Conservative com­men­ta­tor George Will has decribed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in America as ​“with­er­ing away.” In his syn­di­cat­ed col­umn in the Washington Post, Will out­lines a con­ser­v­a­tive case against the death penal­ty, high­light­ing Nebraska’s recent leg­isla­tive vote to repeal cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Writing that ​“exon­er­a­tions of con­demned pris­on­ers and botched exe­cu­tions are dis­may­ing­ly fre­quent,” Will lists three pri­ma­ry rea­sons why he believes con­ser­v­a­tives should oppose cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment: ​“First, the pow­er to inflict death cloaks gov­ern­ment with a majesty and pre­tense of infal­li­bil­i­ty dis­cor­dant with con­ser­vatism. Second, when cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is inflict­ed, it can­not lat­er be cor­rect­ed because of new evi­dence, so a cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment regime must be admin­is­tered with extra­or­di­nary com­pe­tence. It is, how­ev­er, a gov­ern­ment program…Third, admin­is­tra­tion of death sen­tences is so spo­radic and pro­tract­ed that their pow­er to deter is atten­u­at­ed.” Will rec­og­nizes that there is an urge to severe­ly pun­ish the worst crimes, say­ing, ​“Sentencing to death those who com­mit heinous crimes sat­is­fies a sense of moral pro­por­tion­al­i­ty.” However, he says, this sat­is­fac­tion is ​“pur­chased with dis­pro­por­tion­ate social costs.” America, he says, is exhibit­ing ​“a healthy squea­mish­ness” about the death penal­ty ​“that should herald abolition.”

(G. Will, ​“Capital pun­ish­men­t’s slow death,” The Washington Post, May 20, 2015.) See New Voices and Recent Legislation.

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