Currently, 18 states have formally declared the death penalty to be illegal. Most states are currently on “hold” or are not aggressively implementing the penalty. Colorado, has shown a growing trend to lack the will for executions. Governor Hickenlooper gave a reprieve in 2013 to our last death row prisoner scheduled to be executed citing the death penalty is a flawed system. Just this year, the new Denver District Attorney, Beth McCann, said her office will not seek the death penalty. Colorado legislature is currently trying to pass a bill to make it officially illegal in Colorado. The bill states that Colorado's death penalty policy is a failed public policy and should be replaced by a sentence of life in prison without the possibility
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The dignity of human life should not be taken away, even in the case of a person who has committed a grave injustice. Modern society possesses the means to protect itself without permanently denying criminals the chance to reform. Second, the death penalty risks the state of Colorado taking an innocent life. Two death row inmates in Colorado have been exonerated in recent years for crimes they did not commit after exhausting their appellate rights; nine inmates facing the death penalty have had their sentences reversed because of issues of procedural fairness; and, nationally, after new evidence found them innocent of the crimes for which they had been convicted. Our system of justice is fallible and cannot ensure that the state of Colorado does not execute an innocent person or execute a person pursuant to an unfair process. Third, a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole effectively incapacitates a murderer for the rest of his or her life at far less cost than execution, allowing resources to be redirected to measures that prevent people from entering the criminal justice system through early treatment and intervention, bringing justice to victims, and implementing more widespread public safety
The dignity of human life should not be taken away, even in the case of a person who has committed a grave injustice. Modern society possesses the means to protect itself without permanently denying criminals the chance to reform. Second, the death penalty risks the state of Colorado taking an innocent life. Two death row inmates in Colorado have been exonerated in recent years for crimes they did not commit after exhausting their appellate rights; nine inmates facing the death penalty have had their sentences reversed because of issues of procedural fairness; and, nationally, after new evidence found them innocent of the crimes for which they had been convicted. Our system of justice is fallible and cannot ensure that the state of Colorado does not execute an innocent person or execute a person pursuant to an unfair process. Third, a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole effectively incapacitates a murderer for the rest of his or her life at far less cost than execution, allowing resources to be redirected to measures that prevent people from entering the criminal justice system through early treatment and intervention, bringing justice to victims, and implementing more widespread public safety