The governor has weighed in, as has the state Supreme Court. But as the Legislature considers abolishing the death penalty in Washington, the discussion is bypassing the most important stakeholder — the public.
A referendum on capital punishment should be placed before voters, allowing us to clearly identify the values that best reflect our state.
To some extent, a vote regarding the death penalty would be impotent. Gov. Jay Inslee in 2014 declared a moratorium on executions as long as he is in office, and future governors might echo that stance. No executions have been carried out in Washington since 2010.
In October, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state’s application of capital punishment is unconstitutional because it is “arbitrary” and “racially biased.” Studies have shown that black defendants are more than four times as likely to be sentenced to death as white defendants. The court’s decision left room for the Legislature to reconfigure the death penalty law in order to adhere with the state constitution.
Instead, lawmakers are considering removing the death penalty from the statutes and making life in prison without the possibility of release the strongest punishment the state can mete out. Senate Bill 5339 passed by a 28-19 vote (among Southwest Washington lawmakers, Annette Cleveland voted in favor, Ann Rivers was opposed, and Lynda Wilson was excused). The measure now goes to the House of Representatives.
Representatives should reject the bill and leave the next word on the death penalty to the people of Washington. After all, voters established the current law in 1981, when they approved changes to provisions that had rendered the previous law unconstitutional. Voters should be the ones to decide whether the death penalty must remain on the books.
That being said, there are good arguments for abolishing capital punishment. New California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced a moratorium on the death penalty in his state, echoing Inslee’s example, and 20 states along with the District of Columbia do not have a death penalty.
There clearly is a moral justification for eschewing the death penalty. In announcing his moratorium five years ago, Inslee noted that of 32 defendants who had been sentenced to death since 1981, 18 had those sentences converted to life in prison and one had been set free. Nationally, the Death Penalty Information Center reports that 164 death row inmates have been exonerated since 1973.
The death penalty carries weighty moral and philosophical questions, with the most prominent involving the risk of executing somebody who is innocent. Meanwhile, there also are practical implications. A study from Seattle University found that pursuing the death penalty adds an average of $1 million to the cost of a trial for prosecutors, and the price of the appeals process and eventual execution typically exceeds the cost of housing a prisoner for the remainder of their life.
On the other hand, longtime Clark County residents likely remember Westley Allan Dodd and the terror he inflicted on the community. Dodd kidnapped, molested and murdered three young boys in 1989; he was executed in 1993. It is difficult to argue that the public interest would be served by keeping such a monster alive under the care of the state.
That debate, however, is something that should be left to the people of Washington. While the governor and the Supreme Court have had an opportunity to weigh in, voters should have a say.
