Last week, I was a guest on Thinking It Through with Jerome Danner, which is a conservative podcast broadcasted from Georgia. During the interview, Jerome Danner and I discussed many issues, including the conservative case against the death penalty and the recent launch of the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty. If you missed the podcast, then you can listen to it here.
I was recently a guest on Adam Camac’s podcast, Wake Up Call, to discus the death penalty’s many failures. If you missed the episode, then you can listen to it here:
An article I wrote was published by the conservative outlet, IJ Review. In the piece, I outlined the original launch of Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty and described how capital punishment has changed in 4 short years.
I wrote,
In early 2013, my group Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty (CCATDP) launched at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). While we entered CPAC supported by nationally known conservative stalwarts like Richard Viguerie and Jay Sekulow, at first, some viewed us as a bit of a novelty organization.
At the time, conservative-led criminal justice reform was still a relatively new concept, and scrutinizing capital punishment’s many failures from a conservative perspective wasn’t regularly conducted at the national level. Despite this, we ultimately experienced widespread acceptance and incredible success at our first CPAC, and the success of this work has only grown since.
Conservatives have been some of the death penalty’s most vocal opponents recently, which has contributed to capital punishment’s decline, and there are many metrics by which we can measure the death penalty’s slow demise:
Understanding what the death penalty does in practice rather than in theory is another factor spurring capital punishment’s stark decline.
Today, I testified in support of repealing the death penalty, and during a subsequent conservative press conference at the Montana capitol, I urged Montana legislators to consider replacing capital punishment with a better option. The events were widely covered by the media.
In an article syndicated by many outlets, the Missoulian reported,
Hertz said he introduced the bill in part to be a good steward of tax dollars, and said an inmate on death row costs 10 times more than an inmate sentenced to life without parole. The bill does not yet have a fiscal note to determine the cost savings for abolishing the death penalty. Several committee members questioned whether it would be significant, as there are only two Montanans on death row.
While concerned about fiscal responsibility, Hertz said the bill would also fulfill his belief that life begins at conception and ends with natural death, and would provide inmates with a chance for redemption.
“I believe the death penalty system overlooks why we condemn murder in the first place,” Hertz said.
Following the launch of the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, several more media outlets have reported on the newfound momentum in Georgia.
Baker Owens of Insider Advantage Georgia reported,
A group of conservatives gathered at the Gold Dome last week to announce the formation of a state group aimed at a seemingly unlikely goal – questioning the alignment of capital punishment with conservative principles. Speakers at the news conference included;
State Rep. Brett Harrell, R-Snellville
David Burge, fmr. Chairman, Georgia 5th Congressional District Republican Party
Richard Lorenc, COO, Georgia-based Foundation for Economic Freedom
Austin Paul, Past Co-Chairman of the Mercer University College Republicans
Jennifer Maffessanti, Chairwoman, Atlanta Chapter, America’s Future Foundation
Marc Hyden, National Coordinator, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty
Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Schallhorn from the staunchly conservative news source, the Blaze, wrote,
With a Georgia lawmaker leading the way, a coalition of conservatives against the death penalty began to make waves last week.
Georgia Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty formally announced its formation on Jan.
Katherine Dwyer, CCATDP’s past Charles Koch Communications Intern, recently penned an article for Western Journalism highlighting the undeniable relationship between death row inmates and mental illness, and she even presented the conservative case for exempting those with severe mental illness from the death penalty.
She said,
Many conservative states are considering measures to exempt the seriously mentally ill from the death penalty — and rightfully so. Proponents say exempting those with severe mental illness from the death penalty would lead to cost savings and help protect some of society’s most vulnerable members.
The mentally ill are in fact some of our society’s most vulnerable members. Their mental state is a diagnosable illness, not a choice.
Dwyer continued:
These illnesses interfere with individuals’ ability to appreciate the nature, consequences or wrongfulness of their conduct. They also impede the ability to exercise rational judgment in relation to the person’s conduct or conform the conduct to the law’s requirements.
Dwyer clearly pointed out that she feels it is immoral to execute someone who cannot control his or her own actions and doesn’t understand the consequences of such behavior.
Fresh off of the heels of our news conference announcing the launch of the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, an op-ed I wrote was published by the Newnan Times-Herald. In the article, I described the state of Georgia’s death penalty and debunked some beliefs regarding the Peach State’s capital punishment program.
I wrote,
The state of Georgia has been executing individuals at unusually high rates and even outpaced Texas this past year. While Gov. Nathan Deal has recently been lauded as a criminal-justice reformer, the pace of executions has unfortunately hastened under his watch. Nine people were put to death in 2016 and five in 2015.
At first glance, this may seem to suggest a death penalty resurgence in Georgia, but that’s far from the case. Solely focusing on these executions paints an incomplete picture of Georgia’s capital-punishment system. The truth is Georgia’s death penalty is dwindling so quickly that in a few years, it may exist in name only.
The truth of the matter is that no person has been sentenced to die in Georgia in almost three years, which suggests that the death penalty is declining and support for it is waning.
Last year, Georgia led the nation in executions with nine, which was the most in the Peach State’s history. While executions are at record levels, no one has been sentenced to die in Georgia in nearly three years, which suggests that its death penalty is slowly dying. However, there are many in Georgia who wish to hasten its demise. Just last week, a group of conservatives and libertarians came together to launch the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty (GA CCATDP) group and call on the state legislature to reexamine capital punishment. The press event was attended by a conservative state representative, former Republican Party official, think tank leader, and activists from across the state who described in detail why capital punishment is inconsistent with their values.
Republican State Representative and press conference participant, Brett Harrell, said, “I like to make sure that government is as efficient, effective, and small as possible,” but when speaking about the death penalty, “the government has failed to provide an efficient, effective, accurate system.”
Last Thursday, the Georgia Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty launched at a press conference at the Georgia Capitol. Speakers included,
If you missed the press conference, you can watch it in its entirety here.
The press conference has been taking Georgia by storm as there has been a steady stream of media covering the event.
Georgia Pol, a well-traveled political blog, published an advanced story about it, stating,
But a group focused on using conservative principles to advocate for death penalty reform is looking to raise awareness about the flaws in the system.
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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