Briefing

Bills calling for the death penalty have been introduced nearly every year with formal hearings occuring every three or four years. For the last 20 years, these hearings have resulted in solid rejections by legislative bodies. But the issue remains volatile. Polling shows a majority of the public still supports capital punishment, but at a lesser rate in more recent years. The issue usually flares up in response to high-profile murder cases that attract widespread media coverage. Each time it flares up, JRLC and many other groups mobilize to remind the public and legislators why capital punishment is bad public policy. Undoubtedly, we will need to do this again in the future. We remain vigilant of any legislative activity in the this area.

At the moment most key legislative leaders and committee chairs do not support the death penalty. Majorities of both bodies appear to be against it. Governor Pawlenty, however, does support it and was a visible proponent during the last hearings in 2004.

JRLC's opposition was summarized in an open letter to the legislature and is based, in part, on grave concerns about the application of the death penalty which include clear evidence of racial and economic discrimination, little evidence of a deterrent effect, documented cases of erroneous convictions and resulting executions of innocent persons, and the extraordinary costs of prosecuting a person to death.

Our opposition to the death penalty in no way diminishes our concern for victims of crime. We support
the use of public resources to reduce the incidence of crime and to restore as best we can the lives of
victims. The death penalty is not an acceptable way to do this.

We acknowledge that there are some offenders for whom the state of the art of our treatment and
correctional programs holds very little promise. This is a problem for which we claim collective
responsibility and we urge lawmakers to make strides in this area. But, in the meantime, we view
state-sponsored executions with revulsion especially when a life sentence without parole could provide
an equally incapacitating alternative.