Bill To Abolish Death Penalty In California Advances

latimes.com:

A proposal to ask California voters to repeal the death penalty was advanced Thursday by a state legislative panel after opponents of the current law argued it was an expensive and ineffective approach to violent crime.
The Assembly's Public Safety Committee approved legislation by Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) that would put a measure on the ballot replacing the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole as the state's most extreme punishment.

Read the whole story: latimes.com

Comments

[dbrett480]

07:24 PM on 07/27/2011

If the death penalty is eliminated, prosecutors will no longer be able to offer plea bargains for life without parole.

[alunsulen]

10:05 AM on 07/16/2011

Ya, abolish death penalty to lick the illegals' bottoms. California is indeed a basket case.

[IndyFem]

09:58 AM on 07/09/2011

True Story:
I served for 6 weeks on a jJury in Los Angeles in July 2011. It was a "Death Penalty" case. The Defendent (Marco Berrera...an Illegal from Mexico) was charged with "beating, torturing and killing" 2 of his children....and burying them in the Angeles National Forrest in 1998.

The Evidence against him was overwhelming. Between the graffic photos, eye witnesses and even Testimony against him by 2 of his other children.

We found him Guilty of 2 counts of Murder and he was sentenced to the Death Penalty for each of the 2 Murders. (Death x 2)

It is now 13 years since he murdered his children and...10 years after being sent to Death Row.
He is still alive on Death Row...at the Tax Payers Expense.

[brokerallen]

09:31 PM on 07/10/2011

I have no sympathy for killers like Berrera. The death penalty should remain in place and sped up after allowing opportunity for appeal.

[dbrett480]

11:19 PM on 07/08/2011

The death penalty was instituted by public vote. If the legislature wants to remove the death penalty, they should put it up for public vote. And then they can explain to crime victims' families why they believe the worst of the worst should continue to live (unlike the murder victims). The anti-death penalty crowd can also explain that the cost is so high due to the automatic appeals process (supported by the anti-death penalty crowd).

[mothergrace]

03:13 AM on 07/09/2011

If you had read the whole article you would have seen that this will be put before the voters.

The automatic appeals process is part of "due process" from the Constitution. I am afraid that if you want to kick around the crowd responsible for that, you will have to dig up the founders to do so.

Also, to speed up the appeals process would cost even more in order to abide by the law, according to The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice. They found that the only way to make the death penalty system operate more efficiently is to provide more funding for competent defense and prosecution counsel and for the courts. The Commission’s proposal to do so would cost the state an additional $95 million per year, above and beyond the $137 million we currently spend on the system. Therefore, any reforms to ensure death penalty cases move quicker through the system would require more money, and would not save the state a dime.

To read the proposal-

http://www.ccfaj.org/rr-dp-official.html

[Phemale]

09:47 PM on 07/10/2011

Life is priceless.

Taking away a human's life due to monetary reasons is pretty ridiculous.

[LuLou Murder]

03:15 PM on 07/08/2011

Pay-per-view death matches. Gets rid of the condemned and raises money to help lower the deficit at the same time/

[porsche996]

10:07 PM on 07/08/2011

Ok...if it's between LEO's and Condemned. THAT people would pay to see. Sometimes it just wouldn't be fair or equitable under the constitution...just like we have now.

Brilliant!

[LogicalMathMan]

02:31 PM on 07/08/2011

A law that should have not been revived, IMO.

On a related note, the West Valley Detention Center close to my city in Southern CA spends over $1million a year to circulate pure air into the center. Their studies revealed that this expenditure precluded the incumbent effects and costs of treatment associated with bad air flow in this prison.

[Travis M]

02:17 PM on 07/08/2011

I think what needs to be done is putting in a express lane.. Someone gets convicted of a capital crime, they are set to be executed, and they sit.. and sit.. and sit.. exhausting all the appeals making the family members of said victim suffer who only want closure, so yes.. I say we put in a express lane, or maybe start going back to the old firing squad days, a couple bullets has got to be cheaper than all the chemicals used in the "Death Cocktail"

[mothergrace]

05:18 PM on 07/08/2011

Then you would have to re-write the Constitution.

I find your attitude deplorable.

[CTDFalconer]

12:33 PM on 07/09/2011

Fortunately, you're not the only one.

[Pete Wood]

09:47 AM on 07/11/2011

explain plz????????????

[Pete Wood]

09:48 AM on 07/11/2011

at over $60,000 a year to house and feed them I approve

[Just-a-Guy]

02:07 PM on 07/08/2011

I will be voting No on this, when it comes around.

What we really need in CA is a bill limiting the appeals process. That's what makes capital punishment recipients so expensive.

[CTDFalconer]

12:36 PM on 07/09/2011

The appeal process is there to make sure we avoid the very worst thing that a government can do; take the life of an unjustly convicted person. I would sooner see a thousand murderers walk free than to be subject to a regime that is willing to execute an innocent for the sake of expediency. It could just as easily be you or me if that were the case.

[Sunny California]

04:48 AM on 07/10/2011

I understand your point, but why does it takes 5 appeals or more over the span of 15 years to try and figure out if someone is a murderer or not? This is what I don't understand.

[Phemale]

09:54 PM on 07/10/2011

So your answer is; K1ll faster so it saves us money?

The root of all ' ℇv1L ' for real...

[BluePrideStephen]

01:15 PM on 07/08/2011

Swift and certain dire punishment is the most powerful deterrent. Killing doesn't promote any life lost by senseless heinous crimes. It just may be too convenient and simple an ending. Perhaps they should do every hour of every day of each decade lost by victims. Capital crimes are still too capriciously adjudicated and carried out (e.g. Texas' testosterone-ladden image of itself). What are our neighbors and other countries around the world doing about this same problem? Looks like were in league w/ Iran, N. Korea, China, 25% of African nations and most of the middle east. We can do better. Perhaps there's too much profit motive the way things are. American capitalism run amok again.

