Friend of CCATDP, Jacob Morgan, penned an article demonstrating how Oklahoma’s death penalty is little more than a failed public policy, and the article was published today in the Durant Daily.
Morgan wrote,
Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission issued their findings after spending a year examining our capital punishment system. The Commission concluded that it is costly and dangerously administered, and therefore, executions should be halted for the time being. Given these findings and that 53% of Oklahomans favor death penalty alternatives, the time is right to reexamine Oklahoma’s capital punishment program.
He went on to highlight the issues plaguing Oklahoma’s death penalty, including the risk of killing an innocent person, the death penalty’s high costs, it’s failure to protect society or aid murder victims’ families, and the spate of botched executions.
Toward the end of the op-ed, Morgan concluded,
I know there are passionate feelings on both sides of the death penalty debate, but rather than reconsidering capital punishment through a subjective lens, we should judge it based on objective facts.
In case you missed the segment, you can watch CCATDP’s Marc Hyden speaking on why conservatives are increasingly opposing the death penalty on Liberty Talk Radio with Joe Cristiano below.
Our most recent Charles Koch Communications Intern, Samantha Bonsack, recently had an article published in South Carolina’s premiere paper, The State. In the piece, Samantha presented the conservative rationale for repealing the death penalty. She wrote,
Like many conservatives, I used to support the death penalty, and like most people I wasn’t fully informed of capital punishment’s implications and risks. Nor did I ever consider that human error might result in wrongful convictions and death sentences. As my perspective changed and I learned more about the death penalty’s failures, I’ve concluded that it should be repealed.
Samantha went on to highlight the risks to innocent life, high costs, failure to protect society, and harm inflicted on murder victims’ families.
She closed by stating,
Wrongful executions are a real risk with the death penalty. They can occur as a result of prosecutorial misconduct, mistaken eyewitness testimony and reliance on forged or faulty forensic analyses. Given that flawed forensics has helped send people to death row, it is highly likely that the United States has executed innocent individuals.
In the past month, we’ve been confronted with our death penalty system’s dangers and flaws again. Rodricus Crawford was released from Louisiana’s death row in April and Ralph Daniel Wright Jr. from Florida’s death row just days ago because they had both been wrongly convicted and sentenced to die. Regrettably, this isn’t a rare occurrence. In fact, these exonerations bring the total number of individuals in the U.S. since 1973 released from death row due to wrongful convictions to 159, while others have been executed who might have been innocent.
The Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission concluded its year-long examination into the state’s capital punishment program, and their findings reflected what has been discovered in many other states. Oklahoma’s death penalty is dangerously flawed, has led to wrongful convictions, and it costs far more than life without parole.
Conservatives Concerned in the field
On April 19, I presented the conservative case against the death penalty to the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The National Catholic Register posted a piece examining the state of the death penalty and why it is in decline.
NC Register reporter, Stephen Beale wrote,
Despite four high-profile executions in Arkansas in April, the death penalty is on the decline in the United States — and that is thanks in large measure to a major shift in public opinion that has been driven in part by Catholics.
Beale also interviewed CCATDP’s Heather Beaudoin who discussed the increased conservative involvement in repealing the death penalty and the myriad of reasons why conservatives are opposing the death penalty.
Beale reported,
Changed Minds
Whether a prudential judgment or a doctrinal statement, it appears that John Paul II’s opposition to the death penalty has influenced many Catholics to change their stance.
Heather Beaudoin, the co-coordinator of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said that many of those involved in the movement hail from a Catholic background. She noted that one of the founders of the group is longtime conservative fundraiser and publisher Richard Viguerie, who is Catholic.
For the past year, the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission has been conducting a study on the Oklahoma death penalty, and they just released their findings in a 300-page report. They found widespread issues within the capital punishment system, and as a result, the commission unanimously recommended a death penalty moratorium until the problems are addressed.
Reason Magazine’s Ed Krayewski covered the report’s release and interviewed me for his article.
He wrote,
“Many of the findings of the Commission’s year-long investigation were disturbing and led Commission members to question whether the death penalty can be administered in a way that ensures no innocent person is put to death,” former Gov. Brad Henry, a a co-chair of the bipartisan commission, wrote in the introduction to its 300-page report.
“Oklahoma’s history of wrongful convictions, falsifying evidence, and botching executions clearly demonstrates that the state cannot and can never be trusted with the death penalty,” Marc Hyden, the national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, an anti-death penalty group, told Reason.
Recently, Ben Swann at CBS-46 Atlanta conducted a death penalty examination to determine whether the death penalty clashes with conservative principles, and he interviewed me for the piece. The conclusion was essentially that the death penalty is a danger to innocent lives, costs an enormous amount of money, doesn’t deter crime, and even retraumatizes murder victims’ families. If you missed the original broadcast, then you can watch the segment here.
The St. Augustine Record published an article written by our current Charles Koch Institute Communications Intern, Kelli Huck. In the piece, Huck described how Florida Governor Scott is overreaching in his attempts to strip Orange-Osceola State Attorney Ayala of certain cases and Scott is ignoring her constituents’ wishes.
Huck stated,
Immediately after the announcement, Gov. Rick Scott removed her from the highly publicized Markeith Loyd case, in which he is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend as well as a police officer.
Gov. Scott claims Ayala “has made it clear that she will not fight for justice,” which couldn’t be further from the truth. While Scott appears to be overreaching and defending an irrevocably broken death penalty system, she is the one honestly addressing the problems and she has the authority to figure out what best serves her community.
Then Huck listed the many reasons why conservatives should support Ayala’s decision, including the death penalty’s risk to innocent life, high cost, failure to protect society, and harm on murder victims’ families, and she closed by writing,
It is understandable that Ayala has decided to not seek the death penalty.
CCATDP supporter, Brian Empric, penned an article for Orlando Rising highlighting why conservatives should back embattled State Attorney Aramis Ayala as the governor continues his assault against her office.
Empric discussed how the governor has stripped Ayala of 22 cases and publicly shamed her for decision to eschew the death penalty during her term, but as Empric pointed out, she’s statutorily vested with the authority to make such decisions. Moreover, the majority of her constituents support her decision.
Nevertheless, Empric believes this is a great time to have a death penalty discussion and demonstrate how it violates our core principles.
He wrote,
If conservatives in Florida would just take a minute to think about all the problems with the death penalty, then they might recognize the wisdom of the decision by the duly-elected Orange-Osceola State Attorney. Rather than allow emotion to drive people’s thinking on the death penalty, they should objectively consider its policy failures. It bears a much higher cost than life without parole, and 26 people have been freed from Florida’s death row because they were wrongly convicted.
Questioning a system marked by inefficiency, inequity, and inaccuracy.
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty is a network of political and social conservatives who question the alignment of capital punishment with conservative principles and values.
We are a project of Equal Justice USA, a national organization working to end the death penalty in the United States.
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