ROCK SPRINGS– Despite the federal government’s recent decision to resume capital punishment, conservatives in states including Wyoming, Utah, and Ohio are pushing to repeal the death penalty on a state by state basis.

In June, U.S. officials announced the decision to resume executions after a 16-year prohibition.

However, over 250 politically active conservatives, in alignment with the national group Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, have signed a statement that calls to end the death penalty.

The statement argues that the death penalty does not align with the conservative stance on pro life issues. It also states that the number of people who have been exonerated while on death row is much too high to justify capital punishment.

Hannah Cox, National Manager for CCATDP, said with socioeconomic disadvantages and racial bias, the death penalty is a failed government system.

“Some of us are concerned that instead of making us safer, capital punishment has proven to be a costly and ineffective government program. Others of us are concerned that the death penalty makes too many mistakes. Still others are concerned that the death penalty has no place in a culture seeking to promote life,” the statement reads.

Wyoming Rep. Jared Olsen, Cheyenne, said during a press conference Monday that he helped present a bill to the state Legislature this past year that would repeal the death penalty in Wyoming if passed. The bill passed the state House, but failed in the state Senate 18-12.

Rep. Olsen assured that they will be presenting the bill again in 2020. In Wyoming, it must first pass an introductory vote, which is a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, before is can be heard during the budget session.

According to Rep. Olsen, the bill is currently only one or two votes from passing the introductory vote, and he believes it will pass.

Driving Factors Behind the Repeal of the Death Penalty

In Wyoming, Rep. Olsen said the number one driving factor for repealing the death penalty is costs. With the state’s current economic environment, the coal and gas industries in a decline, Olsen questions the use of funds for capital punishment.

Wyoming appropriates just over $1 million annually for capital punishment, even though the last execution took place in 1992 and no one has been on death row since 2014. Olsen said that money is used to fund death penalty trials.

In addition to fiscal responsibility, Olsen said the driving factors behind the repeal of the death penalty include staying consistent with conservative beliefs such as limited government and pro life matters.

He added that the federal government’s decision to resume executions “doesn’t make sense.”

“This puts us in categories with nations like North Korea where we just simply don’t stand when it comes to our values,” Olsen said.

Bipartisan Effort

Despite the Wyoming Legislature having a majority of Republicans, 77-13, that the ideological makeup of the state’s lawmakers is diverse.

He added that the people working to repeal capital punishment ranges from republicans to democrats to independents to libertarians, and so on.

“The group that’s working to repeal the death penalty from the ground up, outside of the legislature, is just a tremendous group of people that just expand the spectrum,” Olsen said.

Other State Support

Utah has faced a similar situation as Wyoming, in which they presented a bill that did not pass through the legislature.

Darcy Van Orden, with the Utah Justice Coalition, said on Monday that the bill will be presented again, and she is hopeful that the Republican majority legislators will pass it.

She noted that Utah reinstate the firing squad in 2015, however, with new legislators in the Utah House and Senate, she believes they will be more supportive of the repeal of capital punishment.

Republican Rep. Niraj Antani, of Miamisburg, Ohio, sponsored a bill in Ohio that would repeal the death penalty. Though the bill did not pass, he believes conservatives in the state are being pushed to look at capital punishment through a pro-life lens.

He argued that being pro-life means valuing human life from conception to a natural death.

“Even the chance of someone being put to death who could be innocent, I believe, for pro-life people across the country, is enough to oppose the death penalty,” Rep. Antani said.

Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty are pushing to have conservatives lead the fight to repeal death penalty at the state level, and hopefully, the federal government will follow.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are 29 death penalty states and 21 non-death penalty states.