Calif. Death Penalty "Close To Collapse"

Report: State Would Save Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars By Ending Capital Punishment

(AP)  California's 30-year-old death penalty, which costs more than $100 million annually to administer, is "close to collapse," according to a new report issued Monday.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, appointed by the state Legislature to propose criminal justice reforms, issued a 117-page report detailing a deeply flawed death penalty system that has the biggest backlog of cases in the nation.

The commission stopped short of calling for the abolition of the state's death penalty, but did note that California would save hundreds of millions of dollars throughout the criminal justice system if capital punishment were eliminated. It said most condemned inmates are essentially given life sentences because so few executions are carried out.

The commission blamed inadequate legal representation, a broad death penalty law that makes nearly all first-degree murder cases eligible for the death penalty and a host of other issues that has made California capital punishment system "dysfunctional."

"It is the law in name only, and not in reality," the report stated.

The commission did recommended that California double its annual amount of capital punishment spending to hire more defense lawyers and prosecutors, among other improvements.

There are 673 inmates on California's death row and 79 inmates there are still waiting to be appointed attorneys to prepare their automatic appeals to the California Supreme Court.

California has executed 13 inmates since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1978 and none since 2005 when a federal judge ordered a de facto moratorium until state officials fixed flaws he found in the how California prison officials deliver the lethal three-drug cocktail during executions. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year upheld Kentucky's lethal injection system, which is nearly identical to California's.

Still, California's executions remain on hold while the federal judge awaits the resolution of a separate death penalty challenge in state courts.

It takes an average of about 17 years in California between the time a killer is convicted and executed on the exceedingly rare occasion when an inmate is executed. The national average is about 10 years.

"The families of murder victims are cruelly deluded into believing that justice will be delivered with finality during their lifetimes," the report stated.

The commission also suggested changing the law to limit the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty to those who commit multiple murders, kill law enforcement officials or witnesses or torture their murder victims. As it stands, the commission said 87 percent of all first-degree murder charges could be prosecuted as death penalty cases.

The commission said it "found no credible evidence" that an innocent person has been executed in California in the last 30 years, but lamented that many inmates suffer from poor legal representation.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against prosecutors in 38 of the 54 death penalty cases that have reached the court since the reintroduction of the death penalty in California. The appeals cited ineffective legal representation more often than any other legal reason to toss out a death penalty case.

The report recommended nearly doubling the number of state public defenders to 78 lawyers.

"The strain placed by these cases on our justice system, in terms of the time and attention taken away from other business that the courts must conduct for our citizens, is heavy," the commission concluded.

The state Senate created the commission, which is composed of victims' advocates, lawyers and law professors, in 2004 and its chairman is former California Attorney General John Van de Kamp.

The commission has issued reports on a wide-range of criminal justice issues, including how to reduce the risk of sending innocent people to prison.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed three of its recommendations passed by the state Legislature that would have changed the handling of eyewitness identifications, false confessions and testimony of jailhouse informants.

This is the final report of the commission, which disbands Tuesday.

i don''t like abortion, but I don''t want to take away a woman''s rights to control her own body.
I think the best solution to abortion is not to make it illegal, but to make it unnecessary. The folks who want to destroy s.e.x education, and the folks who are against contraception are causing more unwanted pregnancies and more abortions.

Women and men who are free and well-educated don''t create many unwanted pregnancies.

okay..how many convists WERE proven innocent in ratio with the TRULLY GUILTY???

Posted by libsluv2spit at 03:47 PM : Jul 02, 2008

I don''t know. And it doesn''t matter.
Innocent convicts should be freed when proven innocent.

One Texas prosecutor (if I recall correctly) is having many of his convictions reversed because he framed people. Most prosecutors probably have a better record of convicting mostly guilty people.

[libsluv2spit]

Ah come on you Christian morans. If you call yourself a Christian and believe in capital punishment, YOU HAVE BETRAYED THE TEACHINGS OF YOUR SAVIOR! Shame, Shame!


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Posted by heuristic1 at 11:10 PM : Jul 01, 2008
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what do you think about those enligthened liberal athiests who thinks capital punishment is immoral and abortion is moral..

kill a baby and save a fellow criminal as they say..

[libsluv2spit]

God says do not kill. So, what happens to the soul of the executioner? Does God forgive murder if the government says it''''s ok? I know the bible does say something about an eye for an eye but the 10 commandments are pretty clear, right? It doesn''''t say, "Do not kill, unless of course the person killed someone else." So then, do we have to kill the executioner too?


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Posted by imaok1 at 04:43 PM : Jul 01, 2008
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I know that you dont believe in god to begin with but lets play along with your cocky post..

