Hartford, CT – Religious leaders urged state lawmakers Tuesday to abolish Connecticut’s death penalty, but its sponsor said rising support for the death penalty is hurting his efforts
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More than 300 Christian and Jewish leaders gave legislators a letter Tuesday supporting a bill to replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of release for certain murders. They said human life is sacred and money spent to impose the death penalty would be better spent preventing crime.
“We join many in Connecticut who question capital punishment due to its record as an ineffective, unfair and fallible response to violence,” the religious leaders said in their letter. “As people of faith, we reaffirm our opposition to the death penalty and belief in the sacredness of human life.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, said he expects it to win its first vote in the Judiciary Committee in the next week.
Holder-Winfield, a New Haven Democrat, acknowledges that polls show rising support for the death penalty in Connecticut after a 2007 home invasion in Cheshire where a mother and her two daughters were killed. One of two men accused in the case has been sentenced to death. The other awaits trial.
A statewide poll released March 10 showed that 67 percent of registered voters favor the death penalty, up from 59 percent in 2005. The Quinnipiac University Poll telephone survey of 1,693 voters, conducted March 1 through 7, had a margin of sampling error of 2.4 percentage points.
“Of course it affects what we’re doing,” Holder-Winfield said. “The reality is we’re going to do what we feel is the right thing.”
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said he would sign into law legislation abolishing the death penalty, but Holder-Winfield said the governor is not lobbying lawmakers to pass it.
“The governor has expressed he’s not going to work the bill,” he said. “It’s not up to him. It’s up to the legislature.”
A retired minister attended the news conference, but stood silently in opposition to the anti-death penalty statements. Stuart C. Brush, a retired United Church of Christ minister in Woodbury, held a framed photo of his son, Dean Brush, who he said was killed in 1983 at the age of 21. The killer was sentenced to six years and nine months in a plea bargain, he said.
“The death penalty has a place within our judicial system,” he said.
i think all those leaders are brain damaged, unbelievable how kind they are with the governments money i dont want to pay millions for each murderer let those religious leaders pay for them if they want to abolish the death penalty for evil murderers who have no compasion for their victims
These so-called do gooders, should not try to oppose the will of the people. 34 states still carry the death penalty on their statute books, as does the Federal Government.
Its good that several jewish leaders are out front on this issue. Capital punishment is totally inconsistent with yiddeshkeit’s focus on life and opposition to taking another life, whether by abortion or capital punishment. Hopefully, there will be more rabbonim from the frum kehillahs lending their names to this effort. Only hashem should have the power to take a life.
As a resident of Connecticut, I wholeheartedly agree with Anonymous that “Only Hashem should have the power to take a life.” Who are we to decide such a thing? Furthermore, we believe that they have punishment waiting for them, if they are guilty, after they die. Are we not then, by executing them, losing our opportunity to enact an earthly punishment before the beis din shel malah enacts a heavenly punishment? One could say that we are merely speeding them on their way there, but what if they are not guilty? Our justice system is not infallible. If they are in fact innocent, and we execute them, we deny them the opportunity to do mitzvos here on this earth. If they are innocent and we imprison them for life, they still have the opportunity to do mitzvos to prepare for olam haba. If, however, they were guilty, and we executed them, we denied them the opportunity to do teshuva here on this earth before they reach the beis din shel malah, where they will surely be punished. If they were guilty, and we imprison them for life, they can do teshuva and earn a chelek in olam haba. Finally, it is less expensive for taxpayers to imprison someone for life than to execute them. That is a fact.
To #7 - The guilt of the two deviant and sadistical criminals, who were involved in the heinous 2007 home invasion in Connecticut, whereby they perpetrated robbery, kidnapping, sexual assaults, arson, and murder of the Doctor’s wife and his two daughters, is not in question. One was already sentenced to death, and the other has stated that he would plead guilty, if the death penalty was taken off the table. However, the second miscreant will also be tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Over 65% of the public in Connecticut favors the death penalty. It is especially appropriate in this case. We cannot place a value on a human being who has been tortured to death, so please don’t bring up the millions that it will cost, vis-a-vis the appeals process.
read the rashi in shoftim about the death penalty rashi sayts u shuld have it
Former governor Pataki before election went to Rabbi Soloveichik and asked about death penalty. Rabbi told him death penalty must exists, but should be never carried out
The sheva mitzvos b’nei noach apply and the penalty for murder is death. I doubt that goyim need to go to beis din to decide this. A non Jewish court has every right to put to death a murderer. That is da’as torah.
Anyone bleeding heart who thinks that they know better than the aibishter or are more compassionate would do well to learn mishna brachos, 5:3
The proper discussion is to talk about the criteria for getting the death penalty!!