Michael Radelet , professor of sociology, is an expert on the use of the death penalty in Colorado and the United States. He has documented all of Coloradoâs executions and notes that Colorado abolished the penalty between 1897 and 1901, came within one vote of abolishing it again in 2009 and has executed only one person since 1967. âWe've always debated the death penalty in Colorado, and the general thrust of our history is in the direction of abolition,â he said.