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Kansas Falls One Vote Short in the Senate

By Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

Today, the Kansas Senate failed to repeal the death penalty with a 20 to 20 vote but demonstrated how far the state has come and how close it is to abolishing the death penalty. The bill would have repealed the death penalty, replacing it with life without the possibility of parole. It would not have affected the 10 men currently on Kansas death row. Republican Senate Vice President John Vratil supported the repeal effort, citing studies demonstrating that the death penalty does not deter crime. He also cited figures that showed decreased murder rates in every state over the past two decades, regardless of whether the state had the death penalty or not. Republican Senator Carolyn McGinn repeated the call for repeal with assertions concerning the exorbitant costs of the death penalty to cash strapped states: "It costs half a million dollars, or 70 percent more, to try a death penalty case than a non death penalty case and yet the state hasn?t executed anyone since 1965...continue to full post

Full post as published by tcask:: on the road (to abolition) on February 22, 2010 (boomark / email).