Senator introduces bill to repeal death penalty

Senator Karen Peterson (D-Stanton) says, “We don’t rape rapists. We don’t chop off the hands of thieves. We don’t poke out the eyes of peeping toms. So why do we kill killers?” 

Karen Peterson is a Delaware state senator and says it’s time to repeal the death penalty. She has introduced Senate Bill 40 to replace capital punishment with life without parole.

Senator Peterson goes on, “If I didn’t do anything about it than I was guilty too. I don’t want to be an accomplice to the state sanctioned murder of anybody. so I’ll do my best to undo that.”

Since 1973, 150 death row inmates have been exonerated or released from prison in the U.S.

Sherry Dorsey Walker, a council woman for the 6th district in Wilmington says, “We don’t make mistakes with life without the possibility of parole. If you accidentally execute the wrong individual that causes more heartache and pain in the first state and we don’t need that.”

Supporters of the death penalty believe in the end killers should be killed; and it’s not a matter of cost for the State.

Senator Gary Simpson (R-Milford) says, “Republicans are always thinking about how we can save money. We know that it costs more money to put somebody on death row awaiting death, than to put them in prison for the bounds of their life.”

According to the Office of the Public Defender for the State of Delaware, they could save close to $4 million if the death penalty is repealed. 

Senator Simpson says he’s hopeful that could be enough to sway lawmakers on the fence. He’s sponsoring the bill and tells 47 ABC there’s just no way to be 100 percent certain someone is guilty. Due to that factor, he believed this legislation is a much safer way to determine the fate of those individuals.

This bill would not impact the sentences of the 15 men currently on Delaware’s death row. Their fate would be left in the hands of the Governor.

If this bill passes, Delaware would become the 19th state without the death penalty in the U.S.