A multitude of media pundits were puzzled when Nebraska repealed the death penalty last year, but the step taken by the Cornhusker State was perfectly rational and entirely consistent with conservatism. National leaders, including Dr. Ron Paul, Richard Viguerie, Colonel Oliver North and Michael Steele have been voicing their opposition to the death penalty for years and for good reasons. Regardless of whether one supports the death penalty in theory, in practice capital punishment has a long documented history of failing to live up to conservative principles.
We conservatives pride ourselves on abiding by our foundational tenets, including promoting pro-life policies, fiscal responsibility and limited government, but the death penalty violates each of these core values. Capital punishment unquestionably and consistently risks innocent lives. Nationally, more than 155 individuals have been released from death row after being wrongly sentenced to death. Others have been executed despite serious doubts regarding their guilt. Unfortunately, erroneous convictions occur with alarming frequency due to prosecutorial misconduct, faulty forensics and mistaken eyewitness identification. Considering the government’s fallibility, the risk to innocent lives cannot be satisfactorily mitigated so long as the death penalty remains on the books. Given this reality, it’s difficult to reconcile the death penalty with a culture of life.
Capital punishment’s recent history in the U.S. is also marred by colossal costs. In response to egregious errors, the courts have mandated extra due process in capital cases, but these proceedings require more time and resources than seeking life without parole. From start to completion, death cases often cost millions of dollars more because they involve additional attorneys, multiple trials, a complex appeals process and more expensive housing. Contrary to popular belief, the much maligned appeals process, which has led to the release of many wrongly convicted individuals, is often not the most expensive portion of a death case. In fact, much of the cost is generated at the initial trial phase.
The increased expenses from the legal proceedings are inevitably passed down to the taxpayers, and the death penalty’s prodigious price has been directly responsible for tax increases and some county administrators’ bizarre decisions. Jasper County, Texas, raised its property taxes by seven percent to cover the costs of a single capital case. Lincoln County, Ga., raised taxes multiple times before the county commissioners finally refused to fully fund the case’s bill. They were promptly thrown in jail until they agreed to bankroll it. Richardson County, Neb., nearly went bankrupt attempting to secure two death sentences, and local officials resorted to mortgaging the county’s ambulances to cover the expenses. In the end, these two defendants were never executed.
Conservatives understand that worthwhile and productive government programs all have a price, but capital punishment fails to achieve its purported goals. Those who oppose repealing the death penalty assert that the program keeps the public safer and even aids the families of the slain. Regrettably, that is not the case. A recent analysis of deterrence studies concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that the death penalty impacts murder rates. The findings are also supported by data from repeal states. Once New York, New Mexico, Illinois, and Connecticut abolished the death penalty, their murder rates dropped, which further debunks the deterrence myth. Beyond failing to protect society, the death penalty can also be harmful to the people who deserve justice the most. Murder victims’ friends and families are forced to endure a protracted legal process, which often delays any hope of finality and compels them to relive the most horrific events of their lives repeatedly and publicly.
More than ever, conservatives are speaking out against capital punishment. The impetus for this is based on good old-fashioned conservative pragmatism. Conservatives abhor funding broken government programs that achieve little or nothing. We also are skeptical of government power, but granting the state the authority to capriciously determine which Americans live or die places an immense amount of trust in a government prone to mistakes, which is hardly a manifestation of limited government. Unlike many other bureaucratic programs, when a blunder is committed in the death penalty process, innocent lives are imperiled. The stakes are simply too high considering that there are other viable options for protecting society without capital punishment’s negative side effects.
With the death penalty’s innumerable failures exposed and the existence of feasible alternatives, why would any conservative support capital punishment? Until the government can prove its infallibility and its capacity to fairly, efficiently, and properly administer its programs, it is only prudent to support repealing the death penalty, and therein lies the simple reason why conservatives are increasingly opposing capital punishment.
Marc Hyden is a National Advocacy Coordinator with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty. He previously was a field representative with the National Rifle Association (NRA). Marc has also served as the Legislative Liaison/Public Affairs Specialist with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security and as the Legislative Aide to the Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore.Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
