Texas conservative and GOP Precinct Chairman, Pat Monks, explains why Texas should repeal the death penalty in a recent Daily Caller column. When speaking of the 500th execution in Texas, Mr. Monks said,
“As a lifelong Texan and conservative Republican, I think this latest execution represents a sad and solemn milestone.”
He went on to say,
“Liberty-loving conservatives are waking up to the risk of executing innocent people, as well as the outrageous expense of capital trials and their endless appeals. Many of us now realize the death penalty does nothing to make us safer and does not deter killers. Despite all its executions, Texas had the 23rd highest murder rate in the nation in 2011.”
Former Durham County GOP Chairman, Steve Monks, recently wrote an op-ed for Plain Talk Politics explaining why conservative Republican North Carolinians must reexamine capital punishment. Steve Monks said,
“Along with the excessive costs to taxpayers, the risk of killing innocent people, and the impact on victims’ families, many conservatives can offer another compelling reason; our pro-life beliefs. We are increasingly re-thinking the death penalty because of its many problems, but also because of our respect for human life.”
He closed by saying,
“Let’s put an end to North Carolina’s seemingly endless death penalty debate by simply bringing our politics in line with our conservative principles – wasteful government programs that don’t work and go against our values should be ended.”
Catholic Vote posted an article written by Mike Janocik, one of our earliest supporters, which calls on all Catholics to come together to work towards repealing the death penalty. Mike Janocik states,
Catholics are at the forefront of a national trend that is gaining momentum within conservative political circles. Motivated by our deep concern for protecting life, we are joining others to call for repeal of the death penalty in America.
He later added,
If all life is valuable, how can we justify taking life through executions when other means can protect society? Moreover, how can we justify a system of capital punishment that makes mistakes and sometimes threatens innocent life? As someone who deeply values the sanctity of human life and has dedicated myself to protecting life, I no longer could ignore the grave concerns raised by capital punishment. Now, the same principles motivating me to end abortion also inspire me to end the death penalty.
I recently penned an op-ed in the Chattanooga Times Free Press detailing my experiences at Justice Day on the Hill in Nashville, Tennessee, which is an annual event at the capitol hosted by Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. I had the opportunity to speak with Representative McManus, among many others. The op-ed states:
As a fiscal conservative, Representative McManus understands that Tennessee is experiencing the same problems as other states with the death penalty, and we discussed the exorbitant costs of capital punishment.
Rep. McManus, like a growing number of Republicans around the country, told me of his concerns about the possibility of executing an innocent person and how Tennessee’s death penalty system gets it wrong sometimes. He pointed to the case of Paul House, who spent nearly 23 years on Tennessee’s death row before all charges against him were dropped in 2009.
It goes on to say:
The time has come to re-examine capital punishment from a conservative perspective, in terms of the waste of tax dollars, the risk of executing innocent people and the system’s negative impact on victims’ families.
Our momentum is still growing fresh off of our successful launch at CPAC in March.
Conservatives everywhere are increasingly becoming aware that the death penalty does not align with conservative principles – with the latest evidence coming out of Nebraska. Last week lawmakers in the unicameral legislature debated a bill to repeal the death penalty. A filibuster ultimately blocked a final vote on the bill, but two test votes indicated that a majority would have voted to pass it. Last time Nebraska voted on the death penalty, only a quarter of the unicameral voted yes – so last week’s votes were a sharp turnaround.
Legislators are energized and ready to take this effort up again when the legislature reconvenes next session. We were pleased to get a mention in the Lincoln Journal-Star, whose editorial board wrote, “Republicans in the Legislature should take note. They can vote for repeal of the death penalty without turning in their conservative credentials.”
They aren’t kidding, as evidenced by the warm welcome we got at the Kansas Young Americans for Liberty State Convention and the Republican Liberty Caucus National Convention earlier this month.
The Nebraska legislature completed two days of debate on the death penalty today. Although the debate ended with a filibuster instead of a vote, test votes taken during the debate indicated that there’s majority support for ending the death penalty in the unicameral legislature.
Several repeal supporters gave heartfelt, eloquent testimony on the Senate floor about why the death penalty was broken, many of them sharing why they changed their minds from being against repeal to now supporting it.
Last time Nebraska voted on the death penalty, only 13 lawmakers voted for repeal. Yesterday’s test vote received 26 votes, or double the support. Newspapers and experts within Nebraska are saying that these test votes mean if we’d had a vote on the bill, it would probably have passed.
Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said in a press release,
“The death penalty in Nebraska has been a colossal failure, and the lawmakers and citizens of our state now recognize the inevitable demise of this broken system,” said Stacy Anderson, Executive Director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW CONSERVATIVE GROUP TAKES CONCERNS ABOUT
THE DEATH PENALTY ON THE ROAD
The group will make its second national appearance at the
Republican Liberty Caucus National Convention
as questions about the death penalty grow in conservative circles
May 3, 2013 – Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a national network of conservatives questioning the alignment of capital punishment with conservative principles, will be at the 10th Biennial Convention of the Republican Liberty Caucus (May 10-12, Austin, TX).
Conservative republicans from around the nation will be on hand at the group’s exhibition booth to connect with people who are taking another look at America’s system of capital punishment.
“Liberty-minded republicans want to limit the power of government and the death penalty is a government program that has the real potential of killing innocent Americans,” said Pat Monks, Republican Chair, Precinct 718 of Harris County, Texas and a founding member of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
More than 140 individuals in the U.S. have been released from death row after evidence of innocence was discovered.
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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