“I’m opposed to the death penalty not because I think it’s unconstitutional per se—although I think it’s been applied in ways that are unconstitutional—but it really is a moral view, and that is that the taking of life is not the way to handle even the most significant of crimes…Who amongst anyone is not above redemption? I think we have to be careful in executing final judgment. The one thing my faith teaches me—I don’t get to play God. I think you are short-cutting the whole process of redemption…I don’t want to be the person that stops that process from taking place” – Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and attorney for President Donald J. Trump
“Conservatives have every reason to believe the death penalty system is no different from any politicized, costly, inefficient, bureaucratic, government-run operation, which we conservatives know are rife with injustice. But here the end result is the end of someone’s life. In other words, it’s a government system that kills people.” – Richard Viguerie, Advisor to President Ronald Reagan
“Not a fan of the death penalty or executions. As a Christian, I believe in protecting life from the womb to the tomb, as well as holding people accountable. I’m more comfortable with life in prison than the government taking a life.” – Diante Johnson, President of the Black Conservative Foundation and former advisor to Dr. Ben Carson (via Facebook)
“Conservatives Concerned brings an important perspective to the table for center-right voters and elected officials. They offer a pathway to principled debate for those who believe in the sanctity of life and others who are concerned about a system that makes mistakes in one of every eight capital cases. Whether one is for or against the death penalty, informed discussion is critical to ensuring America has a just and fair criminal justice system.” – David Safavian, COO of Unify.Us
“I first supported the death penalty until I found out how many innocent individuals were being killed and how costly it was on the taxpayers. In a free and just society, we should always strive to protect life, most especially all innocent life. And, ultimately, it costs the taxpayers more to put a man to death than keeping him locked up for life. So after studying the issue, I now strongly oppose the death penalty.” – Jeff Frazee, Founder & Chairman – Young Americans for Liberty
“Are some crimes so heinous as to be worthy of the ultimate earthly punishment? Yes. Are some who commit those crimes capable of remorse, redemption and restitution? Yes, but not if they’re dead. Is government guilty of sloppiness and error in its judgments? Oh my God, yes! Add to that the proven fact that capital punishment in our clunky court system costs more than life without parole and you arrive at an inescapable conclusion: the right alternatives to capital punishment offer more hope, more deterrence and more justice.” – Lawrence W. Reed, President Emeritus – Foundation for Economic Education
“The death penalty runs a dangerously high risk of killing innocent people, siphons billions of dollars from the public, and gives the government power it cannot be trusted to carry out fairly.” – Jeffrey Tucker, Founder, Author and President of the Brownstone Institute
“The government’s culture of death–including capital punishment–must be opposed by everyone who loves freedom and life.” – Lew Rockwell, Founder & Chairman, Ludwig Von Mises Institute
“The death penalty is too perilous to risk to human error.” – Bruce Fein, Associate Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel to the Federal Communications Commission under President Ronald Reagan
“I oppose the death penalty to save money, to ensure no innocent person is ever put to death and to give offenders the rest of their natural lives to think about what landed them where they are. In the vast majority of cases, I don’t believe it gives the families of victims any more closure. There can never be closure when a loved one is taken so violently. For the religiously minded, I also believe that no matter what anyone has done, there is the possibility for Redemption. This opportunity may come from behind bars that they are stuck behind for the rest of their lives but the death penalty means that may not be an option. I oppose the death penalty both as a fiscal conservative and as a Christian conservative.” – Baker Owens, conservative activist
“The Troy Davis case is what changed my view on the death penalty. While I don’t know whether he was truly guilty of the crime of which he was convicted, his legal team presented enough information, including witnesses who’d recanted their previous testimony, to be granted a new trial. Unfortunately, the state didn’t see it that way. Simply put, there are too many examples of miscarriages of justice, in which innocent people are killed by the state for crimes they didn’t commit. It’s also fiscally irresponsible and it’s not an effective deterrent to those who would carry out heinous acts.” – Jason Pye, Vice President of Due Process Institute and former Vice President of FreedomWorks
“It’s a hell of a thing to kill a man, and there is no taking it back. You had better be sure, but more importantly you had better be right. There must be a flawless realization of justice. For the state to be able to be able to kill someone and call it just, requires a level of perfection and knowledge that is simply beyond the capability of human beings.” – Jennifer Maffessanti, former Associate Editor at Foundation for Economic Freedom
“If we cannot trust the government to plan the economy, why should we trust it to have a policy to end life? We have a duty to abolish the death penalty, the most tragic example of government overreach.” – Richard Lorenc, former Executive Vice President of the Foundation for Economic Education
“The most important reason to oppose capital punishment was eloquently stated by Marquis de Lafayette, who wrote, “I shall ask for the abolition of the penalty of death, until I have the infallibility of human judgment demonstrated to me.” Our courts, judges, prosecutors and police are NOT infallible, by a long shot.” – Paul Jacob, President of Citizens in Charge and the Liberty Initiative Fund
“The United States government has perverted the relationship between the citizen and the State. We now have warrantless surveillance, militarized police and indefinite detention. How can a government that so easily disregards the fundamental principles that created it (and limited it) be trusted with questions of life and death? It can’t, and that is why I support Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty.” – Michael D. Ostrolenk, Co-Founder and former National Director of the Liberty Coalition
“You look at this list we’ve released today, look at the significant former (Republican) officeholders are – governor, attorney general, congressman – and then look at the activists, the people I’ve worked with to twenty years to elect presidents, governors, congressmen, and everybody in between – that list that was released today, I’ll go to war with that list any day because all we do, and have done, is win.” – Mike Hartley, Republican Operative & President of Swing State Strategies
“We’ve been coming into the state over the past year, we’ve been meeting with conservatives both at the legislature and within the grassroots, and we’re finding that there are a lot of conservatives who are already there with us on this issue – they’re struggling with it, they recognize it doesn’t work, they’re happy to have an organization that they can coalesce around and start educating others about this broken, failed policy.” – Hannah Cox, President of Athens Media
“I oppose the death penalty because I believe in limited government and a government that can put its citizens to death is the antithesis of limited government. As George Will said, it is ‘one more government program that had failed'” – Todd Rehm, Georgia Political Consultant and Editor of GAPundit.com
*Names and affiliations are for identification purposes only
