On August 14th, “Kansas’ death penalty is the ultimate failed big government program. Time to end it | Opinion” was published in the Kansas City Star and the Wichita Eagle.
Authored by Senator Carolyn McGinn and Kelson Bohnet, a capital litigator and KCADP board member, the commentary highlights several ways the Kansas death penalty fails Kansans.
They note the excessive cost of capital punishment and its impact on murder victim family members. Recalling Kansas’ history of error in first degree murder cases, they point out the obvious consequent risk of error in capital cases as well.
Reflecting on all these problems the authors wrote “July 1 marked 30 years of failure. If this were any other policy experiment, the death penalty would have been scrapped long ago. It is the ultimate failed big-government program. Everyone from every political party should agree that it’s time to move on and do things that actually work.” (emphasis not in original)
It is accessible on both the Star and Eagle websites for those with subscriptions, as well as via AOL (free). It is also available for those who subscribe to the Iola Register.