PIERRE, S.D. — This week, a South Dakota Senate committee advanced bills designed to limit the scope of the death penalty.
For years, advocates have pushed for such measures, but like previous sessions, opponents have voiced their concerns.
One of the measures which cleared the committee would exclude severely mentally ill defendants from being eligible for capital punishment. Another creates avenues for parole for those sentenced to life in prison between the ages of 18 and 25.
Denny Davis, director of South Dakotans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, argued for those individuals, their brains are not fully formed, and getting a life sentence is equal to a death sentence.
“When you go into prison, and you’re gonna be in there the rest of your life, you’re gonna die there,” Davis pointed out. “I want to take that disguise away.”
Under the bill, younger defendants would still have to serve at least 25 years before parole is considered. To address the concerns of prosecutors, the provision no longer applies to first-degree murder. Prosecutors did object to the mental illness measure, saying it creates procedural issues in death penalty cases.
In keeping up his group’s efforts to enact changes, Davis questioned why a state deemed “pro-life” would still agree with capital punishment.
“We have to come together and decide together what’s right and what’s wrong,” Davis urged.
South Dakota has administered 20 executions throughout state history, with the latest in 2019. It had four others since 2012, but none before, going back to the late 1970s when capital punishment was reinstated.
