By Senator
Dan Debicella
The General Assembly recently passed a bill eliminating
the death penalty in Connecticut, which Governor M.
Jodi Rell has promised to veto. I voted against the
elimination, and agree with Governor Rell that Connecticut
should retain our death penalty option for the most
heinous murderers.
I became convinced of the need for a death penalty
option at an early age. My father was a police officer
in Bridgeport, and as a child he shielded me from the
horrors he saw. But when I was a teenager, he told me
about a homicide investigation where he traveled to
New York to find the body of a young woman who had been
brutally raped, murdered, decapitated and thrown into
a river. When he arrested the person who was ultimately
convicted of this crime, the man laughed at what he
had done.
The death penalty is proper justice for murderers like
this—the “worst of the worst” who
show no remorse or hope of rehabilitation. In these
cases, justice is both societal and retributive. First,
the death penalty provides societal justice because
humanity is better off as a whole without criminals
who cannot be redeemed. Second, retributive justice
is provided by having the punishment fit the crime.
Justice is served for the victims and their families
when death is the punishment for those convicted of
particularly monstrous murders.
The death penalty may also serve as a deterrent against
future murders. I do not believe that the threat of
execution deters all murderers; some are too deranged
to care about even their own welfare. However, I have
to believe there is at least one would-be murderer out
there who will think twice because of the death penalty.
If the existence of Connecticut’s death penalty
law saves even one innocent life, I believe it is a
worthwhile deterrent.
I should note it is not easy to earn a death sentence
in Connecticut. In the past 49 years, only two people
have been executed here: Joseph “Mad Dog”
Taborsky in 1960 who killed his victims during liquor
store hold-ups, and Michael Ross in 2005 who raped and
strangled his victims. The ten individuals currently
on death row in Connecticut got there by committing
truly heinous crimes for which they were tried and convicted.
All of them have the right to appeal their sentences,
and none will be executed until they have exhausted
the many legal remedies available to them.
Because of this, I believe the arguments against preserving
Connecticut’s death penalty law are flawed. Opponents
point to the risk of executing innocent people, which
is indeed a terrible prospect. However, our appeals
process often takes years and allows defendants every
opportunity to prove their innocence. No innocent person
has been executed in modern Connecticut history. Opponents
also argue that it is wrong to take any human life,
no matter how deplorable their acts. However, I believe
that human life is more than just being born into our
species; it is the inner spark that allows us to love
our fellow humans. The individuals who unrepentantly
rape and murder have forfeited their humanity through
their actions against innocent victims.
I will continue to support the death penalty option
for the most atrocious murderers—and fortunately
Connecticut will maintain the death penalty option because
of Governor Rell’s veto.
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