“People have asked me what my opinion of the death penalty is since my daughter’s murder. I tell them in the days following my daughter’s murder I was in so much pain and turmoil I was not sure how I felt. But after the initial shock wore off and I was able to think clearly again, I realized that the many reasons I was opposed to the death penalty had not changed. Since my daughter’s death I have learned much more about the death penalty and oppose it for even more reasons. When someone says that they support capital punishment for the families they are not speaking for my family.”

- Eddie Hicks, NJ. Eddie lost his daughter to murder, and recently served on the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Committee that recommended the state abolish capital punishment.

Murder victim family members oppose the death penalty for the same reason millions of other Americans do –

They are concerned about the risk of executing an innocent person, especially in light of the more than 125 people who have been wrongfully sentenced to death,

They are concerned about a system that disproportionately punishes the poor,

They are concerned about a system that discriminates based on geography, race of the accused and the race of the victim, and

Many believe it is wrong to kill, whether it is done out of malice or in the name of justice.

“To think that yet another person would die and another family would suffer is haunting, and is something we want no part in. Death does not equal justice and does not promote healing, nor will it honor the ones we lost.”
- Linell Smith, VA and Megan Smith, NC. Linell and Megan Smith's father and step mother were tortured, and murdered by Lucy's adopted teenage son Michael, as well as some of his friends. A few days after the murder Linell and Megan found out that a cousin by marriage, was killed in the Pentagon building where he worked, during the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Murder victim family members also know first hand the ongoing horror of capital punishment. Because the stakes are so high the courts rightly take extra time and extra precautions in death penalty cases (and still get it wrong far too often).

These extra steps:

Divert scarce resources from law enforcement and victims assistance

Keep forcing families to relive the horror of the crime with each trial

Make media stars of the accused and the gruesome nature of the crime, while leaving the life of the victim as a footnote, and

More than anyone they know what it is like to lose a family member to killing, and do not want to punish another family with that kind of pain by taking with an execution.

“I believe that human life is sacred, that this sanctity is imparted by God to every individual and cannot be forfeited.”
- Tom Fewel, NC. Tom Fewel lost his daughter to murder.