Earlier this month, 3 men who were originally sentenced to die in Ohio had the charges against them dropped when the sole eyewitness finally admitted (39 years later) that he didn’t witness the crime. The testimony was the only evidence linking the trio to the murder. The men, Ricky Jackson, Wiley Bridgeman, and Kwame Ajamu, spent decades in prison, and Bridgeman even came within 3 weeks of being executed. Now they must begin the process of piecing together their lives.
The State of Nevada conducted an audit of their death penalty system, and their findings shouldn’t shock anyone. They discovered that even with limited cost data, they could conservatively estimate that each death case in the Silver State is, on average, more than $500,000 costlier than non-death cases.
Some of the biggest death penalty news came out of Texas, where a severely mentally ill man, Scott Panetti, was to be executed this month. Panetti had a long history of schizophrenia over a decade before committing his crime.
National Advocacy Coordinator, Heather Beaudoin was a guest on the Faith as a Second Language radio show last night to discuss why many Christians are now opposing capital punishment. You can listen to her interview here.
Last week I submitted an op-ed for publication with the Daily Caller highlighting Cesare Beccaria’s philosophy and describing how many of America’s founding fathers viewed capital punishment in their day. I said,
The 18th century Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria heavily influenced the views of many of America’s founders, according to John Bessler, author of The Birth of American Law. Beccaria’s philosophy helped mold our nation’s criminal justice system as it shifted away from Britain’s “bloody code.”
However,
The truth is many early American leaders were ambivalent to the death penalty while others were outspoken about its abolition.
Surely many of the framers would stand in opposition to today’s death penalty too. I went on,
Many of the framers, led by Beccaria’s philosophy, opposed the death penalty, but how would our revolutionary predecessors view today’s system of capital punishment? Presently, the death penalty has become a bloated and complex system emblematic of a wasteful and error-prone government. Similar to the taxation without representation that the founders rejected, the death penalty has become increased taxation without necessity or efficacy, which early American leaders would likely repudiate.
Following the big gains made by the Republican Party across the nation, Antipas Harris from the Christian Post wrote a piece articulating how newly elected officials need to seek new, effective criminal justice reforms and move away from an older criminal justice mindset. He said,
The headline of the 2014 midterm elections – and understandably so – was the dominating performance of the Republican Party in both federal and state races. As new officials prepare to take office, it is important that they not lose sight of an important lesson from Election Day: voters’ desire for smart criminal justice reform and their fatigue with empty tough on crime rhetoric.
Harris is optimistic regarding the right’s desire to implement a system that works better. He exclaimed,
It is deeply encouraging to see Christians join individuals across the political spectrum in the push for criminal justice reforms. The National Association of Evangelicals is working to reform mandatory minimums and also was a key player in combating the epidemic of prison rape in this country.
Stephanie Slade of Reason Magazine, wrote about the conservative and libertarian push against the death penalty and how many have rallied around the Scott Panetti case. She stated,
There’s some evidence the larger conservative movement is also rethinking its knee-jerk support for the death penalty. In 1994, Republicans favored the practice by an enormous 73-point margin. Twenty years later, that gap has narrowed by 19 points;
She went on,
What is surprising is the list of conservative leaders who have joined Paul in asking Texas Gov. Rick Perry to reduce Panetti’s sentence to life in prison. Individuals like tough-on-crime former Virginia attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, and Gary Bauer, president of the faith-and-families group American Values, recently signed a letter to that end. They note that “we must be on guard that such an extraordinary government sanction not be used against a person who is mentally incapable of rational thought.”
I was interviewed by Slade, and she quoted me as saying,
“If you think about the death penalty, it’s everything that’s not conservative,” Marc Hyden, one of the group’s national advocacy coordinators, tells me.
Huffington Post reporter, Amanda Terkel also reported on the recent stay of execution for Scott Panetti issued by the 5th Circuit Court. She stated,
Less than 12 hours before the state of Texas was set to execute Scott Panetti, an appeals court issued a stay Wednesday morning, meaning Panetti’s lawyers will have another chance to argue that the death penalty is unconstitutional in their client’s case.
She quoted me as well,
“Texas was about to cross a line by executing a severely mentally ill man,” said Mark Hyden, national coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, in a statement after the court’s announcement. “A wide array of conservative and faith leaders have spoken out in record numbers about this case. We have made it abundantly clear that numerous conservatives and Evangelicals view executing those who are mentally ill as a violation of our values as Americans. Conservatives have demonstrated we are firmly part of what appears to be a national consensus against executing people who are mentally ill.”
ABC News’ Leigh Ann Caldwell covered the story of Scott Panetti and Rick Perry’s actions on his case. She said,
A U.S. Appeals Court’s decision to issue a stay of a mentally ill man on Texas’ death row just hours before he was scheduled to be executed means that Texas Governor Rick Perry no longer needs to make what could have been a controversial decision on whether the execution should proceed.
Perry could have granted a 30 day stay – the only option under his authority – but he remained mum on the issue, despite pressure from anti-death penalty groups, the United Nations and even some conservatives who don’t necessarily oppose the death penalty.
I was also interviewed as part of this story,
But Marc Hyden with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty said conservative attitudes are shifting as well. He said that when he debuted his group at a popular conservative conference, CPAC, in 2012, he was concerned about the reception he would receive. Now Hyden points to three letters sent to Perry urging him to commute Panetti’s sentence.
Colleen Curry from Vice reported on the Scott Panetti case and highlighted Conservative Concerned about the Death Penalty. She said,
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a last-minute reprieve this afternoon to Panetti after his attorneys filed a motion arguing that his mental health should be reevaluated.
She went on,
Many Texas evangelical leaders, along with former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, have also spoken out against Panetti’s death sentence, but, until the court’s ruling this afternoon, the execution was still scheduled for Wednesday night.
Curry quoted me as saying,
“When you look at his case, there’s a lot of elements that give conservatives and evangelicals pause,” Hyden said. “[Panetti] is a person with a severe track record of mental illness… A lot of conservatives and evangelicals who are worried about his case don’t think it’s right — think it’s a travesty of justice.
“Things are changing and they’re changing really quickly,” Hyden continued. “As we learn more and educate people on how broken the system really is, we see conservatives realizing its antithetical to their core principles: it risks killing someone who’s not guilty, it costs more than life without parole, it gives the government power to kill you, and it fails to deter people.”
Following Scott Panetti’s stay of execution, Stephanie Slade from Reason reported on the numerous conservative and evangelical demands for his clemency. She said,
Earlier today, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the imminent execution of a convicted murderer named Scott Panetti. He was set to be killed less than eight hours later at 6 p.m. local time.
She went on,
Said Marc Hyden of the group Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty in a statement after the announcement:
Political conservatives and Evangelicals from Ron Paul to Jay Sekulow have helped awaken our nation to what many view as a travesty of justice. Texas was about to cross a line by executing a severely mentally ill man. A wide array of conservative and faith leaders have spoken out in record numbers about this case. We have made it abundantly clear that numerous conservatives and Evangelicals view executing those who are mentally ill as a violation of our values as Americans. Conservatives have demonstrated we are firmly part of what appears to be a national consensus against executing people who are mentally ill.
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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