I know that you find it as normal to see a blood thristy murderer as a ''buddy'' but there is a big difference between a murderer and those who implement the law..i.e. police officers, correctional officers and our military..

[libsluv2spit]

So, you don''''t care that so many convicts have been proven innocent lately?


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Posted by ge556 at 04:21 PM : Jul 01, 2008
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okay..how many convists WERE proven innocent in ratio with the TRULLY GUILTY???

[libsluv2spit]

close to collapse???????????????!!!

ahhhh when was the last time they inplement that to warrant the cost???

this is all propaganda by pro-criminal activists..

$100 million? That is insane. The only reason it costs more than jail is because we allow endless appeals, the ****cked up ACLU lawyers, and paperwork. Give me all the prisoners and a few hundred IV''''s with the poison, and I''''ll save you all the money and solve the problem in a long weekend.

Posted by jerr111 at 01:12 AM : Jul 02, 2008

So, you don''''t care that so many convicts have been proven innocent lately?

[heuristic1]

Ah come on you Christian morans. If you call yourself a Christian and believe in capital punishment, YOU HAVE BETRAYED THE TEACHINGS OF YOUR SAVIOR! Shame, Shame!

[kansas1946]

God says do not kill. So, what happens to the soul of the executioner? Does God forgive murder if the government says it''''s ok? I know the bible does say something about an eye for an eye but the 10 commandments are pretty clear, right? It doesn''''t say, "Do not kill, unless of course the person killed someone else." So then, do we have to kill the executioner too?


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Posted by imaok1 at 04:43 PM : Jul 01, 2008
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Actually, the Bible is a lousey thing to use if you are arguing against the death penalty. If you don''t think so, then you need to read it. The commandment you are referring to actually translates "Thou shalt not murder." Murder is an entirely different thing than "kill." There are a lot of reasons someone could be against the death penalty, but if you use the Bible as your defense of no death penalty, you would lose the argument.

[imaok1]

God says do not kill. So, what happens to the soul of the executioner? Does God forgive murder if the government says it''s ok? I know the bible does say something about an eye for an eye but the 10 commandments are pretty clear, right? It doesn''t say, "Do not kill, unless of course the person killed someone else." So then, do we have to kill the executioner too?

The only reason why there is such a backlog is that the appeals process takes a long, long time to finally come to a conclusion. There are more death row inmates who died of natural causes than by execution. The appeals process should have a limit as to how many appeals are allowed to file. 2 is enough.

Posted by louthesz9 at 03:51 PM : Jul 01, 2008

So, you don''t care that so many convicts have been proven innocent lately?

The only reason why there is such a backlog is that the appeals process takes a long, long time to finally come to a conclusion. There are more death row inmates who died of natural causes than by execution. The appeals process should have a limit as to how many appeals are allowed to file. 2 is enough.

Posted by louthesz9 at 03:51 PM : Jul 01, 2008

So, you don''t care that so many convicts have been proven innocent lately?

[louthesz9]

The only reason why there is such a backlog is that the appeals process takes a long, long time to finally come to a conclusion. There are more death row inmates who died of natural causes than by execution. The appeals process should have a limit as to how many appeals are allowed to file. 2 is enough.

[nssherlock1]

They should build little wedding chapels in the prisons for these darling inmates.

[kayaker1963]

What I was alluding to was all the posts on here that state as fact that people would think differently if they had a loved one murdered. Actually I belong to a survivors group and the majority do not wish for execution for murder.

[kayaker1963]

And vice versa "gunshack1"

[kayaker1963]

I pay taxes also, and have a right to my opinion. I didn''t demand anything from the courts, I requested. You may enjoy murdering others in your name, but I don''t.

[gunshack1]

Kayaker, that is real sweet. People like you want to make me puke.

[kayaker1963]

I was 13 years old when my mother was murdered in our home when she surprised the man robbing us (I am now 45). I see a lot of people commenting on here about liberals and the loss of morals in this country. I can''t believe anyone thinks good morals allow anyone, including the state, to murder.
This man changed my life and the lives of my brother and sister and father forever. It shaped who I am as a person today. Yet, I still do not believe anyone has the right to take another person''s life. Call me a bleeding heart, but until you walk a mile in my shoes, don''t judge me. (by the way, my sister and brother feel the same way, we asked in court for this mans life to be spared)

Democrats believe that the only people who should be executed are Republicans, Christians, Heterosexualls and Military Personnel. O''''Bama will add White People to the List.

Posted by demslie2u at 12:55 PM : Jul 01, 2008

Why are the conservatives so dishonest and hateful?