Efforts to repeal the death penalty in Connecticut had failed in previous years, but on March 21, 2012, the Connecticut Judiciary Committee voted 24-19 to pass Senate Bill 280, the bill to repeal the death penalty in Connecticut, setting the stage for an uphill battle for civil rights groups across the state.
The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Connecticut ACLU partnered with Winning Connections to spread awareness of this momentous legislation. We worked with our partners to put grassroots pressure on key State Senators and Representatives that had not yet taken a stance on repeal, encouraging them to end a death penalty that had failed the state for too long and vote “yes” for repeal.
The Connecticut State Senate voted 20-16 in favor of repealing the death penalty. The repeal bill was then sent to the Connecticut House of Representatives, who voted 86-62 in favor of repeal. Governor Dan Malloy signed the bill into law on April 25, 2012, making Connecticut the 17th state in the nation to ban the death penalty.
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