California Voters and the Death Penalty
In November 2016, California voters had the chance to vote on measures regarding the future of the death penalty. This was very important, as about a quarter of all the death row inmates in the United States are in California.
Proposition 62 was an initiative to repeal the death penalty in California. This would mean life without parole would become the harshest sentence that could be given in the state. Meanwhile, Proposition 66 was an initiative to streamline the process of the death penalty, and it aimed to prevent appeals to death sentences from taking more than five years. The presence of both of these measures on the ballot created for a potentially complex situation because it would not be possible for both changes to happen if both were approved- the process of the death penalty could not be streamlined if the death penalty were abolished. So, if both measures passed, the measure with fewer “yes” votes would be overridden.
Nonetheless, only one measure did pass: Proposition 66. Proposition 62 was rejected, with about 53% of voters voting “no” and desiring to keep the death penalty. Proposition 66, on the other hand, passed with fewer than 300,000 more “yes” votes than “no” votes. Shortly after it was approved, the constitutionality of Proposition 66 was taken to the California Supreme Court in Briggs v. Brown. In spite of the argument that Proposition 66 inhibited the Supreme Court and appellate court and infringed on the rights of death row inmates, the Court ruled that the measure was constitutional. Yet, the Court also deemed that the state could only be directed to accelerate the process of challenging death penalty sentences, not legally required to do so; thus, although Proposition 66 was approved, its effectiveness could ultimately be questionable.
Sources:
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_62,_Repeal_of_the_Death_Penalty_(2016)https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_66,_Death_Penalty_Procedures_(2016)
http://time.com/4561649/death-penalty-referendum-california-nebraska/
Wow, I feel like this is so sad. The fact that so many people voted to keep the death penalty in California frankly shocks me. I don't believe that prison inmates who have committed very heinous crimes deserve to die just because of their mistakes. I think that the question that should be considered in this situation is, isn't lethally injecting people a form of murder? Seeing as the law states that murder is illegal, why then, should it be legal to have the death penalty?
ReplyDeleteIt is disappointing to me that California voters wanted the death penalty, as it is clearly unconstitutional, given the 8th amendment. This states that "excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." As commonly thought by many, the death penalty is a cruel punishment. Although many crimes such as rape and murder are extremely heinous crimes, people that commit them still do not deserve the to die because of it, as even the American constitution says so in the 8th amendment. Furthermore, there is no actual evidence that introducing this penalty would decrease the amount of crime, and given this should be the most important factor that changes, there obviously is no use for the death penalty.
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