by ALISON LEVIER Staff Writer
Dannel Monnoy, governor of Connecticut, signed a bill on Wednesday, April 18, putting an end to the death penalty in Connecticut. This bill makes Connecticut the seventeenth state to repeal the death penalty. Although the new repeal cannot save those already sentenced to death, it is effective immediately; from now on, no one can be sentenced to death in Connecticut. “Killing people is wrong. No matter what they have done, we are taught all our lives to forgive, and we must forgive in order to move on from past problems. Isn’t having someone rot in jail for the rest of their life, thinking about nothing but the crime they committed punishment enough?” says freshman Anne Ballman. The death penalty abolishment has been a priority in Connecticut for almost four years now. Lawmakers attempted to pass a bill abolishing the death penalty in 2009, but then-governor Jodi Rell vetoed the new law. The last person to be put to death was Michael Ross, a convicted serial killer who murdered eight women between the ages of 14 and 25, and was executed by the state of Connecticut by lethal injection on May 13, 2005. Ross was the first execution in New England since 1960. “In some cases, I feel that the death penalty may be necessary. Although, I do hope the execution is quick. No use making them suffer even more,” says freshman Kirsten Pasewaldt. Connecticut has become the fifth state to repeal the death penalty, following New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Illinois. California, voting on the issue in November, could be the next state to join in the repeals. “I’m glad New Jersey is one of the states that doesn’t allow the death penalty. I’d hate to know I was living in a state where you could actually be sentenced to death,” says Ballman. The greatest state of punishment in Connecticut is now life sentence without any possibility of release.