Execute Justice, End the Death Penalty

January 11 - 17, 2007 by Maya Harris, The Post Newspaper

Last week, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice started hearings on California’s broken death penalty system.  The state Commission’s task is to recommend reforms for the many problems that plague California’s death penalty.  But, on the same day, the Governor released his plan to deal with the state’s crippling $14 billion budget deficit, raising serious questions about whether the state can afford to pay for the many reforms needed.

At the first hearing, experts presented evidence about how California’s death penalty is unfairly applied, highlighting troubling racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities in who is sentenced to die.  For example:

• A person whose victim is white is three times more likely to be sentenced to die than a person whose victim is African-American and four times more likely than a person whose victim is Latino.

• Counties with a high proportion of white residents are much more likely to pursue the death penalty than more diverse communities.

• Only 10 counties account for over 80 percent of all death sentences.

Most death penalty states have implemented some reforms to identify death sentences that appear arbitrary and excessive, especially death sentences that may have been influenced by race.  Before New Jersey replaced the death penalty last month with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, the New Jersey Supreme Court was the national leader in the struggle against racial and ethnic disparities in the death penalty.  The New Jersey Supreme Court said this was because of “the unique commitment of the people of New Jersey to the elimination of racial discrimination.”

California, the most diverse state in the nation, has yet to demonstrate the same commitment. 

It is widely known and well-documented that California’s criminal justice system is deeply flawed on many levels.  The state Commission has already recommended numerous reforms to decrease the likelihood of wrongful convictions and wrongful executions in California, and to make California’s criminal justice system more just, fair, and accurate.  Three criminal justice reform bills were passed by the Legislature last year as a result of the Commission’s work, but the Governor vetoed all three measures. 

Without these safeguards and meaningful reform, California is at risk of executing an innocent person, or someone who had an inadequate defense just because he was poor, or someone who was sentenced to die because race was a consideration.

The status quo is unacceptable.  Something needs to change.

California has paid dearly for the death penalty and in return has gotten a broken, unfair, and unjust system.  Death penalty cases cost three times more than sentencing someone to die in prison, and building California’s new death row facility alone will cost $336 million.  Fixing the numerous flaws in the current system will cost taxpayers even more money. 

It’s time to get rid of the death penalty in California and instead spend that money on solving and preventing more crimes.  New Jersey just did that—and we can, too.