Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish capital punishment in 2012, and some of its lawmakers are looking to double down on that anti-death penalty stance. In a piece for Slate, Austin Sarat looks at the legislative push and encourages "legislators in other abolitionist states" to follow Connecticut's lead. Sarat explains that state Sen. Saud Anwar and Rep. Joshua Elliott plan to introduce legislation that would prohibit any business in the state from selling any drugs or materials for use in execution by another state. It was inspired by the discovery that Connecticut-based Absolute Standards began selling pentobarbital to the federal government and other states for use in executions beginning in 2018.
"Absolute Standards is not a pharmaceutical corporation. It's a chemical company that makes solution for machines. That's why it's flown under the radar," the lawmakers wrote in an April op-ed that pinned the 13 executions carried out by the Trump administration on the company. Though Absolute Standards' president in May told legislators that the company "ceased any manufacture or sale of pentobarbital" in December 2020, Anwar and Elliott still plan to introduce their bill in the next legislative session to prevent "another similar situation that we learn about indirectly or directly five years, 10 years, 20 years from now." Sarat urges other states that have done away with capital punishment to do the same. "If they do not believe that the death penalty is right for their state, they should not support it anywhere else." (Read his full column here.)
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