SB 2016-003: Capital Punishment Abolition Amendment (Passed Senate)

Several days ago when I originally introduced this bill, I made the following statement:

Quote from: tmthforu94 on June 19, 2016, 04:40:45 PM

Abolish the Death Penalty!

Earlier today, I introduced a constitutional amendment that would abolish capital punishment in Atlasia. I want to thank Representative NeverAgain for being the first sponsor in the House. There are three main points I want to cover as to why capital punishment should be outlawed: the risk, unfairness and cost ineffectiveness.

Carlos DeLuna died of lethal injection in 1989. In 2012, a Columbia University research team published an article claiming DeLuna’s innocence. DeLuna was charged with stabbing an individual in a gas station. The prosecution relied almost entirely on eyewitnesses who claimed DeLuna, who had been found in his vehicle several blocks away, was the man responsible. In the report, they highlighted several flaws the prosecution made: there were several contradictions in the eyewitnesses testimony and there was blood footprints leaving the scene. When DeLuna was found, there was no blood on his body. There were errors throughout the trial, and the research proved that there was not enough evidence to convict DeLuna. Yet, because Texas has the death penalty, he won’t be able to go free. His life was taken away from him at the young age of twenty-seven due to trial error.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 82 inmates have been freed from death row due to wrongful convictions. Why are we willing to take such a risk when an individual may still be innocent? Any form of "justice" that creates the risk of an innocent person dying is not justice.

Second point: The death penalty is handed down arbitrarily and can largely depend on the quality of your lawyer, hence why high-income criminals have a far less rate of receiving the death penalty than those of lower incomes. Gary Ridgeway was convicted of killing 48 prostitutes and runaways, and he admitted that there were even more he killed. Yet, as part of a plea deal, he avoided the death penalty. In Alabama, however, David Hocker was executed after a one-day trial in which the jury was unaware he had a mental illness. Another elderly man who had been on death row for twenty-seven years was executed despite the fact he was dying with cancer. The unfair nature of handing out the death penalty just adds to the reasons why it is not good policy. Additionally, there isn't strong proof showing that instituting the death penalty has decreased crime rates. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, statistics prove that states without the death penalty actually have a lower crime rate. In 2011, there was an 18% higher rate in states with the death penalty. That number has been as high as 42% in 2005.

Finally, a point to appeal to the fiscal conservatives - the costs. When capital punishment is sought, multiple trials and appeals are held, making it much more expensive for the state to seek the death penalty than life without parole. A study by the Sacramento Bee in 1988 said abolishing the death penalty would save the state $90 million a year – imagine what it would be today. California has spent over four billion dollars on executions since 1976 and have only executed 13 people in that time. Now, I've heard some argue that we should speed up the process rather than let all this money be spent - as I said earlier, there have been countless wrongful executions, so this process has been what allowed countless innocent individuals to walk free.

The reasons to abolish the death penalty go on and on: trial errors still occur, which could cause the death of innocent civilians. The handing out of the death penalty is unfair and gives advantages to those more fortunate. It costs more than it would to give an individual life without parole. It does nothing to reduce the crime rate. What are we teaching the children? That we should kill someone to prove that killing is wrong? I believe in the right to life from conception to natural death. Abolishing capital punishment isn't a conservative or liberal position - it is a common sense position.

Atlasia repealed the death penalty several years ago. With a new constitution in place, it is time for Atlasia to join other developed nations and makes the death penalty illegal – choose life.

Since then, there have been a couple individuals speak out against the bill, offering no facts to back up their opposition, just their feelings.

If you are opposed to this, I look forward to hearing your explanation for supporting a practice that has caused the death of innocent lives, is financially irresponsible and extremely arbitrary. I also look to forward to hearing your alternatives (preferably in the form of legislation) that would create a form of justice that doesn't kill innocent people.

I yield the floor to questions.

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