PA House Committee moves two bills to abolish death penalty

A Pennsylvania House committee passed a pair of bills that would abolish capital punishment in the commonwealth, potentially ending decades of limbo in which death sentences have been handed down but not carried out, reported PennLive.com.

Both bills passed the House Judiciary Committee on party-line votes, with the Democratic majority in favor and Republicans opposed.

But the measures also illustrate the somewhat unusual ideological alliance that has long existed when it comes to eliminating the death penalty. One bill is authored by one of the House’s most progressive Democrats, Chris Rabb.

The other is authored by one of its most conservative Republicans, Russ Diamond. The bill has several GOP co-sponsors, although none of the conservatives who support abolition sit on the judiciary committee.

“There are no take-backs,” with the death penalty, Rabb said Monday. “It’s irreversible, it’s expensive, and our government does not have the moral authority to put people to death. I’m glad there are people across the ideological spectrum who understand this.”

“I approached this issue from a conservative point of view,” Diamond said. That includes believing in the sanctity of life from conception to death and the promise of Christian redemption, he said.

“I also believe that our criminal justice system is the self-defense mechanism for a civilized society, but there’s no element of self-defense in executing someone already in captivity,” Diamond said. “Permanent incarceration satisfies our collective need for self-defense.”

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that forced most states to rewrite their death penalty statutes. Pennsylvania re-established the death penalty in 1978, but since that time has executed only three people, the most recent in 1999.

Prosecutors can still seek the death penalty, and since 1985, 482 death warrants or death notices have been issued in Pennsylvania, according to data from the state Department of Corrections.

In the majority of cases, death sentences are stayed or overturned by an appeals court. In the handful of situations where appeals have been exhausted, the governor has issued a reprieve to prevent execution.

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