I had to smile at the incongruity between the headline of Stephen Urquhart’s opinion piece (“GOP is taking a lead role in ending the death penalty”) and his evidence to support his argument.
He says, “nearly a third of all state legislators sponsoring death penalty repeal deals nationwide are Republicans.” Given that Republicans control 60 percent of all state legislatures and that there are 1,000 more Republican legislators then Democratic legislators nationwide, I would expect the percentage of Republican-sponsored repeal bills to be much higher.
Perhaps the headline should have read, “Democrats are taking the lead role in ending the death penalty.”
But I don’t care who takes the credit for repealing the death penalty as long as it’s repealed. Incidentally, you’ll find much better arguments for repealing the death penalty in Bryan Stevenson’s book, “Just Mercy,” than the economic arguments that appeal to Republicans.
Paul Simmons, Murray