Conservatives Concerned in the Field Helping to Abolish the Death Penalty!

On May 27, Nebraska became the first Republican controlled state to repeal the death penalty in over 40 years. They did so after voting overwhelmingly four times to end capital punishment, defeating a filibuster and even the governor’s veto.
It’s easy to understand why a conservative state would want to abolish a dangerous, costly, and unnecessary government program like the death penalty. A mere days after Nebraska moved away from capital punishment, yet another man was released from death row because he was wrongly sentenced to die. Alfred Dewayne Brown spent 10 years on Texas’ death row despite evidence confirming his alibi, primarily because a police officer repeatedly threatened his girlfriend into contradicting his alibi.
CCATDP supporter Dr. Ron Paul penned an op-ed expanding on the reasons why he opposes the death penalty and why others should likewise be concerned. He called the death penalty “The ultimate corrupt, big government program” and wrote, “Until the death penalty is abolished, we will have neither a free nor a moral society.”
In August of 2013, the former Presidential candidate also said, “I believe that support for the death penalty is inconsistent with libertarianism and traditional conservatism. So I am pleased with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty’s efforts to form a coalition of libertarians and conservatives to work to end capital punishment.”
Conservatives Concerned in the Media
CCATDP was featured in many diverse media outlets following Nebraska’s death penalty repeal and the sentence handed down to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
• We were highlighted in Time Magazine, New York Times, New York Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Heritage’s Daily Signal, Daily Caller, Fusion, Liberty Edifier, and CCATDP supporter, Julie Borowski, wrote about us in the Libertarian Republic.
• We also enjoyed coverage from the Baptist Standard, ATTN, FEE’s Anything Peaceful, ABA Journal, and even the Rachel Maddow show.
• CCATDP’s Heather Beaudoin was a guest on the Alan Colmes radio show, and she wrote a piece for the Religion News Service describing how Protestants and Catholics are uniting against the death penalty.
• CCATDP’s Ben Jones penned an article for the Blaze highlighting why many Christians oppose executing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and a piece for Aletia. He was also interviewed by the LA Times about Tsnarnaev’s sentence.
• I was interviewed on Utah’s Red Meat Radio, Georgia’s WABE 90.1, Liberty Talk Radio (along with Heather Beaudoin), the Capital Hill Show with Tim Constantine, and I authored two op-eds covering how Nebraska repealed the death penalty and why capital punishment is so costly.
• Nebraska Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty’s Matt Maly wrote an op-ed laying out why the death penalty is far more expensive than life without parole, and one of CCATDP’s founding members Roy Brown called on Montana to follow Nebraska’s lead.
Conservatives Concerned in the Field
For the second year in a row, I joined the North Carolina Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty group at the North Carolina State GOP convention. Conservatives leaders helped us exhibit at the event, and our booth was often crowded with conservatives who view capital punishment as an unnecessary, risky, and costly government program.
Upcoming
CCATDP will return for the third year in a row to the Young Americans for Liberty national convention in Washington DC where we will be speaking and exhibiting. If you’re in town drop by to say hi!
Call to Action
Want to let people know why you’re concerned about the death penalty? Click here to share Radley Balko’s article on Alfred Dewayne Brown’s wrongful conviction on Facebook, and click here to share Dr. Ron Paul’s op-ed on capital punishment.