Wirginia Conservatives Call for Repeal of the Death Penalty
June 10, 2019
We are Virginia ives and ians who have that capital
punishment is not consistent with the principles and values of limited government.
In theory, the death penalty may make sense: people who commit heinous acts forfeit
their right to live. However, the death penalty in practice is not that simple.
Some of us believe that small government and the death penalty are incompatible
given the high costs of capital punishment compared to life in prison without the
possibility of release. These resources could be better spent on programs that deter
crime and solve more cold cases.
Some of us do not want to risk the execution of an innocent person by an imperfect
criminal justice system. We know that over 160 innocent people were sentenced to
death and later exonerated, and the number continues to rise.
Some of us are disturbed by the impact of the long process of mandatory death
sentence appeals on the family members of murder victims. A sentence of life in
prison without parole offers legal finality to murder victim family members far more
quickly than capital punishment.
Some of us believe we should not continue to invest so much time and tax money
into the death penalty when there is no credible evidence that it keeps us safer than
the alternative of life in prison without parole.
Some of us believe that the death penalty violates our values on the sanctity of
human life.
And for other reasons...
Death sentences are at an all-time low and public support for the death penalty has
dropped in favor of life in prison without parole. More and more conservatives are
questioning the death penalty and arin itto be inconsistent with conservative
i of limited g ry, and ion of human life.
Life in prison without the possibility of parole is 2 harsh and just punishment for those
who commit heinous murders. But, unlike the death penalty, it is also a punishment that
enables the g to correct a
We call on the Virginia General Assembly to abolish the death penalty.
