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California Death Row Dysfunction

By standdown

That's the title of a must-read column in today's Los Angeles Times by reporter Carol Williams.  LINK  It begins with a harrowing tale of a victim's surviving family and their long wait to see an execution carried out.  I'd like to focus attention on this excerpt:California's top legal minds agree that the state's system for capital punishment is dysfunctional, if not irreparably broken."The leading cause of death on California's death row is old age," said state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George, reiterating an observation he made at the time the state Legislature approved a new $220-million death row at San Quentin. The project to house the state's death row population, the nation's largest, has yet to break ground and is now predicted to cost $400 million...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on November 17, 2008 (boomark / email).