Colorado Governor Has Death Penalty Doubts

Today, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper issued a temporary reprive for death row inmate Nathan Dunlap. But it's not because of anything Dunlap has — or hasn't — done. It's because Hickenlooper is questioning whether his state should be in the business of capital punishment at all.

Colorado's last execution was over a decade ago, and the state has existed in something of a limbo on the issue since then — capital punishment is on the books, but not a practicing part of the state's justice system. As the Atlantic's Andrew Cohen has noted, Hickenlooper's decision today was much anticipated. While, as he explains, the governor's order today is actually not that decisive on the issue of capital punishment itself, it has forced him to make a public statement on an issue he's previously dodged. 

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