Dump the Death Penalty (and maybe those dirt bags will finally be killed)

Monday, October 18, 2012

Dump the death penalty


By Kelvin Wade
From page A11 | October 18, 2012 | 2 Comments

Proposition 34, on the November ballot, would end capital punishment in California and convert all death row inmates to life in prison without parole. Surveying the death penalty in California 2012, I think it’s time to abolish the death penalty.

The pathetic reality is we don’t have capital punishment in this state. Thirteen people have been executed here since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978. The Los Angeles Times reported last year that we’ve spent $308 million per execution and that just prosecuting a capital case can cost up to 20 times more than a life without parole case.

Talk about no bang for your buck.

Beyond the cost, there’s the cost to justice. We have 752 inmates on death row with convictions going back to the early 1980s. What has this done to the families of the victims who’ve had to live with this farce this whole time? Many relatives of murder victims have died waiting for justice to be done. This is cruel and unusual punishment, not lethal injection.

The number one cause of death on death row is natural causes. Nearly 60 inmates have died of natural causes while awaiting a death sentence. The number two cause of death on the row is suicide.

More inmates have been murdered in prison this year than have been executed in the last dozen. Ironically, some of those on death row have a better chance of losing their lives if capital punishment is ended and they’re placed in general population.

Part of the reason why our execution rate is so anemic is we’ve had a judge-mandated moratorium since 2006. But it wasn’t like we were executing prisoners regularly before than. California has had the slowest rate of execution of any death penalty state. Another thing to consider in deciding to end the death penalty is that more than 140 inmates have been exonerated from their death sentences in 26 states, including three in California.

No one wants to execute an innocent person.

I’m not going to argue the morality of the death penalty. I’m not one of those folks who worries that we’re the only western country executing people. That doesn’t bother me. When I look at people on California death row like Richard Allen Davis, the Night Stalker Richard Ramirez, Scott Peterson and Charles Ng, I think lethal injection is too good for them. I don’t weep for evil men.

But even if we kept our capital punishment system, these guys are likely to die by natural causes. If we started executed them once a month, a rate that we’ve never seen in any state, it would take 62 years to clear out death row. And that’s without adding anyone new. It’s a sham that costs us way too much money.

Proposition 34, the Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act or “SAFE” Act, would eliminate capital punishment and replace it with life without parole. These lifers would be required to work in order to pay restitution to victims’ families. Also, $30 million per year for three years would go to police departments to solve unsolved murder and rape cases.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office says passing Proposition 34 will save Californians $100 million a year. Come November, I’m voting to eliminate the chance an innocent person is executed, save us a big chunk of money, give money to police and let the losers on death row take their chances in general population. Peace.