In two separate guest columns for The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), four state legislators urged an end to the death penalty in Tennessee. State Representatives Steve McManus (top left) and Mark White (top right), both Republicans, called capital punishment, “a lousy return on our investment.” Estimating that Tennessee’s death penalty is similar in costs to North Carolina’s $11 million-per-year system, they listed some alternative uses for death penalty funds. “270 patrol officers. 361 state troopers. 228 detectives and criminal investigators. 110 new school buses. 239 teachers. Compensation for 367 crime victims and their families.” They go on to raise concerns about the accuracy of capital convictions in Tennessee, which has executed six inmates and exonerated three. “Six-and-three isn’t bad if you’re playing football. It’s not very good if you’re deciding life or death.” On the other side of the aisle, Democratic State Sen. Lee Harris (bottom left) and State Rep. Johnnie Turner (bottom right) called the death penalty, “broken,” giving four reasons for their opposition to capital punishment. “First, we should be investing in infrastructure, schools, police and emergency services, and public transportation, among others…Second, executing an innocent person is an unacceptable risk…Third, the death penalty affects innocent people in other ways, too…the evidence shows that some people, when faced with the prospect of death, will falsely admit to taking a life to save their own…Fourth, we could be doing more for victims’ families.” They conclude, “In the end, the death penalty is a needless source of ongoing contention, and it takes up too much of our valuable time and resources while we’re trying to work through all the other problems our criminal justice system is facing.”
(S. McManus and M. White, “Guest column: The death penalty is a bad investment,” Commercial Appeal, July 12, 2015; L. Harris and J. Turner, “Guest column: Tennessee needs to have a thorough conversation on the death penalty,” Commercial Appeal, July 12, 2015.) See New Voices and Costs.
