Californians will be able to vote on and end the death penalty initiative in November?

[lonestarnot]

Rachael just said so. Said the sentence would be life in prison w/o parole.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Yup...read about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014105292

[lonestarnot]

2. That is very excellent news. Thank you!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. You're welcome! I just hope it passes...

[lonestarnot]

4. As do I dearest CaliforniaPeggy, as do I.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. IIRC it was reinstated by initiative as well

What does the polling look like for it?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. I haven't seen any polls on it yet.

[NYC_SKP]

5. K/R (nt)

[Meiko]

6. This thread

made me do some research on the DP in California, quite a long history of back and forth. It seems as though California has a the largest number of people on death row but executes the fewest. Personally I hope this passes, we need to do away with state sponsored murder for a lot of reasons.

[madokie]

7. Even though some people don't deserve to live

and that being the reason that I don't support the death penalty. Its not a detriment to crime. Make those who some would think should die for what they did live every day of their lives. Many will be haunted by their heinous crimes every one of those days. Dying in those cases is a cop out. IMHO

[meow2u3]

16. The death penalty actually gives incentives for murderers to kill

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/taxonomy/term/66
States with the death penalty have a higher murder rate than those without. Besides, the murders in death penalty states are reportedly more gruesome and outrageous than those in life-without-parole states.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates

So, there seems to be a subconscious tendency in death penalty states for murderers to commit "state-sponsored suicide" (provided the convicted murderer is actually guilty), as well as prosecutors stacking juries with anti-life, "hanging" jurors biased against the defendant, effectively turning the doctrine of innocent until proven guilty on its head.

[lunatica]

8. Another reason to vote in November

But now we'll have to see some horrible ads trying to get us to vote against eliminating the death penalty. The police and prison guard lobbyists are very powerful in California and there's no telling how much money will come pouring in from out of State.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Be interesting if this initiative brings out the conservative vote in CA

It has been claimed previously

[lonestarnot]

11. We all know how they like to waste our money on racist, classist issues. Yeah it'll motivate them.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. I suggest you read some of the analysis on why Tom Bradley lost his last election

[lonestarnot]

20. Statistical anamolies bother me. Sound like rigging. And then there is the absentee ballot crap.

Bradley narrowly lost the overall race once absentee ballots were included. Gives me the willys. "unprecedented wave of absentee voters"

[Johonny]

15. Not sure it is totally unpopular with Dems in the state

haven't seen any polls. I imagine a lot of Dems running in close races will ignore the issue or may not even back it unless the polling numbers are lights out for ending the death penalty. The party has tended to hide from any issue that might make them appear "soft" on crime in the past. The early polling I think will really decide how much pro- support this issue gets. I really don't know myself how popular it will be?

[jeff47]

12. I would think the "prison guard lobby" would prefer no death penalty

Don't need as many guards for dead prisoners.

[lunatica]

17. Prisoners on Death Row are a great source of income in California

Unlike Texas who executes hundreds every year, in California years go by without executions. The appeals take decades sometimes and everyone gets rich in the process, except the tax payers. It costs much more to house Death Row inmates than regular inmates.

[jeff47]

18. Point being they die quicker than if they died from natural causes

One can assume these 'bad' prisoners would still receive extra guards. But they'd receive them for 70 years instead of 15.

[lunatica]

21. It's not just the extra guards that cost more for death row

California could save $1 billion over five years by replacing the death penalty with permanent imprisonment.

California taxpayers pay $90,000 more per death row prisoner each year than on prisoners in regular confinement.

http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42

The irony being that it costs taxpayers more to have the death penalty since it doesn't do anything to deter crime. There is no saving grace to the death penalty. It does nothing to make us safer and it costs more. Where's the silver lining in that? Except for those who rake in the money, of course. Every time a judge hands down the death penalty he/she is assuring their job continues to be well paid. And so on down the line.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

14. I am very excited about this --

The DP is a stain on my State, one that I cannot wait to help remove.