Connecticut Death Penalty Repeal Approved by Lawmakers

Big news out of Connecticut's House of Representatives: Lawmakers have voted in favor of a bill to repeal the death penalty in Connecticut . If the measure passes, Connecticut would be the fifth state in five years to end capital punishment.

Members of the House voted 86-62 in favor of the measure. It must now be sent to Governor Dannel Malloy for final approval. But Malloy has promised to sign the bill into law, MSNBC reports.

But with the death penalty soon to be gone in Connecticut, what will rise in its place?

Under the bill, courts will be able to impose a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in place of capital punishment. Furthermore, felons given a life sentence would also be put in the same rough prison conditions currently endured by inmates on Death Row.

The House's decision to pass the bill occurred after almost 10 hours of floor debate, the Associated Press reports.

The death penalty was originally carried over from English law during America's Colonial Era. Since then, favor for and against capital punishment has ebbed and flow throughout U.S. history.

Today, a majority of states have death penalty laws in place, including California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida.

States that have abolished the practice recently are Illinois, New Jersey, and New Mexico. New York has also declared its death penalty law unconstitutional.

Currently there are 11 men on Connecticut's Death Row. However, even if the bill becomes law, these men would still be subject to execution. That's because the law would only apply to any future capital punishment offenses.

For now, it looks like the repeal bill may soon make Connecticut's death penalty a relic of the state's past.

Related Resources:

• Death Penalty Repeal Goes to Connecticut Governor (The New York Times)
• Death Penalty Laws and History (FindLaw)
• Death Penalty Challenges (FindLaw)