Nov. 17
USA:
The death penalty has lost its power
Michael Dukakis's strong opposition to the death penalty was considered a
major blow to his 1988 presidential campaign. In 1992, then-Arkansas Gov.
Bill Clinton left the presidential campaign trail to oversee the execution
of a mentally retarded man.
In the wake of the 2005 gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and
Virginia, it is fascinating to witness the death penalty's decidedly
different impact - or lack thereof - on the outcome of these races.
New Jersey and Virginia both elected governors who oppose capital
punishment. In New Jersey, capital punishment was never an issue. In a
bitter campaign that even featured attacks from an ex-wife, the
historically divisive issue of the death penalty was never raised by
winner Jon Corzines (D) opponent, death-penalty supporter Douglas
Forrester (R). In Virginia, former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (R) ran
what are best described as "aggressive" ads hitting winner Tim Kaine for
his opposition to capital punishment, alleging that "Tim Kaine says that
Adolf Hitler doesn't qualify for the death penalty." The consensus is
that, if anything, the ads backfired.
The lack of saliency of the death penalty is not new to 2005. The 2004
presidential election was the most expensive, and among the most vicious
in American history. Yet Senator John Kerry's opposition to the death
penalty was never used by President Bush - who as governor of Texas
approved more executions than any other state in the nation.
To observers of the evolving politics of the death penalty, this is not a
surprise.
Both newspaper and proprietary public opinion polls in recent years have
shown that voters do not consider capital punishment a reason to vote for
or against a candidate. If anything, opposing capital punishment helps
pick up votes among the most partisan.
Since about 2000, the American people have gotten a much more nuanced
understanding of the death penalty. They have learned about the costs. New
York, for example, has spent about $200 million over the past 10 years on
a capital-punishment system recently ruled invalid by a state court, and
the state hasnt executed anyone.
Americans have heard from murder-victim family members who oppose the
death penalty. They have learned about the mistakes that are far too often
made, mistakes that have sent at least 121 people to death row who did not
belong there, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Many Americans have concluded that whatever their private moral positions
on capital punishment, it is pretty clearly a deeply flawed system that
may not be worth all the time, energy and money. And in the past several
years, voters have not been supporting candidates who promise to be the
executioner in chief, and they have not been punishing candidates who
think the death penalty is a policy whose time has come and gone.
The elections of 2004 and 2005 - those mentioned above and the countless
other state and local races in which death-penalty support was used as a
reason to vote against someone or in which capital punishment simply
played no role - hold important lessons for candidates in 2006.
Some candidates in the 12 states without the death penalty have promised
to make support for bringing the death penalty back a key of their
campaigns. Such candidates do so at their own peril. At best, they will be
wasting precious campaign dollars - and at worst - it could cost them
votes.
Other candidates in crowded primary fields may be tempted to use
death-penalty support as a way to separate themselves from their
opponents; while the tactic may result in separation, it may not be the
way the candidates hope for.
As someone who advises candidates and advocacy groups, including many
working to reform or abolish the death penalty, I am not suggesting
candidates rush out and run based on their opposition to capital
punishment. Its not because it is a third-rail issue but rather because it
would be like running a campaign based on a promise to change the motto on
state license plates. Voters just don't care that much.
Candidates who try to exploit capital punishment might even get punished,
as Kilgore was in Virginia. Candidates who tell voters their honest
opinion about the death penalty when asked and then move on to issues that
matter - schools, healthcare, roads - will be rewarded.
(source: Peter Loge is a senior vice president at M+R Strategic Services
and has served as a strategic consultant to a number of
death-penalty-abolition and criminal-justice-reform groups around the
country, including for the recent successful campaign to prevent the
reinstatement of the death penalty in New York state; Op-Ed, The Hill)