Exceptions: War crimes, crimes against humanity, pogroms, child victims.

[porsche996]

10:24 AM on 07/08/2011

No government IMO should have the authority or option to execute it's citizens...ever not for any crime at all..sanctioned murder is still just murder done by the state no one deserves it more or less...no one executed can ever be exonerated....no innocent people can be executed....END the state executions...it doesn't work it is NOT a deterrent to Capital crimes.

I'm registered in California...I've worked in the prisons including San Quentin...trust me...life without parole is a terrible sentence and is sufficient punishment.....don't vote for the death penalty without having similar experience of these prisoners.

[Nonpartay]

12:24 PM on 07/08/2011

I agree. I visited a prison once. It was creepy and awful. It's certainly a sufficient punishment to put someone there, and then no one who works for the state ever has to be in a position of executing anyone. I can't imagine doing such a thing. It's barbaric. And not having the death penalty would indicate that violence of any kind is not tolerated, not by the state towards the citizens and not by the citizens towards each other.

[CTDFalconer]

12:40 PM on 07/09/2011

You are right. There are far too many problems with capital punishment for it to be a justifiable. The enormous expense is only one reason among many that we should abolish the death penalty. If this ever gets onto the ballot, expect to see me here frequently enumerating and elaborating those many reasons.

[FTracy3]

07:06 AM on 07/08/2011

So what happens when someone in prison on life w/o parole kills someone? Double secret probation?

[porsche996]

10:17 AM on 07/08/2011

Lose their TV privileges.....and I'm not kidding.

[Nonpartay]

12:28 PM on 07/08/2011

Our prisons should be set up to be run by professionals who know about how to manage prisoners. This rarely happens in a well-run prison. And the way we handle death penalty cases in this country, the convicted criminals are in prison for years before they're ever executed anyway. Your argument might hold water if as soon as someone was sentenced, they were taken out and shot, but that's not how it works. Death penalty appeals can take decades while the person languishes. Just put them in prison instead for life, and that should take care of it and cost the state far less in the process.

[Jlbeaverton]

02:18 AM on 07/08/2011

My best friend since childhood's parents were murdered by a serial killer. He is not even on death row. But even if he was he would probaly die of natural causes before they got around to executing him.
So even though I support the death penalty. Capital punishment as a sentence is a joke since it barely happens.

[CTDFalconer]

12:46 PM on 07/09/2011

That's a good illustration of one of the flaws in the death penalty. It's application is spotty and capricious, falling disproportionately on the poor and minorities. The less reliable and even the application of any particular punishment, the less effective it is as a deterrent. The fact that it takes so long to execute anyone on death row petty much removes any deterrent effect.

[SilentSolidarity]

01:21 AM on 07/08/2011

We have single payer and abolishing the death penalty in the same oven this year. Both will pass because they will save the state billions of dollars.

Since the death penalty has been reinstated in the 70s, California has spent $4 billion on death row. Only 13 executions happened during that time (thank god). Time to end this uncivilized, expensive non-sense. Death penalty doesn't reduce crime. It also doesn't save money and it definitely doesn't make anyone happier. Just another relic of right-wing nonsense.

[Just-a-Guy]

02:10 PM on 07/08/2011

That's one way of looking at it.

Another way would be that some people deserve it, based on their heinous behavior.

Our votes will be cancelling each other out. :)

[CTDFalconer]

12:49 PM on 07/09/2011

It is undeniable that the worst criminals have forfeited ther rights to be a part of society and life in solitary is an appropriate punishment. The the death penatly just has too many problems and insufficient deterrent effect to be practical. The expense is only one reason among many to get rid of it.

[dbrett480]

10:10 PM on 07/07/2011

The CA death row population represents the worst of the worst. That is why it only contains 637 inmates. Most have been convicted of raping and killing children. They also have been tried twice by juries; once to be found guilty of first degree murder and again to be given the death penalty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Quentin_State_Prison#Death_row
Check this link to read about the animals that CA Democrats want to keep alive.

[mothergrace]

01:56 AM on 07/08/2011

You really need to get a new job. Cops that think the way you do embody all that is wrong with law enforcement.

[dbrett480]

02:30 AM on 07/08/2011

I hate to break it too you, but most Americans (not just cops) think the way I do. There are very few government programs that have this much support.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-07-22/bay-area/21992975_1_death-penalty-focus-capital-punishment-sentence

[derrickhoyle]

12:34 PM on 07/08/2011

What a waste of money to have a death row. You should really do some research. If you were a true fiscal conservative, you would see that it's a huge drain on taxpayers.

[Just-a-Guy]

02:21 PM on 07/08/2011

the never-ending stream of appeals is the actual drain.

Not carrying out the death sentence

[dbrett480]

09:16 PM on 07/08/2011

Personally I don't think this is a money issue. Many programs are labeled by their opponents as wastes of money. How do you think Republicans view food stamps, WIC, and welfare? I am not a fiscal conservative; I support the death penalty because I believe if someone kills someone else they forfeit their right to life.

[SarcasticFringehead]

09:47 PM on 07/07/2011

Here are a couple of facts to wake some of the pro-death penalty people up:

There have been 272 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.

• 17 of the 272 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row.

The above statistic is from the Innocence Project which uses modern DNA science to exonerate falsely convicted people in prison.

Potentially 17 innocent men could have been put to death.

Check out this link:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/The_Innocent_and_the_Death_Penalty.php