Barry
10-31-2012, 05:48 PM
https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1571/sunwithvote100wide.pngFrom the Pacific Sun (https://pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=5608):
YES - After 35 controversial years of capital punishment, California's death penalty is back on trial. The Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement for California Act would replace California's death penalty with life in prison with no chance of parole. According to the SAFE California campaign, "convicted killers will remain in high security prisons until they die—with no risk of executing an innocent person." Additionally, the 725 prisoners currently on death row in the state would have their sentences converted to life. Prisoners convicted of murder would be required under the law to work and pay restitution into a victim's compensation fund—that money would be put toward investigating unsolved rape and murder cases.
There's no denying Prop. 34 bends over backward to get people to agree to stop eye-for-an-eyeing murderers.
That's if they are in fact murderers. As we write this, news just came through that Louisiana death row inmate Damon Thibodeaux—convicted 15 years ago after confessing to the murder of his cousin—was exonerated by DNA evidence. That makes 18 death row "oopsies!" since DNA evidence first started being used in criminal cases about a decade ago.
Not that California has necessarily executed anyone wrongly convicted—heck, we've only killed 13 inmates total since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1978, and none since executions were suspended in 2006. There simply hasn't been that much opportunity for us to be wrong. Texas, by comparison, has killed more than 470 since 1982. It comes down to this: It has cost a total of $4 billion to put to death 13 inmates—that's a lot of money to pay for vengeance, which is what the death penalty is really about. It's not preventive, it doesn't make us safer, it's certainly not cost effective. But it makes us feel better knowing the person who killed, let's say an innocent little kid, gets a taste of his own medicine. It's entirely understandable for an individual to feel that way. But it's different for a society—criminal justice isn't a Charles Bronson movie. And reviling a killer is not in itself a morally justified reason to kill.
CA Democratic Party (https://www.cadem.org/news/press?id=0138): Yes - Repeals death penalty and replaces with life without parole
CA Green Party (https://www.cagreens.org/elections/propositions): Yes - The Green Party has unconditionally opposed capital punishment since the party started. Non-violence is one of our key values, and opposition to the death penalty is a key part of our state and national platform, and the Global Greens Charter.
What do you think?
YES - After 35 controversial years of capital punishment, California's death penalty is back on trial. The Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement for California Act would replace California's death penalty with life in prison with no chance of parole. According to the SAFE California campaign, "convicted killers will remain in high security prisons until they die—with no risk of executing an innocent person." Additionally, the 725 prisoners currently on death row in the state would have their sentences converted to life. Prisoners convicted of murder would be required under the law to work and pay restitution into a victim's compensation fund—that money would be put toward investigating unsolved rape and murder cases.
There's no denying Prop. 34 bends over backward to get people to agree to stop eye-for-an-eyeing murderers.
That's if they are in fact murderers. As we write this, news just came through that Louisiana death row inmate Damon Thibodeaux—convicted 15 years ago after confessing to the murder of his cousin—was exonerated by DNA evidence. That makes 18 death row "oopsies!" since DNA evidence first started being used in criminal cases about a decade ago.
Not that California has necessarily executed anyone wrongly convicted—heck, we've only killed 13 inmates total since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1978, and none since executions were suspended in 2006. There simply hasn't been that much opportunity for us to be wrong. Texas, by comparison, has killed more than 470 since 1982. It comes down to this: It has cost a total of $4 billion to put to death 13 inmates—that's a lot of money to pay for vengeance, which is what the death penalty is really about. It's not preventive, it doesn't make us safer, it's certainly not cost effective. But it makes us feel better knowing the person who killed, let's say an innocent little kid, gets a taste of his own medicine. It's entirely understandable for an individual to feel that way. But it's different for a society—criminal justice isn't a Charles Bronson movie. And reviling a killer is not in itself a morally justified reason to kill.
CA Democratic Party (https://www.cadem.org/news/press?id=0138): Yes - Repeals death penalty and replaces with life without parole
CA Green Party (https://www.cagreens.org/elections/propositions): Yes - The Green Party has unconditionally opposed capital punishment since the party started. Non-violence is one of our key values, and opposition to the death penalty is a key part of our state and national platform, and the Global Greens Charter.
What do you think?