An op-ed written by our Charles Koch Institute Communications Fellow, Thomas Johnson, was published by the Seguin Gazette on Sunday. Thomas described in the article how the death penalty seems to be falling out of favor with prosecutors, victims’ families, and conservatives.
He wrote,
According to a recent Pew poll, support for the death penalty has fallen by 7% in a single year and it is now at a forty-year low. From conservatives to prosecutors to victim’s families, capital punishment is becoming so great a boondoggle that many are calling on society to find a better path. Given the death penalty’s many failures, this kind of backlash is to be expected.
Thomas is correct. There is no shortage of death penalty-related shortcomings, which is leading to capital punishment’s decline in many ways. As a result, Thomas concluded,
If conservatives, prosecutors, and police officials have a growing skepticism about the death penalty’s efficacy and many victims’ families don’t feel the process benefits them, then why do some insist on the death penalty?
Yesterday, the Daily Caller posted an article I wrote about the recent death penalty-related election results. Even though two repeal campaigns fell short, there is much to be hopeful for as the United States is clearly trending away from capital punishment.
I wrote,
On election night, Americans from across the nation sat nervously glued to their TVs or frantically refreshing their web browsers to learn who might be our next president, but there were other important issues being weighed by voters. Californians and Nebraskans both considered measures to end their capital punishment programs. However, unfortunately, after valiant efforts in both states, the campaigns to repeal their death penalties came up short.
Yet, this is not a watershed moment for the pro-death penalty camp by any means. In fact, capital punishment is in steep decline and its end seems inevitable:
Death sentences, executions, support for the death penalty, and states that actually carry out executions are falling to historic lows. At this point, executions are largely being relegated to a few outlier jurisdictions, but even in places that still use the death penalty, like Florida, it has been fraught with problems.
CCATDP’s Charles Koch Institute Communications Inten, Katherine Dwyer, posed the question “Should Christians Support the Death Penalty?” in her most recent op-ed, which was published in the Gospel Herald.
In the article, she wrote,
Death penalty measures were considered on three different state ballots on Election Day, which has sparked a healthy capital punishment debate among Christians, but where should Christians stand on the death penalty? Some capital punishment proponents justify their stance by suggesting that not only is it good governance but it’s also sanctioned by God. This is a bold claim. Those who support the death penalty often cite a few Biblical verses, but do they really translate into a divine death penalty mandate?
Throughout the op-ed, she highlighted many of the death penalty-related Biblical verses and explained their meaning and original translations. She concluded,
We grapple with many issues, like the death penalty, that don’t always appear to be easily solved, but when you look to Jesus for guidance, things become much clearer.
The United States is slowly turning against the death penalty. Its end seems inevitable, but unfortunately, there were a few setbacks this year. Ballot initiatives in California and Nebraska fell short of passing. Despite this, I feel incredibly encouraged for several reasons.
A recent Pew poll showed that support for the death penalty is at the lowest point since 1972, and there was a seven-point drop in support in just the last year. There are other metrics that portend the death penalty’s eventual demise. So far this year, 18 people have been executed nationwide, and if this trend continues, then 2016 will have the fewest executions since 1991. Death sentences are also in decline. Last year, there were less than 50 across the country, which was the fewest since 1976. While there is still considerable work to do, the great news is polls are demonstrating that opposition to the death penalty is growing and states are slowly abandoning its use.
Conservatives Concerned in the field
Over the past month, CCATDP continued its mission to raise awareness about the death penalty’s many problems.
Following the results of the ballot measures, many media outlets were eager to report CCATDP’s perspective.
The conservative outlet, Townhall wrote,
In fact, a growing chorus of conservative voices are joining the call to end the death penalty. Marc Hyden, the national coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, had this to say about Nebraska’s decision: “Conservatives increasingly believe the death penalty is a broken government program that wastes money and threatens innocent lives. This understanding drove Nebraska lawmakers to repeal the death penalty last year, and it is only a matter of time before Nebraska voters come to reevaluate this failed policy. Capital punishment’s heyday has clearly passed, and regardless of today’s result, conservatives will continue to lead the way towards its end.”
Specifically referencing Oklahoma’s State Question 776, OKWNews reported,
Opposition to the state question is bipartisan. Marc Hyden, national representative for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty said, “This measure will not limit the death penalty’s brokenness one bit. Instead, it may exacerbate underlying problems.”
On November 13, our Charles Koch Institute Communications Fellow, Thomas Johnson, was a guest on Michael Cargill’s radio show: Come and Talk It. In the roughly 1.5 hour interview, Thomas presented the conservative case against the death penalty. If you missed the segment when it was live, you can hear it here.
Yesterday evening, the conservative publication, Rare, published an article I authored. In the piece, I described how the state of the death penalty is in decline despite the ballot outcomes. In fact, there are many metrics that depict a death penalty whose end is inevitable. I wrote,
Measures to end the death penalty were on ballots in Nebraska and California this year, but unfortunately, the push to repeal capital punishment in those states fell short. While death penalty supporters may celebrate the results as some sort of national capital punishment rebound, they will likely end up very disappointed. The referendum results represent the kind of ebb and flow normally seen in political movements, but a number of national key indicators, such as death sentences, executions and polling, show that the death penalty in decline. Moreover, capital punishment supporters still face a challenge they have yet to figure out: designing a death penalty system that actually works.
I continued,
While the results of the death penalty related ballot measures were disappointing, the pro-capital punishment camp shouldn’t start celebrating because the death penalty’s future doesn’t look promising.
An op-ed written by the Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Liberty Caucus, Marven Goodman, was published today. In the article, he highlighted the many flaws in Oklahoma’s death penalty system and he laid out the conservative case against capital punishment.
He wrote,
The death penalty is falling out of favor around the country – partly because conservatives increasingly believe that it violates our core beliefs of safeguarding life, and supporting fiscal responsibility and limited government. A recent poll showed that support for capital punishment has reached a 40-year low nationally, and Sooner Poll found that the majority of Oklahomans prefer death penalty alternatives. Given our state’s history with capital punishment, this may come as a shock to some, but it shouldn’t. The Sooner State’s poor track record with the death penalty is beyond disconcerting, and I firmly believe that Oklahoma has clearly demonstrated that it cannot be trusted with capital punishment.
Unfortunately, the State of Oklahoma isn’t working to fix these issues. Instead, there is a ballot measure being considered that would add the death penalty to the state’s Bill of Rights, which Goodman mentioned:
It’s time to admit that our death penalty is irreparably flawed, and it violates the basic tenants of conservatism.
CCATDP’s Charles Koch Institute Communications Intern, Katherine Dwyer, was born and raised in California, and she recently weighed in on the state’s competing death penalty-related ballot propositions. In her op-ed, she wrote,
With two death penalty propositions on the November ballot, Californians are reexamining capital punishment. For fiscal conservatives, it should be a simple matter of dollars and cents.
California’s death penalty has cost taxpayers over $4 billion since 1978, according to a 2011 study. Death penalty experts Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Professor Paula M. Mitchell estimate that “capital trials cost on average an additional $1 million more than non-capital cases,” and “often cost 10-20 times more than murder trials that don’t involve the death penalty.”
Let those numbers sink in. What have California’s taxpayers gotten for their $4 billion investment? Thirteen executions and three wrongful capital convictions. Meanwhile, the capital punishment system doesn’t adequately protect society and is a harmful and traumatic process for murder victims’ families.
According to Dwyer, the choice between the two propositions is simple:
The choice between these two propositions is clear—one will save California taxpayers millions of dollars each year, while the other will cost California taxpayers millions.
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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