DEATH PENALTY MEASURES MAY BE ON BALLOT

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By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Mike Farrell was interviewed by ECM editor Miriam Raftery on his opposition to the death penalty and prison reform issues during his 2009 visit with the Eastlake-Bonita Democratic Club

May 19, 2016 (San Diego) -- Signature gathers are working to put two competing measures on the ballot. One, backed by former M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell, would eliminate the death penalty in California.  The second measure would speed up the process for inmates on death row.

The first measure would repeal the death penalty statewide and also increase by 60% the wages that prisoners sentenced to life without parole would be paid for work behind bars, with the money used as restitution for their victims. Advocates estimate the measure would save taxpayers $150 million at the state and local levels if the initiative is approved by voters.

In a 2009 book promotion tour stop at the Eastlake-Bonita Democratic Club in San Diego, Farrell noted the disproportionate number of African-Americans who have received the death penalty and cites case after case in which DNA evidence cleared innocent men on death row.  He advocates eliminating capital punishment and also supports prison reforms and rehabilitation where possible.

He recalled his work in a halfway house, where he learned a lesson that has stuck with him through the years. "All human beings want three things: love, attention and respect," he said. "I've tested this, been all over the place--if people believe they are worthy of respect, then they open up to love. Our nation has 2.3 million people behind bars--more than any other nation." Many are illiterate or mental disabilities, he noted.

California's criminal justice budget at the time rivaled its budget for public education, Farrell observed, at a time when a California judge had just ordered some prisoners released due to prison overcrowding.  "We have failed," Farrell said of the system. "It costs more to keep a kid in jail than to put him through college." He also advocated funding Head Start and programs to help kids get out of gangs, learn a trade, and get jobs.

Critics of eliminating the death penalty have argued that victims’ families deserve closure and some victims’ families view the death penalty as providing justice for the taking of a life. Some law enforcement representatives have noted that eliminating the death penalty would take away a bargaining tool that officers may use to persuade suspects in one murder to confess to serial killings, as was the case in the killer of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois.

The second measure would hasten executions by designated the Superior Court for initial petitions and limit successive petitions, also imposing time limits on state courts for reviewing death penalty  cases. Court appointed attorneys who take noncapital appeals would also be required to accept death penalty appeals.

Under the second measure, prison officials would no longer have to follow regulations for developing humane execution methods and death row prisoners could be transferred among state prisons. This measure would also inmates to work and pay restitution to victims’ families.  The measure would declare null and void any other competition measures if this one gets more votes.  The measure, if approved by voters, is estimated to increase state costs by tens of millions of dollars a year for several years due to appeals and proceedings short-term, but could save tens of millions a year over the long run. 

Mike Ramos, a District Attorney in San Bernadino, supports speeding up the death penalty process.  He says, "The frivolous appeals and the lack of getting them attorneys, I think it works for both sides, the victims and these defendants, that they get an attorney immediately when they are sentenced instead of waiting five years. “

The group backing efforts to speed up death penalty cases say that California houses more than 700 death row inmates and the average wait time for an execution is 20 to 25 years. Kermit Alexander, a mother whose two children and a sister were murdered, wants convicted killers put to death.  She concludes that “Justice denied isn’t justice.

But some legal scholars have cautioned that speeding up the appeals process with mandates could violate constitutional rights of prisoners.  Critics also fault the measure for providing no funding for attorneys or court costs and question whether the measure could deliver on its promise to cut execution waiting times in half in California, which has not executed anyone since 2006.


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Comments

Opposed to the death penalty

I can imagine the feelings of someone who has lost a friend or family member to violent crime. Life in prison. The threat of execution isn't a threat or bargaining tool because it's not done anymore.