Oliver North, a for­mer Marine and not­ed con­ser­v­a­tive leader, has opposed the death penal­ty for many years. In a recent inter­view, he said, ​“I’m a ​‘law and order’ guy. Don’t get me wrong. Individuals need to be held accountable…but I have always felt… and always said that there are very seri­ous ques­tions about the jus­tice of the death penal­ty. Just a few months ago, a man (Glenn Ford) who was on death row for thir­ty years was found to be inno­cent.” When North ran for U.S. Senate in Virginia in 1994, he took an anti-death penal­ty stance, but he said it did not hurt his cam­paign, adding, ​“I got the endorse­ment of every police orga­ni­za­tion in Virginia [when I ran] and they all knew exact­ly where I stood on that issue.” North called for fur­ther dis­cus­sion: ​“I still think it is the kind of thing that deserves an informed debate in our soci­ety and our cul­ture. What is it about us that says that we have to affect that kind of ret­ri­bu­tion? Is it real­ly a deter­rent? It doesn’t seem to be.”

(K. Williams, ​“Oliver North, A Warrior Against the Death Penalty?,” Politisite, May 14, 2014). See New Voices and DPIC’s poll of police chiefs.

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