Friday, Dec. 2 marked the 1,000th execution in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, and now Republicans in the Iowa Legislature say they will try to instate the death penalty statewide early in the next legislative session to begin Jan. 9.

Kenneth Boyd, who was executed in Raleigh, N.C., was sentenced to death after murdering his wife and her father 17 years ago.

According to the Des Moines Register, the last executions under Iowa law at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison were in 1962. Charles Noel Brown was executed on July 24, and Charles A. Kelley was executed on Sept. 6.

Daniel Frohardt, vice president of the ISU College Republicans and junior in construction engineering, supports the proposal to re-establish the death penalty. Frohardt said there are times when a crime is so heinous that the only punishment conceivable is death.

He said the ISU College Republicans, however, do not have an official stance on the issue.

“Personally, though, I am in support of the death penalty,” Frohardt said.

Drew Larson, president of the ISU Democrats and senior in accounting, said the ISU Democrats do have an official position on the issue.

“In general, we oppose the death penalty,” Larson said.

He said the death penalty leaves no margin for error, and many innocent people have been executed in the past, he said. Larson also expressed concern there is unfair treatment toward minorities in death penalty sentences.

According to the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, proponents of the death penalty have said it has not been proven that an innocent person has been executed in the United States since the death penalty was restored, and define an innocent person as “someone whose innocence has been officially exonerated, either by a court or admission by the prosecutor.” Innocence, however, has never been established as the criminal justice process officially ends with execution.

According to its Web site, though, at least 38 executions have been carried out in the United States in face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt, and “while innocence has not been proven in any specific case, there is no reasonable doubt that some of the executed prisoners were innocent.”

“It’s a shame that most people don’t realize how ineffective this is,” Larson said.

Elizabeth Sage Fisk, president of the Criminal Justice Club and senior in liberal studies, said the Criminal Justice Club does not have an official stance, but said she is in favor of the death penalty.

“I do believe that some people cannot be rehabilitated,” Fisk said.

She also said the death penalty is not something that should be sentenced carelessly. Many variables need to be taken into account and should be determined on case by case circumstances, she said.

“Some people are beyond punishment,” Fisk said.

It’s unclear whether the proposal will be passed.

“I think it’s up in the air. Frankly, I don’t see it going through,” Frohardt said.

The Iowa Legislature is evenly split, with a Democratic governor who has opposed the death penalty in the past.

Frohardt also said that the motion would probably have to be proposed many more times before it is approved.

In 1965, the Iowa Legislature voted in favor of abolishing capital punishment in the state. The bill was signed into law by then Gov. Harold Hughes.

Since then, at least eight bills to reinstate the death penalty have failed, with the latest being 1998. In the past decade, three reinstatement bills have been introduced in the Legislature.

Fisk, however, believes the death penalty has a fair chance to become state law.

“I have faith that it will pass,” Fisk said.

Larson said he thinks Iowa’s citizens will not back the idea.

“The people of Iowa will realize that this is not the direction we, as a state, want to go,” Larson said.