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Thousands Speak Out Against CA’s Costly and Broken Death Penalty

Natasha Minsker headshot 2007 1.jpg by Natasha Minsker
ACLU of Northern California

Last week, Californians had their first opportunity to speak out about the state’s execution procedures at an official state hearing. Thousands made their voices heard and their message was clear: it is time for California to replace its costly and broken death penalty and save the state $1 billion in the next five years.

As a result of legal challenges, the State of California was required to revamp its method of execution and to releases its new procedures for concerned members of the public to comment on. On May 1, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) released the new execution procedures, beginning a 60 day comment process that culminated in a day long hearing in Sacramento on June 30th. The hearing came after more than three years without executions in California, and amidst the worst budget crisis in the state since the Great Depression.

By the end of the 60 days, more than 7,000 people had submitted comments to CDCR. Nearly all objected to implementing the regulations. Many called on the CDCR to disclose the costs of carrying out executions, something the CDCR has refused to do even though disclosing the costs is required by law.

Over 250 people packed the June 30th hearing, turning a dry administrative proceeding into a sincere public debate on all of the costs of the death penalty. Traveling from as far away as Ukiah and San Diego, speaker after speaker rose to object to the execution procedures and to the state’s death penalty generally. The public outpouring was so great that the CDCR had to extend the hearing to accommodate all the speakers. Over 100 people spoke, with only two expressing support for the death penalty.

Dozens of speakers gave eloquent and personal testimony to the failures of the death penalty, including:

• Greg Wilhoit, wrongfully convicted of murder and later proven to be factually innocent, who spoke of the terror of living under a death sentence for a crime he did not commit.

• Judy Kerr, of California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, who related her immense sense of loss and anger at the murder of her brother, but emphasized that the death penalty will not restore her sense of security or justice.

• George Husaruk, one of many teachers at the hearing, who called on the state to spend money on education and other vital services now being cut, not costly executions.

• Barbara Becnel, an advocate and friend of Stanley Tookie Williams, who vividly and emotionally described the horror of watching his botched execution in 2006.

• Bill Babbitt, who told of the pain he endured as he watched the state execute his brother Manny Babbitt, a Vietnam Veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, after Bill had turned his brother in to police for the crime.

Hundreds then marched to the Capitol to deliver their message to the Governor. Carrying signs calling for “Money for Education, Not Executions,” the group congregated on the steps of the Capitol and listened as Mike Farrell, President of Death Penalty Focus, called on the Governor to immediately convert all death sentences to save the state $1 billion over the next five years.

A small contingent went in to the Capitol building to deliver to the Governor a symbolic check for $1 billion, but the Governor’s staff declined to accept it.

This aptly demonstrated the Governor’s attitude: Even as he calls on the Legislature for more and more spending cuts to critical services like health care and public safety, the Governor continues to ignore the fact that he alone has the ability to save the state $1 billion over the next five years by immediately cutting spending on the death penalty.

Where do those saving come from? The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, a bi-partisan panel that conducted a comprehensive analysis of the problems with the state’s death penalty, found the following:

• It currently costs $137 million every year to administer the death penalty in California.

• If everyone on death row were instead sentenced to permanent imprisonment, the costs would be only $11 million, for a net savings of $125 million every year.

• In addition, sentencing everyone on death row to permanent imprisonment would obviate the need to build a new death row housing facility, a project that will cost $400 million.

The Commission also found that we can’t simply “kill them faster and cheaper,” as some people like to say. The Commission tried to identify reforms that would make the appellate process move more quickly. But it found that the only way to both protect the innocent from execution and increase the speed of the appeals process is to pay millions of dollars for more attorneys and court staff to process the cases. The Commission concluded that reducing the amount of time between imposing a death sentence and actual execution would cost an additional $95 million per year beyond what we currently pay, for a grand total of $232 million every year.

Californians agree: the death penalty is broken and too costly; something must be done. The only reform that will work and save the state needed cash is to replace the death penalty with permanent imprisonment—life with absolutely no possibility of parole. Permanent imprisonment keeps murderers off the streets forever and provides swift justice and peace of mind to victims. It also costs much, much less and reduces the risk of executing an innocent person to zero.

If the Governor converts all death sentences to permanent imprisonment, he could then use that $1 billion check to actually make California safer by keeping more police on the streets and more crime labs open. Shouldn’t this be an easy choice?

Natasha Minsker is the death penalty policy director for the ACLU of Northern California.

