Tennessee needs to abolish the death penalty.
That is the overwhelming consensus of the more than 275 respondents to an. Aug. 18 Tennessean Opinion reader poll. Of the responses we received, 93% said the Volunteer State should do away with capital punishment altogether.
We conducted the survey just days after the state carried out its first execution of 2026: the lethal injection of Anthony Darrell Hines for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins at a Kingston Springs motel.
But that execution came amid calls for Gov. Bill Lee to halt capital punishment after a botched lethal injection attempt of Tony Carruthers in May. Carruthers was on death row for a triple murder.
The medical
team charged with carrying out Carruthers’ execution could not locate a vein to deliver the fatal dose of pentobarbital, an attempt that left him paralyzed, family members say. The Tennessee Department of Correction has come under scrutiny over its lethal injection practices in the past. Gov. Lee halted executions in 2022 after discovering that lethal injection chemicals had not been properly tested.
With the executions of Christa Pike and Gary Wayne Sutton scheduled for Sept. 30 and Dec. 3, calls to end the death penalty from advocacy groups, faith leaders and medical professionals have only grown louder. And a contingent of lawmakers believes the process should be paused to investigate what went wrong in Carruthers' case.
Poll results, by the numbers
So we posed this question to readers:
Scroll to view reader comments on this issue. Please note that responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Few readers support executions as they are now
Only six respondents felt the death penalty should continue as currently administered. Here are a few of those comments:
The way they tortured and murdered their victims makes it seem absurd to be concerned that they might have some pain. I certainly hope they have a lot of it. – Ruble Sanderson, Nashville
The victims of the murders never had a choice as to what happened to them. The people on death row should be treated the same way! Maybe if they can't find a vein, they should receive the death penalty some other way! – James Pool, Antioch
I’m only concerned with the suffering of Tony Carruthers’ three victims. I do not have any sympathy for a murderer who finally feels the consequences of his actions. – Kimberly Fournier, Pikeville
A small group favors an indefinite pause
Nine of 277 respondents felt executions should be paused indefinitely, including this reader:
This story is hardly unique; dozens of people have been tortured by the execution process whether it has succeeded or not. More importantly, the idea that a state that wants to punish women for needing to kill their unborn child simultaneously and willingly puts people to death whether they're actually guilty of heinous crimes or not – so many are mistakenly identified – is the extreme of moral hypocrisy, and I find it likewise heinous. If you're going to take it upon yourself to kill a person, you need to be a lot more sure they deserve it. – Apsara Desai, Sunnyside, New York
Some readers support reform rather than repeal
Three respondents felt the death penalty should continue in Tennessee but only after major reforms, including this reader:
It should only be used for absolutely extreme situations and only ever as a last resort, not as a common sentence. – Frances Jack, Nashville
Most respondents want Tennessee to abolish the death penalty
Finally, here are some of the 257 reader responses that favored abolishing the death penalty in Tennessee:
I visit death row most every week and have for eight to nine years. Many, if not most, of the men on death row have faced trauma in their lives that we as a society have not taken responsibility for but want to take these extreme measures when violence is born from that trauma. I'm not suggesting they should not be incarcerated if they are truly guilty, but the death penalty only continues the violence. Most of these men also don't get the proper legal representation, such as court-appointed lawyers or public defenders who get more cases than they can handle. Death penalty cases cost millions, money that could be better spent helping the families of victims. – Pat Halper, Nashville
The death penalty has never been shown to reduce any sort of crime, increases the costs to the government for dealing with the convict, and is simply the murder of an individual by the government. – Roy Wyman, Nashville
It is a fact that people on death row are not always guilty. Mistakes are made in investigations, prosecutors have been found guilty of prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate representation takes place and DNA as well as other evidence is mishandled or not examined at all (as in Mr. Carruthers’ case). Until these problems are eliminated innocent men and women will be executed. Just one innocent person being executed is too many. – Mark Mollenkof, Chattanooga
Thou shalt not kill. That applies to persons as well as states. If you want an economic argument, life without parole is more economical than allowing for all the legal procedures that ensure the state doesn’t execute an innocent person. Executing people increases trauma, more people suffer through the process: families, prison guards, fellow prisoners, lawyers, chaplains, etc. It would be healthier and saner to allow convicted prisoners to be sentenced to life imprisonment. – Carolyn Goddard, Nashville
The death penalty negates human dignity. It is barbaric and hateful in nature. Prisons are safe enough to keep convicted murderers away from the public. It is inhumane and unnecessary to execute them. God, deliver us from evil and help Tennessee lawmakers repeal the death penalty in Tennessee! – Louisa Bateman, Franklin
Ethically, politically, and at the gut level of compassion and solidarity, I am fundamentally opposed to the punishment-based mode of "justice." We are policed via the threat and infliction of suffering by the state, up to and including the death penalty. And in Tennessee, the state wields the death penalty disproportionately along lines of race and class, with exceptional cruelty. – Ben Thomas, Nashville
A family member of murder victims explains why he opposes executions
Tennessee has seen enough. I do not come to the death penalty as someone untouched by murder. On Nov. 30, 1997, my cousin Daryl Holton murdered his four children: Stephen, 12; Brent, 10; Eric, 6; and Kayla, 4. I was 17 years old. Days later, I helped carry their small white caskets to their graves.
Nearly ten years later, Tennessee executed Daryl in the electric chair.
I know what murder takes from a family. I also know what an execution gives back: nothing. Daryl’s execution did not bring Stephen, Brent, Eric or Kayla home. It did not heal our family or make Nov. 30 hurt less. It simply added another death to a story already overflowing with it. But justice should be more than our ability to reproduce the violence we condemn.
I loved four children who were murdered. I also lived through the execution of the man who murdered them. I refuse the idea that honoring one requires celebrating the death of the other. We can protect society, hold people accountable, and stand beside victims without another killing. Tennessee has taken enough lives in the name of justice. It is time to abolish the death penalty. – Timothy Holton-Overcast, Shelbyville
Tacuma R. Roeback is The Tennessean’s community engagement and opinion editor. Reach him at troeback@gannett.com or follow him on X, Bluesky or LinkedIn.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 93% of readers say Tennessee should abolish death penalty | Opinion
