Conservative-led campaigns in recent years to repeal Utah’s death penalty gained significant support in the Republican-dominated legislature and widespread attention from the national media. As the state carried out an execution for the first time since 2010 earlier this month, conservatives again raised questions about the failed policy.
Before the execution, John Yelland of the Libertas Institute, a Utah think tank, argued that capital punishment “creates more problems than it solves, burdening taxpayers, risking innocent lives, and causing prolonged suffering for victims’ families.”
Addressing the media outside the Utah State Capitol, Conservatives Concerned Western Regional Organizer Nicholas Cote encouraged Utahns to consider that “Taxpayer dollars can be more effectively allocated to investigate unsolved cases, help grieving families heal, and prevent violence before it happens.” Cote also lamented the state’s secrecy about the execution, enabled by a new law passed without public debate.
The more conservatives learn about how the death penalty actually operates, the more likely they are to conclude it is an ineffective and unfair government program. In fact, the 2016, 2018, and 2022 bills to repeal the death penalty in Utah were all introduced by Republican lawmakers who had changed their minds on the policy.
“I came to the realization that it’s not working in our state,” former Representative Lowry Snow, the sponsor of the 2022 bill, explained to KUTV following the recent execution. “It’s not working for victims. It’s not working in the pursuit of justice. It’s broken.”
Ending the death penalty in Utah is “not if, but when,” added Snow.
