Colorado officially pulled the plug on the death penalty.

The state now joins 22 others that have abolished capital punishment. The last person to be executed in Colorado was in 1997. 

Monday, March 23, 2020 was a big day for public policy in Colorado. Denver was put under a 'stay-at-home' order, and Governor Polis signed a bill that bans capital punishment in Colorado.

According to CBS News, the latest Gallup polling shows that 42% of respondents were opposed to the death penalty; that the highest that number has been since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

With the signing of the bill, three men that were on Colorado's death row had their sentences commuted to 'life without parole.' Polis has not taken this move lightly.

According CBS News, Polis said:

“Commutations are typically granted to reflect evidence of extraordinary change in the offender. That is not why I am commuting these sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole,” Polis said in a prepared statement.

Source: [CBS News]

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