If we want to improve our justice system, Utah should get rid of capital punishment, Robert Gehrke writes

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

46% : "I came to believe the best outcome for a family that wanted the death penalty -- the most humane outcome whether they would like it or not at the moment -- is to have the jury come back and say 'life without parole,'" Horton, who has retired and now lives in Oregon, told me last week.
43% : Snow said his view on the death penalty shifted, in part, in his discussions with a constituent, Sharon Wright Weeks, who is the sister of Brenda Lafferty.
41% : So, it's safe to say he has as much, if not more up-close, firsthand experience with our state's system of capital punishment than anyone in the state -- and he doesn't like what he has seen.
41% : And there's the cost: Over a 20-year period, Snow said, Utah spent $40 million on death penalty cases, with only two executions carried out -- Parsons and Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010.
40% : "We make a counterfeit promise ... when we tell the victims' family members we're going to get them justice when we get the death penalty," he said.
40% : And they might be, if two Republicans, Rep. Lowry Snow of Santa Clara and Sen. Dan McCay of Riverton, succeed in passing legislation to do away with the death penalty in the state.
40% : What separated Parsons' crime from scores of others we read about, but do not result in the death penalty?
38% : Capital punishment has been ingrained in our culture for too long.
37% : The burden on the victims' families is just one of many reasons for Utah to join 22 other states that no longer use the option of the death penalty.

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