[media-credit name=’LISA SAFRANSKY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Wisconsin lawmakers gathered Wednesday to discuss whether the state should ask citizens to weigh in on reestablishing the death penalty.

The public hearing, held by members of the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Homeland Security, was dominated by concerned citizens registered to speak against the statewide advisory referendum.

While the resolution's author, Sen. Alan Lasee, R-De Pere, reminded speakers that the referendum would not be binding, committee members were still flooded by hours of opposing testimony.

"The death penalty sets a bad example for parents and children in our state because it promotes revenge and state-sponsored violence as acceptable responses to crime," said Tom Cannon, president of the Wisconsin Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

Other registered opponents — who included representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Wisconsin Public Defenders and the state Department of Regulation — further pointed to capital punishment's social and economic implications.

And according to Renee Crawford, associate director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, the death penalty disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities, while also accumulating more expenses than life imprisonment.

"No one wants a system that executes innocent people, and unless there are adequate resources for a fair defense, … a cheap death penalty inevitably makes tragic mistakes," she said.

Though death penalty opponents said its imposition in Wisconsin would defraud the state's justice system, Lasee said capital punishment for the most heinous murderers is both necessary and proper.

"Wisconsin's judicial system could and should have the option to impose the death penalty for certain members [of society]," he said, adding that doing so can bring closure to devastated families.

Additionally, Lasee said the greater issue is not whether the state should enact the death penalty but whether the people should be able to have a voice.

"Why not allow the citizens of the state to have a say in this very important issue?" he asked.

But opponents charged the referendum question is misleading and inflammatory, only appealing to people's primitive instincts to react and not their abilities to think rationally.

The measure, called Senate Joint Resolution 5, asks citizens whether people convicted of multiple, first-degree intentional homicides supported by DNA evidence should be sentenced to death.

According to committee member Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, the resolution's slanted wording brings the entire death penalty advisory referendum into question.

"This has been a controversial issue for many years, but we have many controversial issues," Black said. "But we don't have those [issues] on the ballot."

As both sides of the issue continue to debate whether establishing the death penalty in Wisconsin would move the traditionally progressive state forward or backward, the resolution awaits an affirmative vote by the committee and approval from the Assembly.

Currently, 38 other states use capital punishment.