A few short months ago, I emailed you about an impending vote to spend almost $1 million to build a new execution chamber in Nevada. Regrettably, despite an outpouring of opposition from a variety of organizations and constituents, a slim majority of Nevada lawmakers approved this outrageous waste of taxpayer dollars and authorized the construction of a new lethal injection chamber.
Although no executions are scheduled, none are on the horizon, and there is an existing chamber that could be used if an execution were to be scheduled, Nevadans will be paying to construct a new death room far from the public eye – in remote Ely.
The supposedly fiscally conservative legislators who supported this new death chamber should be ashamed of themselves, especially in light of the recent cost audit of Nevada’s death penalty, which showed we spend at least twice as much prosecuting a homicide when seeking the death penalty as when we seek life without parole. True fiscal hawks in Nevada and across the country understand that the death penalty is enormously costly with very little return for the investment.
Nevada lawmakers who should be concerned about the cost of maintaining an expensive and ineffective punishment voted to make it more costly, and with no net gain! The new chamber will not make the death penalty any more effective, streamlined, or fair, it will not eliminate the possibility of a defendant being wrongly convicted or wrongly sentenced to die, and it will not result in better healing or closure for victims’ family members.
The death penalty in Nevada remains an arbitrary, ineffective, costly and outdated practice that must be ended.
Take Nebraska, which at roughly the same time saw a block of conservative legislators band together with others to successfully repeal their state’s death penalty. While some are already trying to reverse that decision, we know that the vote was no momentary whim – lawmakers there across the political spectrum engaged in open, honest and informed debate in order to reach a veto-proof majority. We commend their action and are optimistic that it will stand, thanks to the in-depth conversation they had and the broad coalition they built.
In fact, we are convinced that when community members and leaders in Nevada, and in other states, are well-educated about the facts and myths about the death penalty – and alternatives to it – they will reach the same conclusion as Nebraska and end their support for the death penalty.
The Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty plans to continue educating the community about the serious flaws in our state’s death penalty. We will keep you informed about our efforts, including opportunities for your involvement. We look forward to your support!
Thank you for your interest and commitment to ending the death penalty in Nevada.
Forward!
-Nancy
