Governor Chris Sununu has vetoed a bill to repeal New Hampshire’s death penalty. This is legislation that passed with veto-proof majorities. But does that change now that the governor has rejected it?
Norm Silber: The Death Penalty Does Deter!
Democrats need Republican votes to override the veto. A Republican governor has some measure of pull in his own party. The veto could shift enough votes to make an override impossible.
On the other side, many in the life movement extend their support from conception to natural death. A good friend once explained this (he’s a Christian pastor) as ensuring that everyone has the chance at redemption. Prisoners are not denied that opportunity before they are executed, but I get it. I’m not there yet.
There are individual acts which are so vile that allowing their perpetrators any chance to experience the life, love, joy, or pleasure they denied their victims offends me.
But I do not begrudge anyone their opinion, whenever it falls. I do want to address these points, however.
While Sununu invoked the views of crime victims and law enforcement in opposition to repeal, Rep. Renny Cushing, a repeal supporter whose father was murdered, said not all crime victims agree. “Many murder victim family members in our state paid a very painful, harsh price for the right to tell Gov. Sununu that we don’t want killing in our name. The reality is that the death penalty does not do the one thing we wish it would do: bring our loved ones back.”
Note: The above quote is after Sununu vetoed last year’s effort at repeal.
First, and this applies to any effort at repeal from the left, Cushing and his (Democrat) party are unyielding advocates for abortion until birth (and now right after) paid for with taxpayer support. My objection to having that done in my name is labeled as anti-woman and bigoted. If he’d like to continue to cling to that argument then he needs to step up and stop taxpayer funding for abortion.
That’s not going to happen.
Second, as noted above, the reality is that capital punishment has nothing to do with bringing a loved one back – at least in my mind. It is about keeping a murder from murdering again (something, not even prison prevents) while ensuring this killer is incapable of any of the enjoyment from life that they have deliberately denied others.
Prison has too many amenities for people, some of whom, do not deserve to feel the warmth of the sun on their face.
For now, at least until veto override day arrives New Hampshire still has a death penalty, even though we don’t use it – which is just one of many reasons why you can make the case that it’s not effective. Reasons that exist as a matter of process not because being executed is not a deterrent.
