The Reading Eagle’s Nicole Brambila authored an article over the weekend examining whether the death penalty was a dying sentence. She interviewed me for the story and highlighted the burgeoning conservative opposition to capital punishment. She wrote,
The battle lines appear to be shifting. In the clash over the death penalty, the lines had long been drawn between conservatives and liberals. But now, with mounting fiscal concerns among conservatives, the lines are becoming blurred. For the first time in four decades, the two sides in the death penalty conflict are finding common ground, even if they are arriving at the need for abolition for different reasons.”
We have to look at it pragmatically,” said Marc Hyden, national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a network originally formed in Montana in 2010. “Do you trust an error-prone government to properly and efficiently execute the program?”
Increasingly, the answer is no. Hyden described capital punishment in the U.S. as “an utterly failed government program,” a sentiment echoed by others.
CCATDP’s Heather Beaudoin was recently featured by Evangelical Focus to discuss the Christian case against the death penalty and to highlight the National Association of Evanglicals’ official shift away from the supporting capital punishment. Heather explained,
I have certainly witnessed a shift away from the death penalty in the evangelical community. Individuals in the evangelical community have shown that they know the facts about our broken death penalty system. Regardless of whether or not we support it philosophically, we see that we cannot stand by a system that sentences innocent people to death, displays such rampant racial and economic disparities, puts murder victims’ families through years of uncertainty, and drains local resources.
She also noted,
I think that evangelicals and the secular society have come to the issue for different reasons. Evangelicals have the Bible to deal with. I sometimes hear evangelicals say that they support the death penalty because it is Biblical. In my experience, this is the main reason given by evangelicals who continue to back capital punishment.
Last week, I returned to the Scott Adams Radio show to explain the conservative and Christian cases against the death penalty. Additionally, we discussed the Pennsylvania governor’s decision to stay an upcoming execution in order to await the state’s capital punishment commission’s recommendations. If you missed the segment, you can listen to it here.
Following my speaking engagement at Hillsdale College, the Hillsdale Collegian covered the event. Jordyn Pair reported,
Marc Hyden gave a speech on how conservatism should view the death penalty in a presentation Tuesday sponsored by the Hillsdale Young Americans for Freedom. Hyden is the national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty
Talking to a full room, Hyden said earlier in his life, he supported capital punishment “almost with a zeal.” As he discovered more about the system, however, the less he could defend the death penalty.
She additionally noted,
He also said the death penalty has a greater monetary cost and limits the possibility of redemption. Hyden cited studies arguing the death penalty does nothing to actually deter crime.
“There is zero-causal relationship between execution and murder rates,” he said.
CCATDP’s Ben Jones authored an article in the Harvard Law School Record. Ben described why those on the political right should oppose capital punishment. He wrote,
Specifically, the conservative case against the death penalty consists of three principal arguments: the death penalty’s incompatibility with (1) limited government, (2) fiscal responsibility, and (3) promoting a culture of life.
However, Ben noted,
These reasons, of course, do not persuade all conservatives. One objection raised is that, by definition, conservatives support the death penalty. Even if someone is Republican, pro-life, and fiscally conservative, they lose their conservative credentials by opposing the death penalty. But making capital punishment a litmus-test issue proves difficult to defend because it disqualifies as conservative no small number of figures – Robert George, Abby Johnson, Ron Paul, Ramesh Ponnuru, Jay Sekulow, and others – well respected by various conservative constituencies. This view also puts a movement committed to religious liberty in the uncomfortable position of expelling from its ranks those deeply opposed to the death penalty on religious grounds.
Nebraska’s death penalty mess continues to be a subject of interest. As we alerted you a few weeks ago, the Daily Show with Trevor Noah covered the Cornhusker State’s capital punishment quagmire. One of the repeal bill’s primary Republican champions, Senator Colby Coash, was prominently featured in the segment. If you missed it, watch it here!
While Nebraska’s strong Republican support for repealing the death penalty was impressive, conservatives in other states are following their example. Legislative sessions haven’t begun in most states, but already a host of conservatives across the nation have submitted bills to end the death penalty. Kansas’ Rep. Becker, Kentucky’s Rep. Floyd, Missouri’s Sen. Wieland, Ohio’s Rep. Antani, and South Dakota’s Sen. Rusch have all introduced such legislation, and more Republican-sponsored bills are likely to be filed.
Conservatives Concerned in the media
You may have seen us in the media this month, but if not, here are a few of our favorite pieces:
• CCATDP’s Ben Jones penned an article in the Life Matters Journal outlining why conservatives in Nebraska led the repeal effort.
Last week, I spoke to a crowded auditorium at Hillsdale College to discuss the national state of the death penalty. The event was covered by Jason Dafnis of the Hillsdale Daily News. He wrote,
In his lecture, Hyden proposed a simple question (to a group not coincidentally made up largely of Conservative college students): Should a Conservative favor the death penalty?
To help give context to that question, Hyden’s presentation included national examples of Americans wrongly imprisoned and sent to death row for crimes of which they were later proven innocent – though for some, exoneration came after their sentences were carried out.
Wrongful conviction is just one aspect of what Hyden calls an expensive, flawed and illogical system of capital punishment. He cited studies that have shown wrongful convictions and terminations based on mistaken identity, prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering and human error – and those aren’t to mention the financial impact of the institution.
Hyden said that in some states, sentencing a convicted criminal to capital punishment costs “more than life without parole” due to lengthy trials, protracted court proceedings and cost of testing.
USF VOTERS FORUM TO EXAMINE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
University of South Florida, Saturday November 21st at 2:00PM
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCATDP), a national network of conservatives and libertarians questioning the alignment of capital punishment with their principles, will be making a presentation at the Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) USF Voters Forum from 2:00-2:30pm on Saturday, November 21st (more details below).
The USF Voters Forum will feature a variety of issues, including the death penalty, with the intention of helping students become better informed in advance of the 2016 election.
“The YAL chapter here at USF is proud to host a representative from Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty,” said Chris Happel, president of USF YAL. “Our mission is to educate students on the issues that they face today, and with the death penalty issue splitting the republican and libertarian voters, it is important to address and let students come to a knowledgeable conclusion.”
Students will hear from Marc Hyden, a national advocacy coordinator for CCATDP who previously worked as a Campaign Field Representative for the National Rifle Association (NRA) in Florida.
CCATDP’s Ben Jones recently at the University of Arkansas Law School’s Federalist Society where he was discussing the death penalty. It was covered by the local Fox affiliate, and Ben was interviewed following the debate. He said,
“I think when you look at the death penalty Arkansas and nationwide you find a broken system , you find a system that’s incredibly costly, that’s not affective in making society safer and perhaps most troublesome makes mistakes…”
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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