There is a new wing of the anti-death penalty movement — and it’s probably not what you expect. Conservatives, both in North Carolina and nationally, have begun taking a public stand for ending capital punishment and replacing it with life in prison without parole.
“Conservatives have every reason to believe the death penalty system is no different from any politicized, costly, inefficient, bureaucratic, government-run operation, which we conservatives know are rife with injustice. But here the end result is the end of someone’s life,” says Richard Viguerie, known as one of the “creators of the modern conservative movement.” Viguerie is now a member of the national organization Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
Libertarian Ron Paul recently announced his opposition to the death penalty and joined the group. Even Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, has begun publicly expressing uneasiness about the death penalty. Conservatives are talking about the capital punishment system’s high cost and its frequent errors, which sometimes send innocent people to death row.
Conservatives Concerned has been showing up everywhere recently. Just in the past week, they published an editorial in the Washington Times, another in the Wichita Eagle, and were the subject of a segment on MSNBC (watch above).
An active state chapter also appears to be forming in North Carolina. In the past few months, its members have published an editorial in the News & Observer, been interviewed for a multi-part series on WPTF radio, and been the subject of a news story that appeared in several major media outlets. They say their members include both Republicans and conservative Democrats.
Steve Monks, one of the co-chairs of the North Carolina group and former chairman of the Durham County GOP, called the death penalty “the very epitome of a wasteful government program” and said we should replace it with “death by incarceration.”
Raleigh attorney David Robinson, the other co-chair of N.C. Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said on WPTF that the death penalty is so rarely used and riddled with problems that the millions North Carolina spends on it each year are a waste of taxpayer money.
It’s clear that all segments of the population are beginning to have serious doubts about the death penalty’s future. A new Gallup poll found that support was at its lowest level in 40 years. That support will continue to diminish as Republicans reconsider their positions on the ultimate punishment.
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