Another American state, Connecticut, has taken an important step toward the abolition of capital punishment. With a vote of 20 to 16, the Senate of the East Coast state took the first step toward abolishing the death penalty. The motion now goes to the House of Representatives, where a law banning capital punishment enjoys even more support. If it passes, it would go to the governor for his signature.

The Community of Sant’Egidio congratulations the courage of the Connecticut senators who have brought the state closer to the change underway around the world concerning the use of capital punishment, which is never necessary and always degrading, including for those who administer it. Connecticut is on its way toward being the fifth American state to abolish capital punishment since 2007; the others are New York, New Jersey, New Mexico and Illinois.

Unlike Governor Quinn of Illinois, who has refused to sign the abolition measure into law, the Governor of Connecticut, Daniel Malloy, has announced that he would sign the new law once it is approved by both houses of the legislature. The Community of Sant’Egidio sees this as a sign of an important cultural and political shift that gives solid reasons to hope for a justice that is always respectful of human life. These hopes are also based on an important referendum on capital punishment in California and on a new resolution scheduled to come before the General Assembly of the United Nations in November.