Saying the death penalty is “too fallible to endure,” the Lincoln Journal Star has called on Nebraska voters to end capital punishment in the state. In two editorials published in connection with the upcoming statewide death penalty ballot referendum on November 8, the paper urged Nebraskans to retain the legislature’s death penalty repeal bill. The predominantly Republican legislature voted to repeal the state’s death penalty in May 2015 and then, a few days later, overrode a veto by Governor Pete Ricketts. The Governor, in turn, launched a successful petition drive to place the repeal issue on the ballot. The Journal Star’s first editorial focused on the “bottom line” question that, “[t]o support the death penalty, you must be willing to take the chance that the state will execute an innocent person.” In addressing that question, the paper highlighted notable exonerations from Beatrice, Nebraska and elsewhere. The editorial explained that, in the largest false confession case in American history, “[t]he ‘Beatrice 6’ were railroaded into prison for a murder they did not commit. Finally DNA showed someone else committed the crime. Now Gage County is on the hook for $28.1 million in damages.” The paper also discussed the exoneration of former Air Force sergeant Ray Krone, who—with no criminal record—was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in Arizona. “If it happened to Krone,” the paper said, “it can happen to anybody.” In a second editorial, the Journal Star presented what it called the “powerful” conservative argument against capital punishment. The death penalty, conservatives say, “is an extraordinary example of government overreach that costs inordinate amounts of money,” violates “the sanctity of life,” “[s]ometimes … delivers erroneous results, and for years on end it delivers no results at all.” A recent study found that the death penalty costs Nebraska taxpayers $14.6 million per year, even though the state has not had an execution in nearly 20 years. The paper said: “All this spending siphons away money that could and should be put to use more effectively in protecting public safety. Five hundred police chiefs were asked in 1995 and 2008 to rank the tools they found most effective in fighting violent crime, [former Lincoln Police Chief Allen] Curtis wrote. ‘The death penalty came in absolutely last.’” The editorial concluded, “[t]houghtful conservatives who take the time to research the issue will vote on Nov. 8 to retain the law that eliminates the death penalty and replaces it with life in prison.”

(Editorial, “Death penalty too fallible to endure,” Lincoln Journal Star, October 16, 2016; Editorial, “Death penalty is no longer conservative,” Lincoln Journal Star, October 17, 2016.) See Editorials and Recent Legislation.

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