Our National Manager, Hannah Cox, published an article at Newsmax this week in observance of Wrongful Conviction Day.
In her latest piece, Cox points out the frequency of wrongful convictions and examines the problems in the criminal justice system that lead to them.
Some of the reasons include eyewitness misidentification, misapplication of forensic evidence, and false confessions.
Today, October 2nd, is the fifth annual observance of Wrongful Conviction Day. This is a time that the international community has set aside to raise awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful conviction and to recognize the tremendous personal, social, and emotional costs of wrongful conviction for innocent people and their families.
At Conservatives Concerned, we know that of the thousands of wrongful convictions in the United States 163 individuals have served time on death row for a crime they did not commit. We also know that the likelihood more innocent people are still trapped on death row and may be executed is exceedingly high.
This is one of the many reasons we continue to fight for an end to the death penalty. It should surprise no conservative that a government that is incapable of balancing a budget or preventing fraud is also incapable of ensuring justice for all. Because of this, the government should never be given the power over life and death.
American political commentator and Pulitzer Prize winner, George F. Will, is out with a fantastic new article in the Washington Post calling for the abolition of the death penalty.
In the piece, Will details the case of an Alabama man, Vernon Madison, who the state has repeatedly tried to execute through unconstitutional means. Madison’s first case was thrown out due to the state’s exclusion of African Americans from the jury, and his second trial was thrown out due to inadmissible evidence being inserted into the record. Finally, during his third trial, a judge disregarded the juries’ recommendation of a life imprisonment sentence and again imposed the death penalty on Madison.
All along the way, evidence of Madison’s mental illness has been ignored, and now, he no longer remembers the crime that put him on death row due to a series of strokes, dementia, and degenerative disease.
Will expertly details the numerous constitutional problems with Madison’s case and the US Supreme Court’s dance around what constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment.”
This Tuesday, October 2nd is the Fifth Annual International Wrongful Conviction Day. According to the organizers, this is a day set aside to raise awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful convictions and to recognize the tremendous personal, social, and emotional costs of wrongful conviction for innocent people and their families.
Help raise awareness for this day on your social media accounts with the hashtag #WrongfulConvictionDay and be sure to tag us @CCATDP! Here us a good resource to share along with posts.
The leader of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty is now a Newsmax Insider. Twice a month, Hannah Cox will be writing about the failures of the criminal justice system and especially the death penalty.
Newsmax is a leading conservative news outlet that receives nearly 70,000 unique daily visitors. The company is ranked as the 3rd most trafficked political website.
You can follow her blog Life and Liberty here and read her first article, “Do You Support the Death Penalty,” here.
The leader of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty is now a Newsmax Insider. Twice a month, Hannah Cox will be writing about the failures of the criminal justice system and especially the death penalty.
Newsmax is a leading conservative news outlet that receives nearly 70,000 unique daily visitors. The company is ranked as the 3rd most trafficked political website.
You can follow her blog Life and Liberty here and read her first article, “Do You Support the Death Penalty,” here.
Our National Manager, Hannah Cox, joined Connor Boyack, President of the Libertas Institute in Utah, and his cohost Bryan Hyde on their podcast Society and the State this week.
On the episode, the three discussed the death penalty system in the US and the reasons each of them changed their stance from supporters to abolitionists.
From the show’s website: “Concern over the death penalty isn’t just limited to bleeding hearts and liberals. It’s not a matter of coddling criminals. DNA evidence and other technological advances are proving that genuinely innocent people are sitting on Death Row or have been executed. Questions about the inefficiency, inequity and inaccuracy within the justice system mean that opposition to the death penalty is finding acceptance in conservative circles as well.”
Check out the show and help us share it on social media!
You can listen to the full episode here.
Are you a conservative or libertarian who is interested in advancing alternatives to capital punishment, evidence-based sentencing guidelines, and reducing the population of individuals detained and incarcerated in Utah? If so, this is a great opportunity!
This week, New Hampshire came only two votes of shy of being able to override the Governor’s veto on death penalty repeal legislation. Despite this temporary setback, the state has shown real progress on the issue that is sure to continue next year, and that matches the momentum in the rest of the country for repeal.
A new article from the Crime Report notes these gains and the work of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
From the article:
“Thirty-one states still have death penalty laws still on the books, and 12 of those states have an official moratorium on executions. Earlier this year, CCADP told The Crime Report the group was hopeful about repeal efforts in New Hampshire, Washington State, and Utah. While none have yet succeeded, observers still note a trend favoring abolition.”
It went on to note:
“Even in red states not yet examining repeal, we have seen good momentum from leadership on this issue,” CCADP’s Hannah Cox told The Crime Report, noting Ohio Governor John Kasich’s recent grants of clemency to death row inmates William Montgomery and Raymond Tibbetts, and a death penalty study produced by Pennsylvania that calls for change.
A new article in the Washington Examiner examines the reasons a growing number of conservatives are opposed to the death penalty and links back to Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty multiple times.
From the article:
“Perhaps more fundamentally, however, another guiding star of conservatism is limited government and opposition to giving political leaders more power than they need. With the death penalty, which is clearly not needed to keep dangerous individuals off the streets in the modern world, granting the state authority over life and death is hardly justifiable.”
The article went on to note:
“In short, although the override of the governor’s veto in New Hampshire was unsuccessful, it should not be surprising that more conservatives now oppose the death penalty. Many of them came together to abolish Nebraska’s death penalty in 2015, although the voters later overturned them in a referendum. The field is moving on this issue, and hopefully others will join the fight to abolish the practice.”
You can read the full article here.
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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