The Bee is publishing editorials all week in support of Prop. 34, breaking capital punishments issues out one by one. Both editorials feature graphics.
Today's Bee publishes, "Death penalty deters murders? Evidence doesn't bear that out."
Ever since California added the death penalty to its penal code in the 1870s, supporters have argued that the threat of executions would make potential murderers think twice before committing heinous crimes.
The Bee made that argument numerous times in its early years, and many politicians and prosecutors have offered it since. But does the evidence show that capital punishment deters murders, even when applied frequently and expeditiously? Research suggests it does not.
One obvious way to look at the problem is to compare the murder rates in states with executions and those without.
For example, compare the homicide rates in California, New York and Texas, as the National Research Council has done. From 1974 to 2009, the homicide rates in those three states tracked virtually identically – going up at the same time in the late 1970s and late 1980s and all declining dramatically since then.
Yet during that time Texas had 447 executions and New York had none; California had 13. Clearly, something other than executions has had an effect on declining murder rates. And that clearly is what we should focus on.
And:
Those who support the death penalty and those who oppose it will hew to their positions regardless of the evidence on deterrence. In the end, it is our values that will have to decide the matter.
"Death penalty is applied unevenly statewide," is the editorial from the Tuesday Bee.
A bedrock principle of our legal system is that justice is applied equally. No matter who you are or where you live, you're the same in the eyes of the law.
But in California, the most serious punishment – the death penalty – is not being applied equally.
Whether defendants get the death penalty depends as much, if not more, on where they did their crime as what they did. This disparity can't be considered evenhanded justice.
In fact, the vast majority of death sentences are being handed down in a handful of Southern California counties. In effect, the death penalty has already ended in most counties.
In the first half of 2012, there were 11 death sentences imposed in the state. Nine were in Los Angeles or Riverside counties.
Last year, California juries delivered only 10 death sentences, the fewest since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1978. Eight were in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. Those three counties also accounted for 24 of 29 death sentences in 2009 and 16 of 29 in 2010, according to the ACLU of Northern California.
And:
Yet without a solution, the death penalty will continue to be applied unfairly across the state. Are we really willing to accept that someone could get life – or death – based on which side of a county line the victim happened to die?That leaves far too much to the whims of fate. That is not evenhanded justice.
Still to come, "Why can't California carry out executions like Texas? It is not a legal system we would want to emulate," in tomorrow's edition. On Friday, "Why voters should support Proposition 34, which would end the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole."
Earlier coverage from California begins at the link; you can also jump to the earlier Bee editorial.
More on Prop. 34 at SAFE Caliornia.
Related posts are in the deterrence and geographic disparity category indexes.
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