The Colorado Catholic Conference is deeply disappointed that the Colorado Senate failed to vote on death penalty repeal (Senate Bill 182) and instead laid the bill over until May 4th – effectively killing the bill.
Pope Francis has reminded us that our nation’s leaders have a responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. The death penalty is a clear affront to the dignity and sanctity of human life that excludes the possibility of rehabilitation. There are much less costly alternatives available to the State of Colorado that would both punish offenders and protect society.
For the sake of our own humanity, we need to turn away from a mistaken idea of justice based – in practice – on further and unneeded violence. We pray that someday soon our legislators will have the wisdom and courage to end the death penalty in Colorado.