Last week, I was a guest on St. Louis’ Allman Report on ABC 30, and I discussed the simple reasons why conservatives are increasingly opposing the death penalty.
Here is the lead into the story,
Hyden talked to The Allman Report about why the trend for conservatives to move away from supporting the death penalty is growing. Hyden says he and others support abolishing the death penalty because he says there’s nothing conservative about it. “When you look at the death penalty, it’s not pro-life,” he says. “It’s not fiscally responsible, and it’s not representative of a limited government.”
If you missed the segment, you can watch the video here.
The US Supreme Court recently ruled that Florida’s death penalty scheme is unconstitutional, saying it grants the judge, rather than the jury, too much authority in deciding who receives a death sentence. Until this glaring flaw is rectified, Florida doesn’t have a functioning death penalty. This has sent Florida legislators into a frenzy as they rush to mend this defect, but it is also providing a valuable opportunity to change one of Florida’s most bizarre laws.
Currently, the Sunshine State has the lowest standard in the country for sentencing someone to die. While most states require juries to unanimously recommend a death sentence, Florida, along with Delaware and Alabama, lacks this requirement. This may change very soon, however, as there is a bill making its way through the Florida legislature to require a unanimous jury decision before a death sentence is handed down.
Meanwhile, in Missouri, interest in ending the death penalty has grown dramatically. The newly-launched Missouri Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty group helped bolster conservatives in and out of the legislature to voice their concerns about their death penalty.
Yesterday morning, I was a guest on a St. Louis radio show called Allman in the Morning. During the brief segment, Jamie Allman and I discussed why the death penalty is not a conservative policy. If you missed the show, you can listen to it here.
Last week, I was a guest on Dallas, Texas’ Wells Report to discuss why more conservatives are in favor of repealing the death penalty. It was certainly a lively debate, but if you missed the segment, you can listen to it here.
Last week, an article that I wrote was published in the Savannah Morning News. In the piece, I described Georgia’s dwindling use of their capital punishment program. This sounds counter-intuitive given that Georgia executed a near record number of individuals in 2015, but, I wrote,
If you want a sense of the future of the state’s death penalty, then consider how many death sentences that Georgia juries imposed in 2015: zero. This record low shows that, despite last year’s executions, capital punishment is losing its hold in Georgia and for good reason.
Why are Georgia death sentences plummeting? It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons, but clearly, capital punishment is too perilous considering its many failures and risks. This certainly weighs heavily on judges, prosecutors, and juries.
Conservatives and libertarians from across the United States are uniting against the death penalty more than ever before, but our work is not done. We plan on publishing a list of state and local leaders who have signed our Statement of Support to End the Death Penalty, and we want you to be a part of it.
Are you a conservative or a libertarian who has held a political leadership position (such as a YAL chapter chairman, GOP treasurer, tea party founder, conservative state representative, etc.)? If so, then please consider adding your name to our Statement of Support to End the Death Penalty here.
When we release the entire list, it will be further proof that the national dialogue is changing, and the tide is turning against the death penalty.
Thank you for your support, and please share our statement with your conservative, politically-active friends and family members.
Earlier this week, an article that I wrote was published in the ultra conservative Washington Examiner. In the piece, I expanded on the conservative case against the death penalty. I wrote,
Regardless of whether one supports the death penalty in theory, in practice capital punishment has a long documented history of failing to live up to conservative principles.
We conservatives pride ourselves on abiding by our foundational tenets, including promoting pro-life policies, fiscal responsibility and limited government, but the death penalty violates each of these core values.
But the government’s track record suggests that perhaps it is unwise to entrust it with the authority to execute its citizens. I closed by stating,
Until the government can prove its infallibility and its capacity to fairly, efficiently, and properly administer its programs, it is only prudent to support repealing the death penalty, and therein lies the simple reason why conservatives are increasingly opposing capital punishment.
First printed in Voices of Liberty on 1/4/2016
2015 could easily be remembered as a landmark year for America’s waning death penalty system. In May, Nebraska became the first red state to legislatively repeal capital punishment in over 40 years when Republican legislators championed the effort in order to stay true to conservative principles. However, Nebraska’s success isn’t the only telling evidence that its days are numbered.
The Death Penalty Information Center released its annual report in December, which revealed that nationally, capital punishment is declining by virtually every metric. Considering the more than 155 people who were wrongly sentenced to die in the U.S., the death penalty’s high cost, and its inability to make society safer, its descent comes as no surprise.
Death sentences and executions peaked in the 1990s, but its use has fallen as more of the death penalty’s failures have come to light. In 2015, there were an estimated 49 death sentences imposed, which represents the fewest since the early 1970s.
The Death Penalty Information Center’s annual report was released this morning, and to nobody’s surprise, they found that the death penalty is in a steep decline. In 2015, America witnessed the fewest number of death sentences in 40 years and the fewest number of executions since 1991. However, only 6 states accounted for these executions as the United States is increasingly abandoning capital punishment. While the death penalty’s usage is dwindling, the risks are unfortunately still prevalent. In 2015 alone, it was discovered that 6 men were wrongly sentenced to die, and they spent an average of 19 years in prison.
Support for the death penalty also continues to erode in states that actively execute inmates. In the past month, a poll was conducted in one of the most conservative states in America – Oklahoma. According to the survey, a majority of Oklahomans and a plurality of Republicans in the Sooner State support repealing and replacing the death penalty.
In nearby Nebraska, the capital punishment debate continues, but the Cornhusker State’s governor announced that he was at least temporarily admitting defeat.
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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