Yesterday, the Daily Caller published an article in which I reported on the highly publicized launch of the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty (GA CCATDP). The press event spurred a steady stream of media and interest from the public and for good reason. The GA CCATDP supporters are notable members of the conservative community.
I wrote,
The Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty group launched at a press conference held at the State Capitol, and it was attended by a host of notable Georgia leaders, including a conservative state representative, a former Republican Party official, a free market think tank leader, and activists from across the state.
Each speaker shared a message of liberty and conservatism and described how the Georgia death penalty violates many principles that they hold close to their heart.
State Representative Brett Harrell questioned the death penalty’s efficiency. Former 5th Congressional District GOP Chairman, David Burge, discussed the cumbersome and costly processes inherent in the capital punishment process. Jennifer Maffessanti, Chairwoman of the Atlanta Chapter of the America’s Future Foundation, explained the real risk of executing an innocent person.
Following the launch of the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty at a press conference in the Georgia Capitol, press conference participant Austin Paul penned an op-ed outlining his opposition to the death penalty.
He wrote,
As a conservative, I look skeptically upon the state’s ability to carry out death sentences effectively. Conservatives correctly highlight the inefficiencies that exist at all levels of government.
Make no mistake about it; conservative values – from faith to fiscal responsibility – have been helping to fuel the trend away from capital punishment in Georgia.
Today, an op-ed penned by Jennifer Maffessanti, the Chairwoman of the Atlanta, Georgia America’s Future Foundation, was published. In the piece, she described how she hadn’t always opposed the death penalty, but after considerable thought and research, she turned against it.
She said,
Earlier this year, I participated in a press conference announcing the launch of the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, which is a statewide network of conservatives and libertarians who believe capital punishment violates our values. The event featured well-known speakers from across the state, and I was proud to take part. However, I wasn’t always opposed to the death penalty.
I was raised as a conservatarian, which is essentially a cross between conservatism and libertarianism, and I supported capital punishment for much of my life. I felt that there were certain crimes that were so heinous that the perpetrator had forfeited their right to live among other humans, and for some time, I didn’t question my death penalty position.
Last week, I traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia, where I spoke at an event hosted by the College Libertarians and College NAACP. I presented the conservative case against the death penalty and discussed at length why Virginia is far better off without capital punishment on its books.
The event was covered by Heather Baier of the Flat Hat News. She wrote,
The College Libertarians and the College of William and Mary’s chapter of the NAACP hosted the second lecture in their three-part series, “Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty,” Wednesday, March 22.
National Advocacy Coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty Marc Hyden spoke about the legal and financial pitfalls surrounding the death penalty.
“It risks innocent life, costs a ton of money and it gives an error prone government an awful lot of power,” Hyden said.
Baier reported,
“The way the death penalty is run should offend those of us who are dedicated to protecting potentially innocent life,” Hyden said. “As well as those of us fiscal conservatives like me who want to see fiscal prudency, fiscal sanity in government.
Last week, Florida State’s Attorney Aramis Ayala announced that she will not seek any death sentences during her tenure as the prosecutor in the 9th district (serving Orange and Osceola Counties). This is welcome news given that Orange County has historically been one of the leading death penalty counties in America.
There are good reasons to eschew capital punishment. It costs millions more than its alternatives, doesn’t protect society, and can harm murder victims’ families. Most importantly, it risks innocent lives because the criminal justice system is dangerously fallible.
Consider the recent report from the University of California Irvine, where researchers found that more people were exonerated of various crimes in 2016 than in any other year – a total of at least 166 people from only the 25 states that were studied. The same fallibility that led to these wrongful convictions also affects capital cases, and as such, Ayala should be commended for her decision to avoid death sentences during her term.
Conservatives Concerned In the field
In late February, CCATDP returned to CPAC as an exhibitor to inform and educate our fellow conservatives about why we are concerned about the death penalty.
During and following our success at CPAC, CCATDP’s Heather Beaudoin and I have been making multiple appearances on conservative radio shows.
At CPAC, I was on the Johnny Zero Radio Show, Talk Media News, and KLRN Radio to discuss why conservatives are increasingly opposing the death penalty.
Meanwhile, Heather Beaudoin was a guest on the Andrea Lafferty Show (segment starts at 30:34) and Reality Check (segment starts on the link for Thursday, February 23rd, hour 2) to talk about the evangelical and conservative push to repeal the death penalty.
Simon Cooper of the Yale Politic just published an article describing the increasing opposition to the death penalty from all faiths and political persuasions:
Two bishops, an imam, a rabbi, a reverend, and the president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America walk into the Kennedy Center. This is not the beginning of a micro-aggression laden joke, but rather the beginning of an innovative panel, Deadman Walking: Religious Leaders Dialogue on the Death Penalty, that aimed to display unity across faiths and political affiliations in the midst of an unprecedentedly polarized time in American public discourse. The religious leaders had gathered to discuss their shared ambition to abolish the death penalty.
The religious leaders are not alone in their opposition. Since its zenith at approximately seventy-five percent of the population in the mid-1990s, support for the death penalty among both political liberals and conservatives has eroded by 20 percentage points according to Gallup.
I was interviewed for this article in order to give insight into the growing conservative push to repeal the death penalty.
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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