During a 2000 Presidential debate with former Vice-President Al Gore, George W. Bush is quoted as saying,
“I think the reason to support the death penalty is because it saves people’s lives.”
Despite all evidence to the contrary, this has historically been the Republican position on capital punishment — the death penalty is a crime deterrent. At least until recently, that is, as Republican-controlled states have been questioning the legitimacy of capital punishment as of late, and the state of Nebraska, in full opposition of Gov. Pete Ricketts’ veto,?executed the death penalty practice in the state.
Nebraska is the first Republican-controlled state to abolish the death penalty in 42 years.
Nebraska has had a tough-go recently when it comes to the death penalty. It was not until 2008 that Nebraska caught up with the rest of the inmate-killing nation, ultimately moving to the lethal injection system after the state’s preference for the electric chair was deemed “cruel and unusual punishment” by the Nebraska Supreme Court. Nebraska was, incidentally, the last state in the U.S. to start using lethal injections, but much like the other states who practiced capital punishment, Nebraska ended up having a lot of trouble procuring lethal injection cocktails.
The state, actually, has not executed an inmate since 1997, despite continuing to sentence inmates to death row.
It does not, however, appear that Nebraska conservatives are doing away with the death penalty for moral reasons. In an article written for the Wall Street Journal, state Sen. Colby Coash is quoted as saying:
“If 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.”
Nebraska’s move, while notable, is not without precedent, nor completely outside of the realm of evolving conservative thinking. Since 2007, the death penalty has been abolished in New York, Connecticut, Maryland, New Mexico, Illinois, and New Jersey. Moratoriums have been issued in Oregon and Washington concerning possible inconsistent administration of the death penalty. The state of Delaware is considering abolishing the death penalty as well.
Marc Hyden, a coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, had this to say on the matter:
“The death penalty fails to live up to a lot of conservative ideals. It’s not pro-life, it’s not limited government, and it doesn’t deter crime.”
The vote?to abolish the death penalty in Nebraska was 30 to 19.
