Death Penalty Committee Votes for Status Quo

Despite a recent stir to abolish the death penalty in New Hampshire, it’s unlikely to happen this legislative session. The Commission to Study the Death Penalty voted 12-10 this week to retain the state’s capital punishment statutes.

former Rep. Jim Splaine is pleased with the process but disappointed with the results

Formed in 2009, the commission has been meeting for more than a year. The bill establishing the study commission was sponsored by former Rep. Jim Splaine (D-Portsmouth), a death penalty opponent. He told The Portsmouth Herald that he was disappointed by the vote but appreciated the work all the members did in holding hearings and considering a wide range of information.

“For the first time in decades, I think we have a lot of data that will be used in the next realm of debates,” Splaine said. “From the testimony and realm of materials that the commission was able to pull together, even though I disagree with 12 of them, I think all 22 members did a fantastic job in trying to really understand what does the death penalty mean to society, what does it do, what are the ramifications.”

The Herald also cited commission member and former Portsmouth Police Detective Steve Arnold who said the commission’s close decision mirrored the country as a whole. “I am a proponent of the death penalty. As a retired police officer, I am adamant about that,” said Arnold, who now works with the New England Police Benevolent Association as the New Hampshire legislative and organizing director. “Clearly, there’s a majority, but it’s very close. Nationally, statistically, the country is split on this issue. Our committee basically confirmed that statistical analysis.”

For the 2011 session, House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon) had begun drafting a bill to expand the definition of capital murder. But a check yesterday on the quickly-being-updated House web site, the name of the bill sponsor has been changed to Rep. Jerry Bergevin (R-Manchester). For more about the commission and the process, see the Front Door Politics explainer post from Nov. 4 here. The Concord Monitor also had an informative follow up story on varying perspectives of commission members and the vote.

Posted by Hilary Niles on Dec 2 2010. Filed under death penalty, Justice, Weekly Briefing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry