EDITORIAL: Death penalty poll shows what Coloradans need to know, not what lawmakers need to do

The majority of state lawmakers in Colorado have their work cut out for them in helping constituents understand why we need to end imposing death sentences here.

In a Quinnipiac University poll this month, a whopping 69 percent of those polled said Colorado should keep the state’s death penalty. The poll came on the heels of Gov. John Hickenlooper’s announcement that he would order a death penalty reprieve to convicted Aurora murderer Nathan Dunlap. Hickenlooper’s decision created a firestorm around the case and the issue of Colorado’s death penalty.

What this poll and other topics about the death penalty queried in the survey make clear is that state lawmakers and others have a lot of work to do in helping the public understand why the death penalty is wrong for Colorado.

Studies by University of Colorado Denver and others have shone even more light on how egregious and ineffective our death penalty is.

While it seems almost shocking that so many Colorado residents support the death penalty when so much information points to what a failure it is in providing justice, a deeper look shows that part of the failure is in how little Coloradans know about it. Those queried think that the death penalty is effective as a deterrent to capital crimes, and that it’s applied fairly in Colorado.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Repeated studies here, and all over the world, have consistently shown that even communities that aggressively seek the death penalty do not deter other murderers from committing their crimes. Just look to Texas, a state that has made an industry out of the death penalty. The rate of murders there is unaffected by near weekly executions.

Just as important is the fact that so many Colorado residents are under the erroneous assumption that the death penalty is applied evenly and fairly here. It most certainly is not.

Undisputed studies in Colorado, and across the country, show that a wildly disproportionate number of minorities get death sentences for crimes that are no more heinous than those committed by whites. It’s almost certain that had Dunlap carried out his murderous rampage in Denver or Northglenn, he would have been sent to prison for the rest of his life, not to end his life.

In fact, giving the marked change in demographics in Aurora over the past 20 years, there’s plenty of doubt prosecutors would have succeeded in getting a death sentence against Dunlap. That’s anything but fair or just. It shows how arbitrary capital punishment can be, even in a state as progressive and thoughtful as Colorado. A penalty that boasts the ultimate punishment, death, cannot be meted out depending on where a crime occurs or which community in Colorado hears the case.

Rather than wither from the argument, state lawmakers and the governor need to speak out frequently and loudly against the misinformation Coloradans use to shape their opinion on this. State residents need to understand how it is that Colorado has come so close to joining a growing number of states that have repealed the death penalty. Residents need to understand not only how unfairly and inconsistently the death penalty is applied, but how it can never be applied fairly. The facts about the death penalty don’t excuse the state’s most offensive and heinous criminals, they simply point out that the death penalty does nothing to stop them, it does nothing to make us safer, it does nothing to assuage the pain of victims, it costs astronomical amounts of money and hogs overtaxed court resources. It appeals to our sense of outrage, but it is outrageous in its application.

Rather than be discouraged, proponents of ending the death penalty need to be motivated by this poll, and confident in knowing that once Coloradans have and understand all the facts, they’ll come to the right conclusion and act on it.