JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Of the 24 executions carried out in the United States in 2023, four of them took place in Missouri. Some state lawmakers are pushing to do away with the death penalty. 

There is one execution scheduled in Missouri this year so far, but support is growing on both sides of the aisle to abolish capital punishment, saying the government should not be allowed to take a life and that it’s costly to taxpayers. 

“We’re seeing finally the willingness to have a discussion about this within the Republican Party, both behind the scenes and now finally in public,” Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-O’Fallon, said. “We need to search for other ways to disincentivize crime and keep our streets safe than by using the overall force of government to take people’s lives.”

Since 1976, Missouri has executed nearly 100 people. Now, it’s becoming more of a bipartisan issue to do away with the death penalty. 

“As a state, we say that we are a pro-life state, and if we’re going to be a pro-life state and be 100% pro-life, it only makes sense that we value every life,” Rep. Jim Murphy, R-St. Louis County, said.

Rep. Chad Perkins, a Republican, is a sponsor of a bill that would abolish the death penalty. The representative from Bowling Green said 15 years ago that he would have been in a different position.

“I think anyone who says they are pro-life should feel a little conflicted on this topic, because if you’re pro-life, then you have to look at it and say you’re that way at the beginning to the very end,” Perkins said. “In America, we don’t kill people; unless you’re the government, then it’s okay if you do it. So, I think it’s just a place where I’ve come to over the years.”

Perkins’ bill is similar to the legislation filed by Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis and would repeal the death penalty in Missouri, leaving life without parole as the harshest possible sentence for first-degree murder. 

Lovasco carried out the legislation last year and in years prior.

“As conservative Republicans, we find ourselves constantly talking about small government and about keeping government out of our lives,” he said. “And yet, as a party, we have done a terrible job of advocating for the basic rights to not be murdered by your own state.” 

During the Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty press conference inside the Missouri Capitol on Tuesday, other Republicans said they are now opposing executions because of the cost.

“As we did research, we found out that the cost for someone to be on death row is sometimes six to seven times more than life in prison,” Rep. Travis Smith, R-Dora, said. “If we talk about the sanctity of life being so important, that means all life is important. As Republicans, we also have a fiscal responsibility to take care of taxpayer dollars too.”

Other bills filed this year by both Republicans and Democrats would change the sentencing loophole by removing death as an option of punishment when a jury cannot make a decision and the sentence is left up to the judge. According to Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, no Missouri jury has unanimously recommended a death sentence since 2013. A judge handed down death sentences to the last three people executed in the state.

“It’s absolutely insane to me that courts have ruled that practice as constitutional,” Lovasco said. “If we must have the death penalty, which I’m on the record as very strongly opposing, at the very, very minimum, there needs to be a unanimous verdict.”

Currently, there are 13 people living on Missouri’s death row, watching this bipartisan push to stop capital punishment. 

“In the post-Roe society, it gives the pro-life generation an opportunity to amplify their voices and to join our calls,” national manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty Demetrius Minor said. “The death penalty not only fails to address trauma and prevent violence, but it also creates more of it.”

Missouri was one of five states that carried out executions in 2023, along with Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Florida. 

In April, Brian Dorsey, who was convicted in a double murder case, will be the first person sentenced to death in 2024.