences and executions are also plummeting around the country as fewer prosecutors push capital punishment cases, often because of new laws that allow life with no possibility of parole as a sentencing option.

The possibility of executing the innocent, driven by the rise of DNA as a tool to exonerate wrongfully convicted defendants, is the biggest overall factor driving states to reconsider capital punishment, said Doug Berman, an Ohio State University law professor.

"That has the most profound and enduring resonance as an argument and one that can never be pushed back," Berman said.

The Senate debate Thursday focused on how the law could affect the state's 11 death row inmates, including the two men sentenced to death for the 2007 home invasion attack in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire. They include two men sentenced to death for killing a woman and her two daughters after tormenting the family for hours in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire. The lone survivor of the attack, Dr. William Petit, successfully lobbied state lawmakers to hold off on repeal last year when one of the killers was still facing trial.

"We believe in the death penalty because we believe it is really the only true, just punishment for certain heinous and depraved murders," Petit said Wednesday. "One thing you never hear the abolitionists talk about is the victims, almost never. The forgotten people. The people who died and can't be here to speak for themselves."

Connecticut would become the 17th state without a death penalty. Executions in the U.S. have declined from a high of 98 in 1999 to 43 last year, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. The number of people sentenced to death each year has also dropped sharply, from 300 a decade ago to 78 last year, he said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j37GxfVJRGcUEVR5BW6bOSc0E0hA?docId=2ae24502dcea44548f2651649fa85f7e

...

Smiley

Let's hope CA follows suit in November.
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Just Passion Through
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« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2012, 12:12:18 PM »

Woohoo!
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Tender Branson
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« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2012, 12:12:43 PM »

The chances that CA voters repeal the death penalty are not too bad actually.

The ballot language will probably include "and replace it with life imprisonment without the chance of parole".

And the latest Field poll shows:

48% life without parole
40% death penalty

http://field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2393.pdf

And as you can see from the historical poll results, support for life without parole is steadily increasing.
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Cory
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« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2012, 12:38:39 PM »

Lame.
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Redalgo
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« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2012, 12:49:16 PM »

One more step toward complete abolition in the States! Smile
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Grumpier Than Uncle Joe
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« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2012, 12:51:23 PM »


Since they've only used it once in 50 years....lame indeed.  Very PC though.
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LastVoter
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« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2012, 12:52:22 PM »

Now if we can get Texas to repeal their death penalty.
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greenforest32
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« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2012, 01:22:52 PM »

+1. It would be nice if the Governor commuted the sentences of the 11 death row inmates too.

Potentially, California will get rid of the death penalty as Washington upholds gay marriage and legalizes marijuana. I'm getting jealous over here Tongue
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officepark
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« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2012, 01:49:47 PM »

Disgusting.
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politicus
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« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2012, 01:57:37 PM »

One more step toward complete abolition in the States! Smiley
Yes, even if its mostly symbolic
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BRTD
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« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2012, 09:35:22 PM »


Now I could take the opportunity to call you a fake Christian.
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Gass3268
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« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2012, 09:44:51 PM »

Awesome news! It would be a huge step in the direction of abolishment if California votes it away in the fall. 
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Marokai Backbeat
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« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2012, 10:20:33 PM »


Really? Not that you disagree with it, not that you think it's ineffectual policy, but the notion of not executing criminals disgusts you? Your morals are f'ed.
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Just Passion Through
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« Reply #13 on: April 06, 2012, 10:36:12 PM »


Really? Not that you disagree with it, not that you think it's ineffectual policy, but the notion of not executing criminals disgusts you? Your morals are f'ed.

What's even more hilarious...

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They put it to a vote and they just kept lying
20RP12
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« Reply #14 on: April 06, 2012, 10:44:26 PM »

Cheesy




Really? Not that you disagree with it, not that you think it's ineffectual policy, but the notion of not executing criminals disgusts you? Your morals are f'ed.

What's even more hilarious...



No, TC is a LINO.

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tpfkaw
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« Reply #15 on: April 06, 2012, 10:45:16 PM »

I believe officepark's avatar choice is ironic.
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Yelnoc
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« Reply #16 on: April 06, 2012, 10:51:07 PM »

Why would support of the death party by so out of step with Libertarianism?
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BRTD
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« Reply #17 on: April 06, 2012, 10:51:16 PM »


officepark is a hipster?
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20RP12
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« Reply #18 on: April 06, 2012, 10:53:46 PM »


That brand of irony is nausea-inducing.
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tpfkaw
wormyguy
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« Reply #19 on: April 06, 2012, 10:58:33 PM »

Why would support of the death party by so out of step with Libertarianism?

The death party sounds fun!

In all seriousness, it's because of the possibility of executing an innocent, the granting of the government a legal justification for killing, and that libertarian ethics condone preventative but not retributive justice (inasmuch as they can be separated).
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #20 on: April 06, 2012, 11:05:14 PM »

+1. It would be nice if the Governor commuted the sentences of the 11 death row inmates too.

He might not be able to.  Commutation is not a power all governors have.
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greenforest32
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« Reply #21 on: April 06, 2012, 11:28:53 PM »

+1. It would be nice if the Governor commuted the sentences of the 11 death row inmates too.

He might not be able to.  Commutation is not a power all governors have.

Just looked it up: http://www.cnadp.org/resources/death-penalty-in-connecticut/

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Pingvin
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« Reply #22 on: April 07, 2012, 01:42:24 AM »

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jfern
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« Reply #23 on: April 07, 2012, 01:48:12 AM »

The chances that CA voters repeal the death penalty are not too bad actually.

The ballot language will probably include "and replace it with life imprisonment without the chance of parole".

And the latest Field poll shows:

48% life without parole
40% death penalty

http://field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2393.pdf

And as you can see from the historical poll results, support for life without parole is steadily increasing.

That would be an amazing turnabout here in California, seeing as 3 members of the state Supreme Court were rejected by the voters in 1986 for supporting the death penalty. Chief Justice Rose Bird lost by a landslide 67-33 margin. That's the only time members of the Supreme Court were rejected by the voters.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #24 on: April 07, 2012, 04:08:54 AM »

You mean "opposing". Smiley

California is one of those states that sentences anyone they can get a hold on to death but rarely if ever executes, and thus has a gigantic death row population. Pennsylvania being the crassest case of that.
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