There will be a minimum of seventeen measures on the Statewide ballot in November. San Fran is adding another 39 for their voters—and your city and county may have some as well. You will be asked to legalize marijuana, repeal the plastic bag ban, vote to take away guns and extend a tax for twelve years, at a cost of $144 billion—transferred from your business and family to the government.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Also, on the ballot are two measures dealing with the death penalty. One would outlaw the death penalty. The other making it faster and less complex to complete the death sentence. There are over 700 people on California’s death row. Last week a prisoner filed to be let at of prison, because of the cruel and unusual punishment—he had been on death row for more than 30 years (he forgot to mention that is because of all the appeals he filed). It is time to make a decision—do we support the criminals or the victims?
“One – Proposition 66 – would preserve the death penalty for the most heinous criminals by enacting critically needed reforms to the system.
The other – Proposition 62 – would scrap the death penalty, allowing criminals who kill cops or rape and murder children to live out their lives in the relative comfort of prison.
I cannot overstate the importance of supporting Prop. 66, and doing everything we can – no matter how small – to educate others about it. If Prop. 66 fails, and California scraps the death penalty, the kind of brutal criminals who ambushed and slaughtered five police officers in Dallas Thursday night would only face life in prison if they committed those crimes here.”
Competing death penalty initiatives could spur confusion
Prop. 66 will preserve and reform the death penalty system
By Michele Hanisee, Association of Deputy District Attorneys, 7/19/16
This November, California voters will be presented with two of the most important ballot initiatives in state history.
One – Proposition 66 – would preserve the death penalty for the most heinous criminals by enacting critically needed reforms to the system.
The other – Proposition 62 – would scrap the death penalty, allowing criminals who kill cops or rape and murder children to live out their lives in the relative comfort of prison.
I cannot overstate the importance of supporting Prop. 66, and doing everything we can – no matter how small – to educate others about it. If Prop. 66 fails, and California scraps the death penalty, the kind of brutal criminals who ambushed and slaughtered five police officers in Dallas Thursday night would only face life in prison if they committed those crimes here.
To be sure, the problems with California’s current death penalty system are by no means new, and they have literally transformed a death sentence into life without parole. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the state has executed only 13 inmates. A quarter of the 700-plus inmates on California’s death row have been there for more than 25 years. The average death-row inmate has spent 16 years with a death sentence.
One of the primary problems is the endless inmate appeal process of their death sentences. Prop. 66 would fix this problem, and many more.
Among other things, it would require that a defendant who is sentenced to death be appointed a lawyer at the time of sentence, meaning the defendant’s appeal will be heard sooner. It would also allow the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to reduce the cost of housing death-row inmates, and make it easier for the department to enact an execution protocol.
As we said in earlier posts, failure to pass this initiative is not an option; not only would Prop. 62 eliminate the death penalty going forward, but it would apply retroactively to people already sentenced to death.
You can sign up for campaign email updates, and volunteer for and donate to the campaign, by visiting the Californians for Death Penalty Reform and Savings website and clicking on the links on the right side of the home page.
Michele Hanisee is President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys. The Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) is the collective bargaining agent and represents nearly 1,000 Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles. To contact a Board Member, click here.
About Stephen Frank
The prison system was designed to hold people who commit violent crime, not petty crimes. There are plenty enough prisons to hold murderers and violent criminals to protect innocent citizens, IF the justice system stops imprisoning non-violent petty criminals. Prison has turned into a profitable business for those who choose to judge others, while not holding themselves accountable for their own sins. I wonder how many of those executed 13 inmates were actually innocent and just had bad representation? There are plenty of attorneys in California who do not represent their clients properly, especially those clients without deep pockets. An appointed lawyer at the time of sentencing, takes away the right of the innocent to try to procure assistance to prove their innocence. This is contrary to the bill of rights and our constitution, but it is reality in this judgmental non-compassionate society. I guess that doesn’t bother those who are determined to judge and end the life of someone they determine to be guilty as charged. The obsession of some to promote death is a sad testament to humanity. The death penalty is a symbol of how morally corrupt mankind has become.