New Mexico Abolishes the Death Penalty
With Governor Richardson's signature on March 18, New Mexico became the third state in two years to abolish the death penalty, joining New York and New Jersey. This tremendous victory for human rights and sensible crime policy shows that the country is turning away from the death penalty.

In a statement released by Governor Richardson, he explained what finally led him to support abolition: "In a society which values individual life and liberty above all else, where justice and not vengeance is the singular guiding principle of our system of criminal law, the potential for wrongful conviction and, God forbid, execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings. That is why I'm signing this bill into law." See the press release.

The CNADP applauds Governor Richardson and the New Mexico legislature for their leadership in putting New Mexico on the right side of history and recognizing the death penalty for what it is - a broken system that needs to be scrapped.

We also congratulate the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty for their tireless efforts to make abolition in the state a reality. The coalition achieved its goal through a sustained, multi-year grassroots campaign. As an example of the movement's strength, over 8,000 people contacted the governor to urge him to support repeal after the legislation went to his desk.

U.S. Supreme Court Issues Ruling in Lethal Injection Case
On April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in the case of Baze v. Rees, that lethal injection is constitutional as long as there is "no substantial risk of severe pain," and as long as there is no alternative procedure which is "feasible, readily implemented, and in fact significantly reduced a substantial risk of severe pain." The ruling features no fewer than seven separate opinions which debate both lethal injection and the constitutionality of the death penalty itself.

It is far from clear what, if any, impact this decision will have on the death penalty or future litigation. It certainly does not impact the work of CNADP. Connecticut is a state that effectively does not practice capital punishment (the only execution in 45 years was a volunteer). Our work is focused on abolishing the death penalty from the statute books in our state. We will continue to work toward that goal.

However, this decision does make one thing clear: there will be more and more litigation on this issue. Once again, the death penalty and the divisiveness around it has sentenced families of murder victims to decades more of suffering the process.

The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty applauds the legislature and governor of New Jersey and is hopeful that Connecticut will soon follow this action. The system of capital punishment in New Jersey was all but identical to that of Connecticut with one exception, nobody in New Jersey ever volunteered to be executed, so New Jersey has not executed anybody in the modern era.

In their introduction of the bill in the General Assembly today, Assemblymen Wilfredo Caraballo (D) and Christopher Bateman (R) stated that the death penalty is not cost effective, is not a deterrent to crime, does not provide closure to the families, risked executing an innocent person, is prone to arbitrary decisions that has led to racial and geographic disparity, and cited a poll that showed that more people in New Jersey prefer the sentence to life without release over the death penalty. The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty recognizes that the death penalty in Connecticut is identical to that of New Jersey in every aspect mentioned above.

The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty wishes to congratulate the people of New Jersey for their enlightened leadership.