A Connecticut legislative committee heard arguments today (Wednesday) for and against a bill that would repeal the state’s death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without the possibility of release. Supporters of repeal say the current capital punishment system unfairly affects deaths based on racial, gender and socio-economic disparities. Speaking before the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, Senate President Donald Williams said the current system is also completely random and does not allow families of murder victims to properly heal. He says of the more than 46-hundred murder cases that took place in Connecticut over a 34-year period, only 92 resulted in capital convictions.
“And of those 92, only 9 (are) on death row. It makes no sense. It’s completely arbitrary. And we owe it to the victims to provide a system that is more consistent and more certain, and that provides closure within the criminal justice system.”
The bill’s opponents argue that the death penalty serves an important purpose in the state, as the ultimate tool for prosecutors to secure convictions against defendants who would rather opt for prison time than risk facing death. Last year, similar repeal legislation failed in the Senate due to the on-going death penalty trial in a fatal Cheshire home invasion case. Governor Dannel Malloy has said he would sign legislation abolishing the death penalty for all future cases.