It is official, Connecticut has banned the dealth penalty.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has signed into law a bill banning the death penalty in Connecticut.  We posted about the proposed ban here.  Governor Malloy's statement said the signing should prompt "sober reflection, not celebration."

In my post on this topic, I noted that Connecticut has only executed one person since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.  Governor Malloy's statement points out that in the twelve years prior to Furman v. Georgia (the United States Supreme Court cases that led to a moratorium on the death penalty between 1972 and 1976), Connecticut also executed one person.  That is, Connecticut actually carried out the death penalty on two people in the last 52 years.  Apparently in both cases the prisoner dropped his appeals and requested execution.  Governor Malloy points to the fact that death penalty cases involve a lot of appeals as one of the reasons for abolishing the death penalty (as opposed to abolishing the appeals).  The governor also notes that the eleven men currently on death row in Connecticut (the new law does not repeal the death penalty for them) "are far more likely to die of old age than they are to be put to death."

To be fair, Governor Malloy also mentions moral opposition to the death penalty as well as concerns over putting an innocent person to death.  Both of these concerns are legitimate reasons to oppose the death penalty.  Is a lengthy appeals process on par with these other concerns?  I am skeptical.  After all, one would think that the length of the appeals process might help alleviate the concern over mistakenly putting an innocent person to death.

Connecticut is going to repeal its death penalty.

CNN reports that the Connecticut Senate voted yesterday to repeal the death penalty.  The bill is expected to pass in the Connecticut House of Representatives.  Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has said he will sign the bill if/when it reaches his desk.

If it repeals the death penalty, Connecticut will join New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Illinois among states that have abolished the death penalty in the last five years.  Californians will vote on whether to abolish the death penalty in November. 

Opponents of the death penalty will undoubtedly be cheered by this news.  On the other hand, it isn't like Connecticut is Texas.  Since 1976, the article reports, Connecticut has handed down 15 death sentences and executed one person.  Texas, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, has 299 people on death row today (assuming I counted correctly).  The Department's executions website, indicates Texas has executed 481 people since 1982, including 2 in March.  As an aside, the website I linked to allows you to see the last statements, if any, all 481 people.  They are interesting reading. 

In any event, Connecticut Senate President Donald Williams Jr., called the bill a "vote of conscience."  This question of conscience does not apply to people currently on Connecticut's death row because the bill is prospective.  That is, the death penalty wasn't abolished for anyone in Connecticut who is currently sentenced to death.  This is probably because of the Petit family murders, the horrific murders of three female family members by two men.  Both men are on Connecticut's death row.

There are, of course, arguments on both sides for whether the death penalty should be abolished.  This purpose of this post is not to debate that issue.  Instead, the point of the post is that acts of "conscience" that do not change any one's circumstances are the easiest acts of conscience that one can perform.