I went to the crime scene and saw a dead young man on the floor of the gas station restroom. It was a robbery homicide. Max Jensen had been shot. With the assistance of his bishop, I went to Jensen’s home to inform his family that he had been murdered. With his baby in his young wife’s arms, I told her that her husband was not coming home. It was almost 50 years ago, but the grief and sadness of that moment is still one of the most painful experiences of my law enforcement career.

After killing Jensen, on the following evening, Gary Gilmore went on to murder Benny Bushnell in Provo. Later that night, Gilmore was arrested. During his arrest, I gave Gilmore his Miranda warning while he stood handcuffed outside of the police car. During this time in my life, I firmly supported the death penalty. The pain and sadness caused by Gilmore reinforced in my mind the value of the death penalty. That value in my heart wasn’t related to crime prevention. It was vengeance and retribution. For over ten years in America, the death penalty was stalled in a court decision. Gilmore demanded that the State of Utah execute him. His push for the Utah firing squad opened the floodgates as the death penalty was reinstated.

In 1995, I began working with the United States Department of Justice to assist countries transitioning from communism and military dictatorships to democracy enabling to become members of the European Union. One of the requirements for EU membership is no death penalty. In training sessions with the Polish National Police, the leadership members were quick to point out that I was asking them to abolish their death penalty while my Country still supported the death penalty. The comments from the Polish police leadership were not mean-spirited, but the hypocrisy was obvious.

As the years have passed, my thinking and opinions have matured. I no longer support the death penalty. In America, 37 states have abolished the death penalty.

No one can fully comprehend the emotional challenges created by the murders of the Idaho university students, and I will not add notoriety to the suspect, but the death penalty isn’t an answer and it doesn’t cure or stop the sadness. A mature culture moves forward.

All of Western Europe doesn’t have the death penalty. Canada and Mexico don’t have a death penalty. China, Congo, Iran, Russia, Yemen and others still have the death penalty.

Where should Utah stand?

Robert C. Wadman is a professor emeritus of the Criminal Justice Department at Weber State University.