NEW VOICES: Washington Attorney General Says Death Penalty May Not Be Worth the Costs and Delays

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna recent­ly said he is not sure the death penal­ty is the way to han­dle the worst crimes in his state. ​“I could live with­out it frankly. I think it’s very expen­sive, and the delays are inor­di­nate, delay­ing clo­sure for the vic­tims’ fam­i­lies,” he said. McKenna said he uses the death penal­ty spar­ing­ly in Washington, reserv­ing it for the most seri­ous aggra­vat­ed-mur­der con­vic­tions. He said he would con­tin­ue to uphold the law, if the peo­ple still desired it: ​“I sup­port it as long as that’s what the peo­ple of this state want.” Although the death penal­ty is rarely used in Washington, the state is sched­uled to car­ry out its first exe­cu­tion since 2001 on September 10. If the exe­cu­tion pro­ceeds, Cal Brown, who has been on death row for 16 years, would be the fifth per­son exe­cut­ed since 1976.

(C. Sullivan, ​“Attorney General Rob McKenna not sure if ulti­mate penal­ty’s worth it,” MyNorthwest​.com, September 7, 2010). Read more New Voices.