Today's Los Angeles Daily News carries the editorial, "Bills that tie hands of local officials should be vetoed," soliciting reader opinions.
Every year, maintaining the death penalty and those sentenced to die adds $184 million to the California state budget. If predictions are to be believed, the cost will increase to about $9 billion by 2030. Any many wonder if it is worth the cost.
Taxpayers can attribute this ballooning figure to the high cost of legal representation, capital punishment trials and enhanced security provided to Death Row inmates.
To boot, the state has proven itself incapable of seeing the program through efficiently, with an estimated lag time of 25 years between conviction and execution. And that quarter-century lag is more costly than a life-without-parole sentence.
And:
Should the state nix capital punishment to save taxpayers money and trim the budget? Or is the program necessary for justice?
Or would reforming the system -- perhaps limiting the amount of death penalty-eligible crimes -- be an appropriate compromise?
"Abolishing California’s death penalty moves one step closer to the 2012 ballot," is the discussion moderated by Patt Morrison on Southern California Public Radio. You can listen at the link.
Polling data from the last 50 years suggests that California voters would reject a measure abolishing the state death penalty if it ever came to the ballot, and yet Senate Bill 490 is proposing just that.
On Thursday, the bill cleared its first legislative hearing, and if passed in the Senate, voters may be able to decide the issue in the November 2012 elections.
The U.S. 9th Court of Appeals estimated that an end to capital punishment could save California $5 billion over a 20 year period by substituting life sentences for state execution. The figure seems attractive to many in light of the $4 billion that have been spent on administering the death penalty here since 1978, as well as the difficulties of the current fiscal climate.
The guests are:
Loni Hancock, (D-Berkeley) sponsor of SB 490
Cory Salzillo, legislative director for the California District Attorneys Association
KPBS-TV has, "Is The Cost Of The Death Penalty Too High For California?" It's by Alison St John and Patty Lane; video, at the link
State Senator Loni Hancock says the state simply can't afford to try, incarcerate and defend the state through the appeals process and she's introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty. Right now there are more than 700 prisoners on California's death row and according to a recently published law review, most will wait some 20 years for their case to be resolved. The Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review found it cost California taxpayers $144 million annually to provide housing, health care and legal representation to condemned inmates. It also determined it cost $4 billion in state and federal funds to administer the death penalty in California.
The guests are:
California State Senator Loni Hancock (D-Oakland), introduced a proposed ballot measure to abolish the death penalty in California.
Ron Cottingham, President, Peace Officers Research Association of California, he opposes bill saying criminals will not have the fear of facing death for killing an officer.
Dennis Romero posts, "California Death Penalty Could be Overturned With Your Vote: L.A. Police Union Says No to Statewide Ballot Measure,"
To kill or not to kill, that is the question that could be coming to a voting booth near you. Will you pull the trigger?
The state Assembly's Public Safety Committee approved Berkeley state Senator Loni Hancock's SB 490 last week, setting off a firestorm of criticism from death penalty advocates. The bill would ask voters in the next statewide election to eliminate capital punishment in the name of saving the $184 million a year it costs to maintain death row.
The union representing Los Angeles police isn't happy about the proposal:
On Monday the Los Angeles Police Protective League issued a statement calling the proposal a "galling move" because, it argues, the people who support the bill have been trying to thwart the death penalty for years and have thus been driving up those costs that SB 490 seeks to drive down.
And:
Sen. Hancock:
Today we're not tough on crime; we're tough on the taxpayer. Every time we spend money on failed policies like the death penalty, we drain money from having more police officers on the street, more job training, more education, more of the things that would truly make for safer communities.
Earlier coverage on the cost factor in California and the state legislation begins at the link.
The Alarcon-Mitchell article, "Executing the Will of the Voters: A Roadmap to Mend or End the California Legislature's Multi-Billion-Dollar Death Penalty Debacle," is now live at the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review website.
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