A Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) seems an unlikely setting for action against the US death penalty: conservatives have hitherto been associated with an unthinking “tough on crime” philosophy that included support for capital punishment. Perhaps all this is set to change: this year’s (CPAC) included a stall where Conservative activists sought to persuade delegates of the “inefficiency, inequity and inaccuracy” of the death penalty.

Hannah Cox, National Manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, explains she was an “ardent supporter” of the death penalty until she actually researched it. She then discovered the problems:

-many innocent people being executed
-huge expense (and reducing this could cause more executions of innocents)
–higher rates of violent crime in regions that use the death penalty
–not applied to the “worst of the worst” (imposed according to location of crime, race of victim, and competence of defendant’s attorney)

Cox believes her movement will impact and alter the conservatives’ debate about the death penalty:
“We can do better. As conservatives, we pride ourselves on limiting government, 
using our tax dollars efficiently, and protecting the sanctity of human life. 
The death penalty fails to meet any of those measurements. Expect the trend of 
Republican support for ending the death penalty to continue to grow.”

Willie Manning’s two death penalty cases illustrate well the points made by Cox. We wish her success.