Nate Madden from the Catholic News Service caught up with Kansas Governor Brownback and myself at CPAC to discuss the death penalty. Currently, a bill to repeal capital punishment is being considered. Madden wrote,
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback told Catholic News Service that he will “see what’s actually in the bill” before making any decision on whether or not to sign it, should it pass both chambers.
“I am opposed to the death penalty in cases other than where you cannot protect the society from the perpetrator,” he said in an interview Feb. 28, “but the bill is not currently drafted as I’ve explained it just now.”
Madden continued,
Marc Hyden, advocacy director for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, told CNS that “with the way the criminal justice system is now, we have a very viable option, which is life without parole.
“With the death penalty, you have a system to execute those found to be guilty. Those systems are open to corruption and abuse, like all other human systems, and innocent lives can fall through the cracks.”
“No matter how heinous someone’s crimes may be,” Hyden concluded, “you have to ask yourself if you fully trust the state to administer this (the death penalty) fairly, properly and efficiently.”