Kim Bellware from the Huffington Post has been following Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, and recently she interviewed CCATDP’s Heather Beaudoin and me to discuss why more conservatives are opposing the death penalty. Bellware wrote,
Since its formation, CCADP has had a booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual gathering of conservative activists known for its big-name speakers and lively exhibition hall.
“We were really nervous our first time going about the reception we would receive,” Hyden’s co-coordinator, Heather Beaudoin, said. “Now, we’re seen as a welcome part of the establishment, which is really interesting. No one questions whether or not we belong and we’ve shown that there are lot of conservatives who are concerned about the death penalty.”
She went on to say,
A Pew Research survey published this month indicates support for capital punishment among Republicans has fallen 10 percent in the past two decades. While the decline appears gradual, Gallup Poll numbers show that Republican support for the death penalty dropped 5 percent from 2013 to 2014, from 81 percent to 76 percent.
Ashby Jones from the Wall Street Journal covered the visible shift among Republicans on their support of the death penalty. He said,
Nebraska’s Republican-dominated Legislature is making a concerted push to do away with the state’s death penalty, the latest sign of cracks in conservatives’ once-bedrock support for capital punishment.
When lawmakers voted 30-13 vote to repeal the state’s death penalty last week, Republicans delivered 17 of the votes in favor of the measure, outnumbering the 13 votes Republicans cast against it.
One of the leading Nebraska Republican death penalty opponents is Senator Colby Coash who was interviewed for this article. Ashby Jones wrote,
“If any other system in our government was as ineffective and inefficient as is our death penalty, we conservatives would have gotten rid of it a long, long time ago,” said Sen. Colby Coash, a Republican from Lincoln.
I also spoke with Ashby Jones and discussed why conservatives are increasingly supporting repeal of the death penalty. He wrote,
“The death penalty fails to live up to a lot of conservative ideals,” said Marc Hyden, a coordinator with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a group launched in 2013.
Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty’s Advocacy Coordinator Heather Beaudoin was a guest on the Wake up With Dave Akerly Show on 1320 WILS. She discussed the death penalty and why conservatives and Christians are increasingly opposing the broken system. If you missed it, you can hear her segment here.
Naureen Khan from Al-Jazeera America interviewed me while I was in Nebraska for the conservative press conference and the first vote to repeal the death penalty. She said,
Nebraska’s Republican-dominated legislature is leading the charge to abolish the death penalty in the state, potentially making it the first GOP-controlled state in decades to ban the practice and setting up a confrontation with Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.
Khan quoted went on,
“I’m actually very optimistic that we can get the votes we need for cloture to end the filibuster,” said Stacy Anderson, the executive director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an advocacy group that has been lobbying legislators on the issue. “There are senators in the body who don’t support the repeal, but they support this being given an up-or-down vote. They believe a vote should be taken.”
She also wrote,
“It makes sense for Republicans to support repeal. It’s antithetical to life,” said Marc Hyden, the director of the national group Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
The Guardian highlighted the recent surge of conservatives who are increasingly calling for repeal of the death penalty. Guardian writer Jessica Glenza said,
The push for reform was on full display last week in Nebraska, as 17 Republican lawmakers in the one-house legislature advocated for passage of abolition bill LB268.
She interviewed me for this piece and wrote,
“It’s a government program that risks innocent life, costs more than the alternative, and is certainly not about limited government,” said Marc Hyden, an outreach specialist with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
“When I’m first speaking, I think conservatives give me kind of a weird look,” said Hyden. “But about halfway through the presentation, it starts clicking with them – that this is a program that just doesn’t mesh with conservative ideals.”
The campaign has seen growing interest in red states such as Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas and Tennessee, both Hyden and abolitionists said.
The Huffington Post reported on the Republican push to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska. Huffington Post reporter, Amanda Terkel wrote,
Seven Republican state senators in Nebraska came out against the death penalty Wednesday, urging their colleagues to support a bill to repeal the practice.
State Sen. Colby Coash (R), one of the lawmakers who attended a press conference on the issue Wednesday, argued that supporting the death penalty fundamentally goes against conservative values of reducing government spending and intrusion into individuals’ lives.
“A lot of us said things like this: ‘Send me to Lincoln, I’ll find, I’ll root out, I’ll get rid of government waste wherever I can find it,'” said Coash, according to The Associated Press. “And that’s what repealing the death penalty is about.”
She also interviewed me for this piece, and said,
“I think what is happening in Nebraska is representative of what I’m seeing across the United States,” said Marc Hyden, the national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
Christopher Agee from the Center for Western Journalism covered the push to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska. He wrote,
A bipartisan effort among Nebraska state senators this week advanced a bill that would end the death penalty in that state. On the strength of a 30-13 vote – enough to override an expected veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts – supported by seven Republicans, the bill will now be subject to legislative debate before it can be sent to the governor.
He also said,
The Nebraska chapter of Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty joined the effort; and the organization’s national coordinator, Marc Hyden, was on hand to address the issue during a recent press conference. Western Journalism reached out to Hyden (pictured below), who offered his thoughts on the development:
“Nebraska conservative leaders are joining Republican lawmakers from across the country who are voicing their opposition to the death penalty. Similar groups have also organized in Montana, Kansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Increasingly, conservatives everywhere are realizing the death penalty risks innocent lives and costs more than alternatives, while failing [to] serve the swift and sure justice that murder victims’ families deserve.”
Republican state legislators and conservative leaders held a press conference yesterday at the Nebraska State Capitol to call for the repeal of the death penalty. Today, the unicameral legislature will begin debating the measure. The Washington Times said,
Seven Republican senators announced their support for a bill to repeal the capital punishment law, saying Wednesday that any other program so costly and inefficient would have been eliminated by the Legislature years ago.
Nine conservative lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of a repeal measure the Nebraska Legislature will begin debating Thursday. One of their key platforms: Repealing the death penalty makes good fiscal sense.
“If capital punishment were any other program that was so inefficient and so costly to the taxpayer, we would have gotten rid of it a long time ago,” said Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln.
The Lincoln Journal Star also covered the press conference and said,
Marc Hyden, with Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said the system is broken and inconsistent with conservative principles.
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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