SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
California Voters to Decide on Death Penalty
SAFE California Act will be on ballot on November 6
Apr 24, 2012
Voters in California will now have the chance to vote on a referendum that may put an end to the death penalty in the state this November. Anti death penalty activists have collected the more than 500,000 signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot, according to state officials.
California is home to nearly a quarter of the nation's death row inmates.
If it the referendum passes, the 725 California inmates now on Death Row will have their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and it will abolish the death penalty in the state.
The referendum, "Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement for California Act," or SAFE California Act will be decided by voters on November 6, when Americans go to the polls for general elections.
* * *
Associated Press: Californians to vote on abolishing death penalty
"Our system is broken, expensive and it always will carry the grave risk of a mistake," said Jeanne Woodford, the former warden of San Quentin who is now an anti-death penalty advocate and an official supporter of the measure.
The measure will also require most inmates sentenced to life without parole to find jobs within prisons. Most death row inmates do not hold prison jobs for security reasons. [...]
Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, the state has executed 13 inmates. A 2009 study conducted by a senior federal judge and law school professor concluded that the state was spending about $184 million a year to maintain Death Row and the death penalty system.
Supporters of the proposition, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are portraying it as a cost-savings measure in a time of political austerity. They count several prominent conservatives and prosecutors -- including the author of the 1978 measure adopting the death penalty -- as supporters and argue that too few executions have been carried out at too great a cost.
* * *
Reuters: Death penalty repeal to go before California voters
If the measure passes, it was expected to save the state in the "high tens of millions of dollars annually," according to an estimate of the fiscal impact of the bill that is included in the text of the measure.
"We've spent billions of dollars killing 13 people. There is a much better system," said Steve Smith, a campaign consultant for SAFE, which got the initiative on the ballot. By contrast, Texas has executed 481 people during the same time period. [...]
The ballot measure was approved as a growing number of states question the use of the death penalty, and comes less than two weeks after Connecticut lawmakers voted to repeal the death penalty there. [...]
California could join 17 other states and the District of Columbia without capital punishment, assuming the Connecticut law goes into effect.
"It's unusual and could be historic. I don't think any state has removed the death penalty through referendum since the 1960s. That was Oregon. They (later) reinstated it," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
"In most states, it's a legislative process," he added.
Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey have all chosen to abolish the death penalty in recent years, and New York's death penalty law was declared unconstitutional in 2004.
Other state legislatures are considering bills to end the death penalty, and Oregon's governor has said he would halt all executions on his watch.
* * *
Agence France-Presse: California to weigh ending death penalty
If the resolution passes, California would become the 18th US state to eliminate the death penalty.
When the death penalty was reinstated in 1978, "we did not have an alternative sentence that would keep convicted killers behind bars forever. We certainly did not know that we would spend $4 billion on 13 executions," the measure's official sponsor Jeanne Woodford said in a statement.
"Our system is broken, expensive and it always will carry the grave risk of a mistake. SAFE California offers a solution with savings at a time when we're laying off teachers and cutting vital services," added Woodford, a former warden at San Quentin State Prison.
# # #
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Voters in California will now have the chance to vote on a referendum that may put an end to the death penalty in the state this November. Anti death penalty activists have collected the more than 500,000 signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot, according to state officials.
California is home to nearly a quarter of the nation's death row inmates.
If it the referendum passes, the 725 California inmates now on Death Row will have their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and it will abolish the death penalty in the state.
The referendum, "Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement for California Act," or SAFE California Act will be decided by voters on November 6, when Americans go to the polls for general elections.
* * *
Associated Press: Californians to vote on abolishing death penalty
"Our system is broken, expensive and it always will carry the grave risk of a mistake," said Jeanne Woodford, the former warden of San Quentin who is now an anti-death penalty advocate and an official supporter of the measure.
The measure will also require most inmates sentenced to life without parole to find jobs within prisons. Most death row inmates do not hold prison jobs for security reasons. [...]
Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, the state has executed 13 inmates. A 2009 study conducted by a senior federal judge and law school professor concluded that the state was spending about $184 million a year to maintain Death Row and the death penalty system.
Supporters of the proposition, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are portraying it as a cost-savings measure in a time of political austerity. They count several prominent conservatives and prosecutors -- including the author of the 1978 measure adopting the death penalty -- as supporters and argue that too few executions have been carried out at too great a cost.
* * *
Reuters: Death penalty repeal to go before California voters
If the measure passes, it was expected to save the state in the "high tens of millions of dollars annually," according to an estimate of the fiscal impact of the bill that is included in the text of the measure.
