New report finds spike in Republican opposition to the death penalty
A new report by Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty has found a surge in the number of Republican lawmakers who sponsored death penalty repeal legislation at the state level. The report – called The Right Way – looks at all death penalty repeal bills filed since 2000, using the increase in sponsorships as a measure for growing Republican leadership on the issue.
Findings include:
- The number of Republican state lawmakers to sponsor death penalty repeal bills increased sharply since 2012.
- From 2000 to 2012, it was rare for Republican state lawmakers to sponsor death penalty repeal bills. In 2013, the annual number of Republican sponsors more than doubled.
- By 2016 ten times as many Republicans sponsored repeal bills than in 2000.
- More than 67% of the Republicans sponsoring death penalty repeal bills did so in red states.
“Nearly a third of all state lawmakers sponsoring death penalty repeal bills nationwide are now Republicans,” said Marc Hyden, national coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. “That’s a six-fold increase over the number of GOP sponsors just ten years ago.”
The death penalty is increasingly viewed as out of alignment with many core conservative principles such as limited government, fiscal responsibility, and protecting innocent life.