Why it's time for Utah to do away with the death penalty, the Editorial Board writes

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

45% : Most important to the bill's supporters is the realization that the death penalty does not deliver the sense of closure and balance that it promises.
44% : Capital punishment is currently authorized in 27 states.
42% : One reason for keeping the death penalty on the books, even if no one is executed, is that it can be used as a bargaining chip in plea negotiations.
42% : In return for a promise not to face execution, a suspect might agree to not only plead guilty, sparing everyone the pain and expense of long legal proceedings, but also to help by, say, leading police to a missing body.
41% : But even beyond those reasons is the valid logic behind the latest bill to end capital punishment in Utah, put forward by state Rep. Lowry Snow and state Sen. Dan McCay.
41% : The death penalty is already comparatively rare in Utah, rare enough that we have not recently fallen into the trap of sentencing, or executing, anyone whose guilt was in serious doubt.
40% : It's time for Utah's Legislature to recognize that the death penalty has no place in a modern society.
40% : Snow said he used to be a supporter of capital punishment, but changed his mind after talking to a constituent whose sister and niece were the victims of one of Utah's most gruesome murders, the 1984 crime committed by brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty.
40% : Just last week, Utah County Attorney David Leavitt announced that he would no longer seek to impose the death penalty in his jurisdiction, for reasons that mirror those put forward by Snow and McCay.
37% : Something else that must have been a painful process for some is the evolution of conservative thinking, in Utah and elsewhere, moving away from support for capital punishment.

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