State Rep. Brett Harrell calling for abolition of death penalty

To state Rep. Brett Harrell, R-Snellville, there are several issues with Georgia keeping the death penalty, but the biggest one he raised in a video chat with reporters this past week was cost.

The Gwinnett legislator and Georgia House Ways and Means Committee chairman was one of three state legislators, each from a different state, who participated in a virtual press conference hosted by Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. The legislators highlighted issues with the death penalty and reasons why it should be abolished.

“The death penalty is an incredibly expansive proposition and evidence suggests, study after study, that it is not in fact a deterrent to crime, and we have alternatives such as life without parole,” Harrell said. “So, as someone who is a fiscal conservative and prefers a smaller government that is consistent with the efficient implementation of government, the death penalty fails on all of those measures.”

Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty National Manager Hannah Cox said the death penalty is the most expensive part of the criminal justice system on a per offender basis.

“Contrary to what many people believe, the reason for those costs is not because it takes too long,” Cox said. “In fact, we see that the trial is where the majority of the cost stems from. Over 70% of the costs come from the trial alone, and we also see that the trial is about four times more expansive than the appellate process.

“And so, really even if you were to hasten the speed at which we carry out executions, we would not be addressing the extra ordinary amount of money that we spend on this system.”

Harrell pointed to a case in Lincoln County from several years ago where a district attorney pursued the death penalty in a case, but could not get a conviction.

The Board of Commissioners opposed a retrial because of the cost and ended up being sued by the district attorney — and ended up jailed — over the matter when they refused to pay for another trial. The prosecutor did get to bring the case to trial again, but lost.

“The Board of Commissioners had no choice but to raise property taxes to pay for that failed litigation,” Harrell said.

The legislator advocated for study of the cost of having the death penalty in place in Georgia.

“One of the things Georgia has never done is to have a Georgia-specific study on the cost of the death penalty, so I would like to see us move in that direction as well, and really document the specific costs on this particular program,” Harrell said.

The legislator also pointed to other, non-monetary issues with the death penalty, such as the fact that about six people on death row have been exonerated since the death penalty was re-instated in the 1970s.

“For those of us that prefer a smaller, efficient government, this program is not a small or efficient government program, and the likelihood is great that government has executed innocent people,” Harrell said. “So, someone who is also a social conservative and someone who is pro-life should also see that the death penalty as very problematic.”