I was recently interviewed by Will Wright of the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting to discuss the conservative push to repeal the death penalty in Kentucky and elsewhere.
Wright wrote,
In red states both big and small, bills to abolish the death penalty are becoming more common.
“There’s been a complete change of discussion nationally,” said Marc Hyden, the national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. “These are some very strong feelings of fiscal responsibility and pro-life views.”
Wright discussed Rep. David Floyd’s 2016 bill to repeal the death penalty that was narrowly defeated in the Judiciary Committee:
When Floyd brought House Bill 203 to the Judiciary Committee in March, he was joined by Hyden — a former National Rifle Association field director — and former Jefferson County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Joe Gutmann. Each of the three men used to support the death penalty.
Hyden said many conservatives who support the death penalty are holding onto the same theoretical view of capital punishment that he once did: one without wrongful convictions, and one that actually executes those it sentences to die.
“Capital punishment really is the quintessential big, broken government program.”