Off the books

The number of states that have the death penalty on the books shrank by one this week — sort of. Lawmakers in Connecticut voted to abolish capital punishment for all future cases, and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Eleven men are on death row in Connecticut, and that won’t change. Leaving those sentences intact helped give this bill the support it needed in the legislature. One House member called the bill “illogical” because “we allow the death penalty to continue for at least 11 people and maybe more.” True, but it’s essentially for show anyway — the state has carried out only one execution in the past 51 years.

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