Judy Kerr on Cost in California

The current issue of Sacramento's Capitol Weekly carries commentary from Judy Kerr, "Looking at the death penalty: Let’s talk about murder."

There is hardly a topic more complex and disturbing than the death penalty. Yet, when it comes to talking about what lies at its core – murder – there are some fairly straightforward elements that are often ignored.

First, solving murders is the best deterrent to murder. Those who get away with murder, learn they can. Nearly half of all murders in California go unsolved, year after year, according to the new report The Silent Crisis in California: Unsolved Murders, by California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. This is a deadly public safety failure that can no longer be ignored.

Though there may be no such thing as closure when a loved one is murdered, every time a murder goes unsolved the victim’s loved ones are left behind without answers and without justice. By solving homicides and holding murderers accountable for their crimes, we provide justice for victims’ families and remove killers from our streets. With over a thousand murders going unsolved each year in California, thousands of family members are left without justice.  It is important to give voice to those who are hurt most by the failures in our justice system.

Against this backdrop, California spends $137 million per year to fund our death penalty system.  By converting capital sentences to permanent imprisonment, the same amount could instead be used to hire an additional 1,780 criminal investigators or 2,132 crime lab technicians in order to solve more murders. Instead of focusing our attention and resources on a few “celebrity killers” who are already behind bars, we would do better by victims’ families if we invest in crime fighting for the hundreds of remaining unsolved murders.

I know this painful process all too well: I have desperately sought the identity of my brother Bob’s killer for the past seven years. I have pleaded with investigators and forensic experts and pored over coroner’s reports. It has been agonizing to go through the pain and grief of Bob’s violent death. Revenge sounds sweet at first, but in reality, families pay the real price. Our pain, suffering and doubt are prolonged endlessly, our communities remain at risk and killers roam free.

And:

A shift to permanent imprisonment from the death penalty would mean significant savings in a time of fiscal crisis and would eliminate the risk of executing the innocent. California is on track to spend $1 billion on the death penalty in the next five years, though even more funds are required to protect the innocent from wrongful conviction and to ensure timely review of lengthy death penalty cases. For all the money dedicated to the death penalty in California, only 1 out of 100 people sentenced to death has actually been executed during the last thirty years. 

 The time has come to talk honestly about murder, not politically. Permanent imprisonment ensures swift and certain punishment for those who commit the most serious crimes and frees up funds to investigate all murders and give victims’ families equal due. We cannot continue to waste hundreds of millions of dollars on a symbolic yet ineffective death penalty system. It is time for policy makers and community members to break the silence: we need justice for all murder victims, not symbolism for a few.

Kerr is the Northern California Outreach Coordinator for California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Last week she posted, "Murder Victim Family Members Ask Governor to Make Tough on Crime Choice to End Death Penalty," at California Progress Report.

I am pleased to report that Governor Schwarzenegger and California officials were asked to make a tough choice about the death penalty last week by California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. I was joined by Aqeela Sherrills, CCV’s Southern California Outreach Coordinator, and by Nick and Amanda Wilcox, CCV supporters from Nevada County. 

We delivered our clearly worded plea signed by 150 CCV supporters to Governor Schwarzenegger: save the state $1 billion dollars over the next five years by converting all 700 death sentences in the state to permanent imprisonment and redirect the money towards victim’s services.

We also presented the Governor with CCV’s newly released report, The Silent Crisis in California:Unsolved Murders. According to the report, 1,000 murders go unsolved each year in California due to minimal resources and funding for criminal investigations. This means that thousands of killers are getting away with murder and continue to walk our streets freely. Yet, while we have this public safety crisis on our hands, millions of dollars are wasted each year on the death penalty and on housing the 700 death row inmates who are already safely behind bars occupying the only single-bedded cells in the California prison system.

Earlier coverage of the cost issue in California begins with this post. Related posts are in the cost and victims' issues indexes.