Posted on July 03, 2009

Comments

16 years ago, in the quiet suburban town of Petaluma, California, north of San Francisco, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her own bedroom during a slumber party and murdered by Richard Allen Davis, a parolee with a history of violent crimes against women. This crime shocked the nation and became one of the most publicized child abduction cases in U.S. history. The case led to the adoption of "three strikes" laws in California and across the country and led to Polly's father, Marc Klaas, becoming a well-known and passionate advocate for kids who are victimized, and sometimes murdered, by adult predators. Richard Allen Davis was later sentenced to death.

Richard Allen Davis was not wrongfully convicted, yet doesn't he still remain alive?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/20/INGFUFHCFL56.DTL

Posted by: Walter at July 3, 2009 10:18 AM

Execution is not the usual fate of Death Row inmates. On average, those who are executed spend 16 years in prison before they get a date with "the needle." So far, there have been 11 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978. Twelve condemned inmates have committed suicide and some 30 have died of natural causes during that time.

Posted by: walter at July 3, 2009 10:19 AM

Kill 'em all... cut the states loses.. then kill all the old folks.. the indigent poor... then seniors that cannot afford shelter.. then the homeless.. kill 'em all... isn't what Jesus would do? Everybody knows he hated poor and taxes.. and loved NASCAR and breast implants. KILL!

Posted by: Reverend Russell at July 3, 2009 07:26 PM

The Death Penalty should be abolished. To hand down the sentence of Death to another human being would DEMAND absolute perfection from the Justice system. 205 exonerations for murder from 1989 to 2003. 205 TIMES OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM WASN'T PERFECT. I believe the number is now over 225. The chance of killing an innocent person is far too great. No thank you. LWOP gives the opportunity for exoneration and life.

Posted by: Morris1 at July 3, 2009 08:47 PM

Back in 1986 I was executed for a crime I didn't commit. It took over 10 years for them to finally invent a DNA test that proved that I did not commit the crime that they executed me for .By the time they dug up my body, I was extremely smelly and lethargic. No one will rent to me or give me a job. Basically my life is ruined. All I get is a "Sorry we made a mistake."

Posted by: Dan McMullan at July 4, 2009 11:31 AM

At a time when we are forced to cut education and other services it is silly to waste time and money on these people. We need to CHANGE THE LAWS by which these individuals - and all too often just organizations that are anti death penalty - drag this out.

Justice will never be perfect. Is it better that we let a dozen guilty go free than convict an innocent person? That's arguable. How about a hundred? A thousand? Consider, for a moment, that there will be significant recidivism and the knowledge that they've only got one chance in a thousand to actually be convicted may cause laws to lose all deterrent effect on people now being deterred by them.

(What's that? You don't BELIEVE in deterrence? Why have laws at all then?)

So at what point do we just say enough is enough - accept that justice is imperfect and always will be, and actually enforce the will of the people that overwhelmingly supports the death penalty?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/101863/sixtynine-percent-americans-support-death-penalty.aspx

Posted by: George Hanshaw at July 4, 2009 11:59 AM

Perhaps instead of the death penalty we could simply give them life imprisonment without possibility of parole and subcontract their keeping out to the government of Turkey. Their prisons are less costly than ours, and since we'd only be transporting them one way to Turkey anyway, we ought to save a bundle.

Posted by: George Hanshaw at July 4, 2009 08:18 PM

George, the site you gave was interesting. You missed the statistics for death penalty vs Life in Prison WITHOUT the possibility of parole. The survey completely changes:

"A different question that Gallup uses from time to time, however, finds a lower level of support for the death penalty. This question provides the respondent with an explicit alternative to the death penalty: "life imprisonment, with absolutely no possibility of parole." This question was not asked this year, but support for the death penalty typically has registered in the 47% to 54% range when this alternative has been included in the question this decade.

If you could choose between the following two approaches, which do you think is the better penalty for murder -- [ROTATED: the death penalty (or) life imprisonment, with absolutely no possibility of parole]?

Life in Prison came out on top and there is a 3 point +/- for error.

My only point is that it is much closer than you think and if you add the cost of the Death Penalty into the question I would venture to guess the Death Penalty would be abolished if all the facts were given.

Posted by: Morris1@linkline.com at July 5, 2009 03:53 PM

Morris1

Call me old fashioned if you will, but I don't give in - ever - to the argument that we should not do the right thing because it is expensive.
that way lies anarchy.

Posted by: George Hanshaw at July 5, 2009 04:18 PM

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