California’s Death Penalty: Competing Propositions Come to a Vote November 8

On November 8, California voters will have the opportunity to end the death penalty in the state.  As pointed out by Professor emeritus Marjorie Cohn, this move would bring California into line with human rights standards articulated by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as well as UN Special Rapporteurs on summary executions and torture. 

The issue comes to a vote in California through its volatile and controversial Proposition system, which allows policies to come to a popular majority vote  if enough signatures are submitted.  This year, two Propositions put before the public for a vote address the death penalty: Propositions 62 and 66.  Proposition 66: The Death Penalty Reform and Savings Act, would “improve” and reform the state’s death penalty.  A new analysis posted by Robert M. Sanger indicates that California’s death penalty system has been completely unresponsive to past reform efforts.

Sanger concludes that the best course for reforming California’s death penalty is repealing it.  Proposition 62, also a result of popular petition, would do just that.  A report prepared by Loyola Law School’s Alarcon Advocacy Center analyzes the two competing propositions and concludes that Proposition 66 would be costly and unworkable.  In contrast, they write, Proposition 62 “is straightforward and transparent,” saving the state $1.5 billion over the next 10 years.  Lawyer Stephen Cooper, writing in Jurist, also chronicles the shortcomings of Proposition 66, calling it “Fool’s Gold,” and urges a Yes vote on Proposition 62.

As the Loyola report concludes, one thing these dueling Propositions demonstrate is a general consensus that California’s machinery of death is broken.  On November 8, the state’s voters will decide whether to affirm human rights and join the international condemnation of the practice, or whether to pursue an impossible effort to fix the inherently flawed system.