Nebraska death penalty repeal: Are Republicans shifting their stance?
Nebraska鈥檚 days as a death penalty state may be coming to an end.
Lawmakers on Wednesday approved , making Nebraska the first conservative state to do so in more than 40 years. The vote 鈥� which marks a shift toward bipartisan agreement about policy surrounding the death penalty 鈥� could pave the way for similar decisions in other Republican states, as support for capital punishment continues its slow decline across the United States.
鈥淭he conservative Republicans鈥� positions as expressed in Nebraska are basically a microcosm of what鈥檚 going on with conservatives about the death penalty nationwide,鈥� says Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a national nonprofit that provides information and analysis related to the death penalty.聽鈥淎bolition in Nebraska could empower conservatives in other 'red' states to move forward because they know it can be done.鈥澛�
Procedural, fiscal, and religious concerns are driving the shift, Mr. Dunham says.
In Nebraska, where lawmakers voted 32 to 15 in favor of abolition 鈥� enough to override an expected veto from Gov. Pete Ricketts 鈥� the bill鈥檚 Republican supporters appeal to fiscal conservatism, casting the death penalty聽"as a waste of taxpayer money and question whether government can be trusted to manage it,鈥� .
Studies have shown that the costs associated with cases that seek the death penalty are often far greater than in cases that don鈥檛. One published in January estimated that death penalty trials and subsequent appeals can cost taxpayers up to $1 million more.
鈥淲hat this provides is evidence of the costs of death-penalty cases, empirical evidence,鈥� the study鈥檚 lead author Peter Collins . 鈥淲e went into it [the study] wanting to remain objective. This is purely about the economics; whether or not it鈥檚 worth the investment is up to the public.鈥�
Some Republican lawmakers have also questioned whether support for the death penalty conflicts with conservative values about preserving life and opposing government intervention.
鈥淚t's certainly a matter of conscience, at least in part, but it's also a matter of trying to be philosophically consistent,鈥� Sen. Laure Ebke, (R) of Crete, told the AP. 鈥淚f government can鈥檛 be trusted to manage our health care ... then why should it be trusted to carry out the irrevocable sentence of death?鈥�
The system that makes the death penalty possible has also come under scrutiny in the face of the scarcity of lethal injection drugs and recent botched executions. Nebraska, for instance, lacks the drugs it needs to execute any of its 11 death-row inmates, and the last execution in the state was in 1997, .
鈥淚f any other system in our government was as ineffective and inefficient as is our death penalty, we conservatives would have gotten rid of it a long, long time ago,鈥� 聽Sen. Colby Coash, (R) of Lincoln, told the Journal.
Some victims鈥� families have also recently come out against the death penalty, saying that the years of appeals did little to help them heal or move forward. During the trial of convicted Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Bill and Denise Richard, whose 8-year-old was killed in the attack, publicly spoke against the prospect of a death sentence for Tsarnaev.
鈥淭he continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives,鈥� they wrote in for The Boston Globe. 鈥淭he minute the defendant fades from our newspapers and TV screens is the minute we begin the process of rebuilding our lives and our family.鈥�
Not everyone is in favor of abolition. Nebraska Gov. Ricketts, who announced last week that the state had bought new lethal injection drugs, has pledged to veto the bill, requiring an override vote.
鈥淭his is a case where the Legislature is completely out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Nebraskans that I talk to," Ricketts told the AP.
The most recent Pew Research Center numbers also show that nationally,聽, compared to only 40 percent of Democrats.
Still, conservative opposition to the death penalty is increasingly present. Even in Texas 鈥� the top state for executions, with more than 400 since 1976 鈥� death sentences have been on the decline: The state executed 35 people in 1999 compared to 10 last year.
鈥淭here is no doubt about it. We鈥檙e seeing a reduction in the use of the death penalty in Texas,鈥� Kathryn Kase, executive director of the nonprofit Texas Defender Service, earlier this month.
鈥淗ere it is May, and we have had only two death penalty cases in Texas,鈥� Ms. Kase added. 鈥淎nd in both, the jury chose life without parole instead. That strikes me as really significant.鈥�
