In her latest article at Newsmax, our National Manager Hannah Cox discusses the growing amount of conservatives sponsoring repeal bills. 2019 is shaping up to be a huge year for repeal with six states and counting currently considering Republican-sponsored bills to repeal the death penalty. You can read the full piece here.

In 2016 and 2017, Republicans introduced one-third of all death penalty repeal bills in state legislatures across the country. With a 60% decrease in death penalty sentences since 1999 and an execution rate down 45% since that same time, it’s been apparent that the death penalty is dying in the United States for quite some time. What hasn’t been so apparent, however, is the Right’s responsibility for this trend. Considering the nation’s death penalty system is plagued with issues of ineffective legal counsel, geographical bias, innocence, racial discrimination, and astronomical costs, it’s no wonder conservatives are deciding that this practice does not align with their values. Not only that, but there is ample proof that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent. In fact, regions of the country who do not utilize their death penalty as often, such as the Northeast, have very low homicide rates, while areas that use the death penalty the most, like the South, continue to see the highest rates of violent crime. When you consider the vast amounts of money being spent on the death penalty, at least $2 million per case above the costs of sentencing som