Legal Commentary

Californians Speak Out Against Death Penalty

By TChris

The inaptly named California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (what rehabilitation would that be?) was forced to propose new lethal injection procedures and to seek public comment upon them for a 60 day period that ended June 30.

By the end of the 60 days, more than 7,000 people had submitted comments to CDCR. Nearly all objected to implementing the regulations. Many called on the CDCR to disclose the costs of carrying out executions, something the CDCR has refused to do even though disclosing the costs is required by law.

On Tuesday, CDCR held a public hearing on the proposed rules. More than one hundred people attended; only two supported the resumption of California's death penalty. [more ...]

Despite what was supposed to be a narrow discussion, religious leaders, doctors, lawyers, teachers and family members of murderers and their victims seized the opportunity to rail against "state-sponsored killing" and the $125 million a year spent to maintain a dysfunctional death row.

Polls indicate that a majority of Californians support the death penalty, but those who took the trouble to make their views known were overwhelming against it. The poll results would likely change if voters realized how much money the state would save by replacing the death penalty with life without parole. Why doesn't Gov. Schwarzenegger understand the economic reality of capital punishment?

Even as he calls on the Legislature for more and more spending cuts to critical services like health care and public safety, the Governor continues to ignore the fact that he alone has the ability to save the state $1 billion over the next five years by immediately cutting spending on the death penalty.

Wake up, Gov. It's time to be a leader by educating yourself and the public: Your state's death penalty is ineffective and expensive. If you want to make a lasting impact on your state's fiscal crisis, stop listening to CDCR and start listening to the people who attended Tuesday's hearing. And while you're at it, tell CDCR to disclose the cost of implementing its proposed lethal injection procedures so that you and the public can base their opinions on relevant facts that the pro-death (and not so pro-rehabilitation) CDCR would prefer to ignore.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 05, 2009 (boomark / email).