“As a fiscal conservative, I am concerned about the exorbitant cost of the death penalty to Tennessee taxpayers compared to a sentence of life without parole. Given the state of the current system, there is no way to cut these costs without increasing the risk of executing an innocent person.”
Rep. Steve McManus, R-Cordova
“The bottom line is this: fallible governments should not have the right to kill those whom they have already imprisoned. We are not obligated to feel sympathy for those who have committed violent crimes; indeed, “an eye for an eye” often seems a deserved punishment, especially for murderers. However, we cannot entrust the government with the power to decide who lives or dies, nor should we.”
Molly Wehlage, Past President for the Harvard University College Republicans
“The death penalty runs a dangerously high risk of killing innocent people, siphons billions of dollars from the public, and gives the government power it cannot be trusted to carry out fairly.”
Drew Johnson, senior fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and founder of the Beacon Center of Tennessee
“I’m opposed to the death penalty not because I think it’s unconstitutional per se – although I think it’s been applied in ways that are unconstitutional – but it really is a moral view, and that is that the taking of life is not the way to handle even the most significant of crimes. … Who among anyone is not above redemption? I think we have to be careful in executing final judgment. The one thing my faith teaches me – I don’t get to play God. I think you are short-cutting the whole process of redemption. … I don’t want to be the person that stops that process from taking place.”
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice
“As a conservative, I believe our government should treat everyone equally under the law. People should not be treated differently because of how much money they have, the color of their skin, or where they live. Yet, we see this happening over and over again in the application of the death penalty. Simply put: Even if capital punishment is justifiable for some crimes, we are incapable of carrying it out in a just way.”
Pastor Kevin Riggs, Franklin Community Church, Franklin, TN
“As a former member of the U.S. Air Force and a postal employee, I believed in the American criminal justice system. After what happened to me, I would not trust the state to execute a person for committing a crime against another person. I now know how the system works. It’s not about justice or fairness or equality. Any chance I can, whether I start with one or two people or a whole auditorium filled with people, I’ll tell them what happened to me. Because if it happened to me, it can happen to anyone.”
Ray Krone, the nation’s 100th death row exoneree who now lives in Tennessee