"State death-penalty reform initiative pushed to 2016," is the AP report, viat the Manteca Bulletin.
A coalition of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and crime victims announced Friday that it will wait until November 2016 to place a death-penalty reform measure on the ballot.
Backers of the proposed initiative to speed up executions and save money said this delay gives them more time to raise money, build support and gather signatures.
The initiative would have limited appeals by prisoners facing the death penalty and removed them from special death-row housing. It would have also required death row prisoners to work in prisons to pay restitution to victims’ families. Former Govs. George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson and Gray Davis announced in February they would push to reform a system crippled with waste and inefficiency.
Scott Martelle writes, "Good news: Effort to speed up California's death penalty delayed," for the os Angeles Times Opinion LA blog.
Amid great fanfare this year, a prominent group of California politicos — including former Gov. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis — threw their support behind a fall 2014 ballot initiative that would have amended the state Constitution to speed up executions. Organizers announced late last week, though, that they were pushing the effort back to the 2016 election to give themselves more time to raise money and collect signatures — which is political shorthand for the effort failed to gain enough support.
And:
The best solution? Just ban the practice. We came close two years ago when a ballot initiative to abolish executions failed with 48% of the vote; a new run at it might do better were it to come up again, especially given the botched executions this year in Ohio and Oklahoma. California should join the other 18 states that have abolished the death penalty and instead devise a more pragmatic, cheaper and morally defensible way to deal with those convicted of murder. The killers don’t belong in society; they shouldn’t be coddled; but they also shouldn’t be killed by their government.
Today's San Jose Mercury News publishes the OpEd, "San Francisco DA says end the death penalty," by George Gascon.
The truth is, the death penalty is broken beyond repair, will always risk innocent lives, and is a waste of taxpayer dollars. The only viable solution is to replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Arriving at my current views involved a process that was both highly analytical and deeply emotional. Like many people, I have gone through an evolution in my thinking that has led me to believe that the death penalty is irreparably flawed and marred by a history of incorrect information.
My journey began with the realization that in my 30 years in law enforcement, the death penalty has had no impact on public safety. Strengthening families and neighborhoods, holding criminals swiftly accountable and ensuring that every child receives a quality education are more effective in deterring violent crime than remote threats of execution.
Earlier coverage of the proposed California ballot initiative begins at the link.
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