Colorado will be the 22nd US state to abolish the death penalty

Colorado will soon become the twenty-second state of the United States to abolish the death penalty , after the legislature passed a law on Wednesday, 26, that puts an end to capital punishment.

The text, approved by 38 votes to 27, was sent to Democratic Governor Jared Polis, who has already expressed a willingness to sanction it and commute the sentences of convicts awaiting execution.

The abolition of the death penalty, which will take effect on July 1, was the subject of an intense and long-running debate, in which the Republican opposition exhausted all its tools to avoid approval.

One of his MPs, Steve Humphrey, read the Bible for 45 minutes.

After July 1, the maximum sentence in this state will be life imprisonment, with no right to parole.

The law "is based on the hope, though still incipient, that we can be better as a society," said Democratic majority leader Alec Garnett. "We can spend resources on reform, not appeals, treatment of addiction, not administration of lethal cocktails."