Why Conservatives are Rethinking the Death Penalty

By Kevin Price, Editor at Large, USABR.

A while back I wrote about the growing phenomenon of Republicans that have abandoned the death penalty as a sensible form of punishment for crimes. I talked about how it was happening, but wanted to review some of the reasons why we are seeing this change in the Republican Party.

In this age of partisan discord and political polarization, something unusual is happening. In states all across the nation, Republican legislators are taking a hard look at whether the death penalty truly lines up with their conservative principles, and increasingly, they are joining Democrats in trying to end it. Considering the polar opposite views historically between conservatives and liberals on this issue, this is surprising to say the least. Fueled by beliefs in limited government, fiscal responsibility, an increase among Republicans with a libertarian bent, and the value of life, these GOP lawmakers are actually leading a historic bipartisan shift away from capital punishment in America.  It is one of the few areas for which bi-partisan coalitions can be build to pursue change.

Two reports announced in just the past few months graphically illustrate a large part of what is taking place. Gallup’s annual death penalty poll showed support for the death penalty at its lowest level in the past 45 years. It also showed that Republican support dropped nearly 10-points in just the past year. The second report, from Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, found a ten-fold increase in the number of Republican state legislators sponsoring death penalty repeal bills over the past 16 years.

The fact is, Republican state lawmakers are now at the forefront of efforts to bring an end the death penalty. From 2000 to 2012, it was rare for Republican state lawmakers to sponsor death penalty repeal bills.  If anything, they want to increase the crimes that could be subject to such. But in 2013, the annual number of Republican sponsors more than doubled. By 2016 ten times as many Republicans sponsored repeal bills than in 2000. Plus, more than 67% of the Republicans sponsoring death penalty repeal bills did so in red states. Today, nearly one third of all death penalty repeal bills nationwide are sponsored by Republicans. This was unheard of just over a decade ago. Not only are many Republicans now leading the charge against the death penalty, others are not nearly as likely to take a strident position for it, as they did in the past.

Today, nearly one third of all death penalty repeal bills nationwide are sponsored by Republicans.

Also, currently in the news is what’s being described as the Pope’s Pro-life Challenge on the death penalty.  Strong pro-life forces are a major factor for the surge in Republican death penalty opposition, and not just in conservative Catholic circles, but in conservative Evangelical circles as well. One of many recent developments was the National Association of Evangelicals dropping its long-held pro-death penalty position to one that acknowledges the growing opposition to capital punishment within the ranks of the faithful.

Finally, Republican state legislators are finding themselves moving to the position that the death penalty is anything but fiscally conservative.  Every authoritative study shows capital punishment costs far more than life without parole. Right now taxpayers in one county in South Dakota are looking at a $500-thousand to $1-million tax hike due to two death penalty cases. To a growing number of Republicans, the extreme cost of the death penalty coupled with its lack of deterrent value is tantamount to a wasteful government program that likely accomplishes nothing.

All across America, death sentences are down, support for the death penalty is plummeting, and Republicans in statehouses from Utah to Kansas are standing up to end it once and for all. They are not doing it in spite of being conservative, they are doing it because it is the conservative thing to do.