SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KNX) — In the last 10 years, Californians have voted twice to keep the death penalty on the books. But as support begins to dwindle, a special committee has recommended abolition of the practice in the state altogether.
The Committee on Revision of the Penal Code released a 39-page document detailing the reasons behind the recommendation on Wednesday, saying more than 40 years of experience have shown that “the death penalty is the opposite of a simple and rational scheme.”
The panel said it takes years for a death penalty case to work its way through the courts, the process is expensive and it unfairly discriminates against people of color and “cannot be called rational, fair, or constitutional,” according to Courthouse News Service.
In an interview with KNX 1070, Committee Chairman Michael Romano said in most cases death sentences are ultimately overturned and found to be “unfairly imposed.”
The Stanford Law School lecturer went on to say that he feels the state no longer needs the death penalty and said there is no study that shows that it increases public safety — therefore the process is “broken beyond repair.”
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley disagreed and said the penalty should be used especially in the state’s most extreme cases, posing this question for the committee: “Where an individual has killed multiple women after raping them ... are they suggesting that the death penalty isn’t appropriate in those cases?”
Both Cooley and Romano agreed on one thing though — that the death penalty issue does need to go before voters again to determine the reception of the death penalty in the state.
Earlier this year, UC Berkeley and The Los Angeles Times worked together to determine the number of Californians who support abolishing the practice. Of those surveyed, “44% said they would vote to repeal” and “35% favored allowing executions,” according to the Times.
But it’s the number of people who were unsure — 21% — that makes it difficult to define how a repeal on the ballot would be received by voters, according to Mark DiCamillo — the director of the poll.
The report by the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code comes just over two years after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to stop to the death penalty in the state, saying “The intentional killing of another person is wrong and as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual.”
The governor went on to say that the state death penalty system “has been, by all measures, a failure.”
The death penalty has come before voters twice - in 2012 52% of Calfornians voted to keep it and in 2016 voters narrowly rejected a second attempt to end capitol punishment” even passing a measure to speed up the process that leads to executions, according to Courthouse News.
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