FRANKFORT, Ky. – Two chambers. Two lawmakers from different parties. Similar bills. Republican Representative Jason Nemes and Democrat Senator Gerald Neal are both filing legislation Tuesday in the Kentucky General Assembly to abolish the death penalty.

Saying he wants to "stand for life," Nemes, a conservative lawmaker from Louisville, says his bill is "about the soul of Kentucky" and for him, "a matter of faith."

"If I believe that Jesus wouldn't do it, I don't think my government ought to do it either and I understand there are differences," he said.

Senator Neal, also from Louisville, says like the Nemes bill, his legislation would eliminate execution as one of the five penalties now available to a jury in a death penalty case, making life without the possibility of parole the maximum sentence. The Legislature has repeatedly rejected that idea, with many proponents of capital punishment saying it deters crime.

Nemes, who describes himself as a "law and order guy," says his stance is also about the proper role of government. He says he fears Kentucky's death penalty system will make a mistake and that's not something he's willing to live with.

"I believe that our government has the right to take someone's life or liberty, only to the extent necessary to protect us," explained. "And I'm strongly in favor of life without the possibility of parole, not even coming up for a question for parole."

Since 1973, 157 people have been exonerated from death row in America, including one in Kentucky, yet execution remains legal in 31 states.

Neal says while lawmakers often cite morality or the "broken system" for their opposition, it's because of the cost of the death penalty that many lawmakers have "second thoughts..."

"In fact, find it not acceptable to pay for that process when they understand that it costs more to execute a person than it is to incarcerate them for life," Neal said.


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North Carolina has not carried out an execution in 18 years and advocates are urging Gov. Roy Cooper to commute all death row sentences before he leaves office.

Noel Nickle, executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, warned the long pause could end soon, as it depends on ongoing Racial Justice Act litigation and lethal injection protocol challenges.

"It's not a question of if executions will resume in North Carolina but it is a matter of when they will resume," Nickle contended. "Given the current makeup of our state legislature and our state Supreme Court, we feel certain that the two litigation issues that have prohibited executions will fall away."

North Carolina currently has the fifth-largest death row in the United States, with 136 people. The coalition has placed billboards around Raleigh to highlight the urgency of commuting these death sentences to life in prison.

Nickle argued abolishing the death penalty would be a major step toward a fairer justice system. She noted history has proven not everyone sentenced to death is guilty. In all, 12 people in North Carolina have been exonerated and released from death row. Nickle also pointed out racial disparities in death penalty sentencing.

"Sixty percent of our death row is made up of people of color and the demographic in North Carolina is that 30% of our citizens are people of color," Nickle outlined. "More than half the people on death row were sentenced by an all-white or a nearly all-white jury."

Nickle also challenged misconceptions about the death penalty, arguing it is neither fair nor cost-effective. She highlighted some victims' families have expressed executions do not bring healing or closure. Nickle also cautioned resuming executions would have a significant emotional and financial impact on the justice system.

"When executions resume, just imagine the strain and the traumas that will be placed upon the individuals, our state employees, not having done any executions in 18 years," Nickle emphasized. "We know from other states that have resumed executions that it's a tremendous strain on the system."

With 23 states in the U.S. having abolished the death penalty, the group hopes North Carolina will join the growing number of states choosing to end the practice. The group will continue advocacy efforts with a 136-mile walk on Sept. 26.


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Charleston City Council members have greenlighted a citizen-led municipal measure to reduce local penalties for some marijuana possession offenses.

Bill Number 8039 removes fines and jail time for first-time low-level possession of marijuana. Currently under state law, marijuana possession is a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Corey Zinn, a community organizer for the group Charleston Can't Wait, said the move is a positive step forward for the city.

"We're guaranteeing that if you haven't had another drug offense, that if you're arrested with 15 grams or less, that you're not going to have a fine, you're not going to serve jail time," Zinn outlined.

According to Section 89 of the city charter, Charleston residents can introduce measures to the ballot by petition, an ordinance or amendment with enough signatures. More than 4,000 residents signed the petition to reduce marijuana possession penalties.

Zinn added it was encouraging to hear city lawmakers acknowledge the community harms associated with criminalizing marijuana. According to data from West Virginia University, more than 1,600 residents were arrested in 2021 for marijuana possession or sales.

"It felt really powerful to hear those conversations and to talk about the racial disparities," Zinn noted.

Zinn feels the city is drastically limited in changing drug policies because of West Virginia's harsh penalties for possession.

"There's still this message that this is still a crime, this is still something that you should not do, and I think a lot of people would agree that's not really the case," Zinn pointed out. "If there's not some other crime being committed, then there shouldn't be an issue with this."

An overwhelming majority of U.S. adults, 88%, said marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use, according to a survey released earlier this year by the Pew Research Center.


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Police departments across the U.S. have struggled with officer shortages in recent years but a new report showed how youth apprenticeship programs can combat the trend.

Many forces offer programs providing on-the-job training alongside classroom instruction.

Benjamin Klosky, a former researcher at the Urban Institute and a police apprentice in Fairfax County, said he became interested because he did not want to go to college or the military after graduating from high school, and still needed to earn a wage.

"If you ask a police officer what they do, they'll tell you that everything from the marriage counselor to a social worker to a teacher to a referee," Klosky outlined. "They have to inhabit a bunch of different roles, and not all of those roles are learned within the confines of the police academy. "

Klosky still had to go through a vetting process, including a polygraph and background check. And he was able to do productive police work, like helping run the warrant desk, handling evidence and performing maintenance, along with shadowing patrol shifts. He acknowledged apprenticeships are costly for departments but they can provide benefits like increasing officer retention, saving money compared to academies and recruiting more diverse workers.

For instance, many of Klosky's fellow cadets spoke multiple languages and came from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds.

"The other cadets were not people who would have otherwise gone to college and then become police officers," Klosky observed. "These are people from the communities that are being policed who wanted to become police officers and didn't have another route to do so."

Officer hiring and retention has struggled since 2020 amid rising public distrust in policing and concerns over excessive force among officers. However, the trend may be starting to reverse for the first time since the pandemic, according to the Police Executive Research Forum.


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