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. “I can’t think of a bigger government program than one that can kill you.