"We've spent billions of dollars killing 13 people. There is a much better system," said Steve Smith, a campaign consultant for SAFE, which got the initiative on the ballot. By contrast, Texas has executed 481 people during the same time period. [...]
The ballot measure was approved as a growing number of states question the use of the death penalty, and comes less than two weeks after Connecticut lawmakers voted to repeal the death penalty there. [...]
California could join 17 other states and the District of Columbia without capital punishment, assuming the Connecticut law goes into effect.
"It's unusual and could be historic. I don't think any state has removed the death penalty through referendum since the 1960s. That was Oregon. They (later) reinstated it," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
"In most states, it's a legislative process," he added.
Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey have all chosen to abolish the death penalty in recent years, and New York's death penalty law was declared unconstitutional in 2004.
Other state legislatures are considering bills to end the death penalty, and Oregon's governor has said he would halt all executions on his watch.
* * *
Agence France-Presse: California to weigh ending death penalty
If the resolution passes, California would become the 18th US state to eliminate the death penalty.
When the death penalty was reinstated in 1978, "we did not have an alternative sentence that would keep convicted killers behind bars forever. We certainly did not know that we would spend $4 billion on 13 executions," the measure's official sponsor Jeanne Woodford said in a statement.
"Our system is broken, expensive and it always will carry the grave risk of a mistake. SAFE California offers a solution with savings at a time when we're laying off teachers and cutting vital services," added Woodford, a former warden at San Quentin State Prison.
# # #
Voters in California will now have the chance to vote on a referendum that may put an end to the death penalty in the state this November. Anti death penalty activists have collected the more than 500,000 signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot, according to state officials.
California is home to nearly a quarter of the nation's death row inmates.
If it the referendum passes, the 725 California inmates now on Death Row will have their sentences converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and it will abolish the death penalty in the state.
The referendum, "Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement for California Act," or SAFE California Act will be decided by voters on November 6, when Americans go to the polls for general elections.
* * *
Associated Press: Californians to vote on abolishing death penalty
"Our system is broken, expensive and it always will carry the grave risk of a mistake," said Jeanne Woodford, the former warden of San Quentin who is now an anti-death penalty advocate and an official supporter of the measure.
The measure will also require most inmates sentenced to life without parole to find jobs within prisons. Most death row inmates do not hold prison jobs for security reasons. [...]
Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, the state has executed 13 inmates. A 2009 study conducted by a senior federal judge and law school professor concluded that the state was spending about $184 million a year to maintain Death Row and the death penalty system.
Supporters of the proposition, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are portraying it as a cost-savings measure in a time of political austerity. They count several prominent conservatives and prosecutors -- including the author of the 1978 measure adopting the death penalty -- as supporters and argue that too few executions have been carried out at too great a cost.
* * *
Reuters: Death penalty repeal to go before California voters
If the measure passes, it was expected to save the state in the "high tens of millions of dollars annually," according to an estimate of the fiscal impact of the bill that is included in the text of the measure.
"We've spent billions of dollars killing 13 people. There is a much better system," said Steve Smith, a campaign consultant for SAFE, which got the initiative on the ballot. By contrast, Texas has executed 481 people during the same time period. [...]
The ballot measure was approved as a growing number of states question the use of the death penalty, and comes less than two weeks after Connecticut lawmakers voted to repeal the death penalty there. [...]
California could join 17 other states and the District of Columbia without capital punishment, assuming the Connecticut law goes into effect.
"It's unusual and could be historic. I don't think any state has removed the death penalty through referendum since the 1960s. That was Oregon. They (later) reinstated it," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
"In most states, it's a legislative process," he added.
Illinois, New Mexico and New Jersey have all chosen to abolish the death penalty in recent years, and New York's death penalty law was declared unconstitutional in 2004.
Other state legislatures are considering bills to end the death penalty, and Oregon's governor has said he would halt all executions on his watch.
* * *
Agence France-Presse: California to weigh ending death penalty
If the resolution passes, California would become the 18th US state to eliminate the death penalty.
When the death penalty was reinstated in 1978, "we did not have an alternative sentence that would keep convicted killers behind bars forever. We certainly did not know that we would spend $4 billion on 13 executions," the measure's official sponsor Jeanne Woodford said in a statement.
"Our system is broken, expensive and it always will carry the grave risk of a mistake. SAFE California offers a solution with savings at a time when we're laying off teachers and cutting vital services," added Woodford, a former warden at San Quentin State Prison.
# # #
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.