NEW VOICES: ​“Death Penalty Has Had Its Day in North Carolina”

Mark Edwards, chair of the Nash County (North Carolina) Republican Party, recent­ly spoke about replac­ing the death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole: ​“As a con­ser­v­a­tive seek­ing to find the best way to pro­tect the res­i­dents of this great state from crime, I believe the death penal­ty has had its day in North Carolina. It is time to begin the debate on replac­ing the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out parole.” He also said, ​“We are advo­cat­ing that we replace the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out parole, which would will pre­vent deba­cles like the Oklahoma exe­cu­tion. It is a tough pun­ish­ment, and inmates with no hope of release cer­tain­ly do not live on ​‘easy street.’ ” 

Edwards is a mem­ber of North Carolina Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, and he point­ed to the toll exe­cu­tions take on cor­rec­tion­al offi­cers, espe­cial­ly when exe­cu­tions go wrong: ​“No mat­ter how pro­fes­sion­al­ly the staff car­ries out its duties, a com­mu­ni­ty is formed and rela­tion­ships estab­lished with the pris­on­ers, includ­ing those who sit and wait on death row. Then they have to par­tic­i­pate in the inmate’s exe­cu­tion. That can­not be easy for these men and women,” Edwards said. ​“It is not fair for us to impose these untest­ed (and, as the events in Oklahoma remind us, pos­si­bly unre­li­able) drug pro­to­cols on the ded­i­cat­ed staff of the Department of Corrections.” Read the full let­ter to the editor below.

Mark E. Edwards: Life with­out parole a proper sentence

Your May 1 edi­to­r­i­al “ A shame­ful exe­cu­tion” high­lights the rea­sons why we should replace the death penal­ty with life in prison without parole.

As a con­ser­v­a­tive Republican, I strong­ly sup­port the government’s duty to main­tain law and order. However, as the dis­tin­guished colum­nist George Will once said, ​“Conservatives, espe­cial­ly, should draw this les­son: Capital pun­ish­ment, like the rest of the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, is a gov­ern­ment pro­gram, so skep­ti­cism is in order.” The botched exe­cu­tion of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma graph­i­cal­ly illus­trates Will’s point.

The edi­to­r­i­al also allud­ed to a group of peo­ple we nev­er talk about when it comes to exe­cut­ing inmates. Those peo­ple are the ded­i­cat­ed staff of the Department of Corrections. These pub­lic ser­vants do not enter the field to car­ry out these exe­cu­tions. In states where the death penal­ty is the ulti­mate pun­ish­ment, some of those hard­work­ing peo­ple end up assigned to the sur­re­al task of assist­ing in the tak­ing of a life.

I under­stand that the prison staff is respon­si­ble for over­see­ing every aspect of life for each inmate. No mat­ter how pro­fes­sion­al­ly the staff car­ries out its duties, a com­mu­ni­ty is formed and rela­tion­ships estab­lished with the pris­on­ers, includ­ing those who sit and wait on death row. Then they have to par­tic­i­pate in the inmate’s exe­cu­tion. That can­not be easy for these men and women.

Legal bat­tles are under­way right now in North Carolina over the drugs being con­sid­ered for use in exe­cu­tions. Since the drugs are untest­ed, we have no idea what will hap­pen. It is not fair for us to impose these untest­ed (and, as the events in Oklahoma remind us, pos­si­bly unre­li­able) drug pro­to­cols on the ded­i­cat­ed staff of the Department of Corrections.

I am one of a grow­ing num­ber of Republicans and con­ser­v­a­tive Democrats across the state who have formed North Carolina Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty. We are advo­cat­ing that we replace the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out parole, which would will pre­vent deba­cles like the Oklahoma exe­cu­tion. It is a tough pun­ish­ment, and inmates with no hope of release cer­tain­ly do not live on ​“easy street.” Life in prison with­out parole will mean life in prison without parole.

As a con­ser­v­a­tive seek­ing to find the best way to pro­tect the res­i­dents of this great state from crime, I believe the death penal­ty has had its day in North Carolina. It is time to begin the debate on replac­ing the death penal­ty with life in prison without parole.

MARK E. EDWARDS
CHAIRMAN, NASH COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY, NASHVILLE

(M. Edwards, ​“Mark E. Edwards: Life with­out parole a prop­er sen­tence,” News and Observer, let­ter to edi­tor, May 6, 2014). See New Voices and Lethal Injection.