But what about the Kirk Bloodsworths? This ex-Marine was convicted of child molestation and murder by a Maryland court and was sentenced to die, only to then be exonerated by DNA evidence just in time to save his life. And what about the Jerome Livases? Mr. Livas was convicted of murdering two elderly women—despite there being no physical evidence linking him to the crime, despite failing to match the FBI profile of the killer and despite the continuation of similar murders after he was incarcerated (the police wrote them off as “copycat” crimes). These stories are not anecdotal pieces of evidence; they are indicative of a nationwide system of capital punishment that is fraught with error. In the nearly 23 years since the death penalty was reinstated in Illinois, for instance, 12 people have been executed, while no less than 13 death row inmates have been cleared of their capital-murder charges. This prompted the state’s conservative governor George Ryan to issue a moratorium on the death penalty in his state. Republican leaders around the country should follow suit.

The basic premise behind the death penalty—that those who take an innocent life deserve to lose their own—implodes when confronted with the statistical certitude of conviction error. If a citizen should lose his life for killing an innocent person, what should be the state’s punishment for the same offense? Certainly someone must pay for the murder of an innocent woman or man. But who? The judge and jury? The lawyers and police? All of us? From the sheer number of wrongly convicted citizens, we know that innocent people will be—and have been—executed. If we allow this atrocity to continue, we do so with the same blood-stained hands as Timothy McVeigh or Susan Smith. By allowing capital punishment, we seal the fate of far more innocent people than any one person could kill alone.

One argument that my fellow conservatives (including President George W. Bush) tend to employ is that the death penalty deters homicides. Even if we execute an innocent person, they say, the effect is a net increase in the number of innocent lives saved. I would agree with this, if only the facts supported the assertion. The average murder rate in U.S. states with the death penalty is 8 per 100,000 people, while it is only 4.4 in states without a legalized death penalty. Between 1952 and 1967, California had an execution once every two months, while there were no executions from 1968 to 1991; the homicide rate was twice as high in the first period. These facts blow a large hole through any theory of deterrence.

At times, conservatives feel as if they should—that they must—oppose all positions propounded by Democrats. We cannot allow the death penalty to be one of them. For the moral salvation of our country and ourselves, Republicans must lead a movement to end capital punishment in America.

Geoffrey F. Reed ’03 is a social studies concentrator in Eliot House. John F. Bash ’02 is a history and literature concentrator in Eliot House. They are co-presidents of Students Against Government Executions.