Death Penalty

On May 1, 2009 the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation proposed new regulations for lethal injection procedures in California. This triggered a 60-day public comment period that ended in a public hearing in Sacramento on June 30.

By the end the hearing:

• More than 100 speakers voiced opposition to the regulations. Speakers included murder victim survivors, wrongfully convicted individuals, religious voices, civil rights leaders, and dozens more concerned residents.
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• More than 7,000 written comments were submitted to the CDCR.

After the hearing, more than 200 participants marched to the capitol to call on the Governor to convert all death sentences and save the state $1 billion in the next 5 years.

Take Action!

Sign the petition calling on Gov. Schwarzenegger to convert all death sentences and save taxpayers $1 billion in 5 years.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Costs of California's Death Penalty
Many people are surprised to learn that it costs more to sentence someone to execution than permanent imprisonment, also known as life without parole. This page draws key findings from the ACLU-NC's report The Hidden Death Tax: The Secret Cost of Seeking Executions in California to answers some common questions about the costs of California's death penalty system.
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Updated Reports: California Still the Highest Spender on the Death Penalty
ACLU of Northern California released a new report revealing that California continues to spend more money on the death penalty, even while fewer counties actually send anyone to death row. Only five counties—Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino—sentenced more than one person to death in 2008, setting themselves apart as the five most active death penalty counties in the state. The population of California’s death row has grown by 11 in one year, to a total of 680 people, adding almost $1 million to the annual cost of housing people on death row.

The new report updates last year’s groundbreaking reports, The Hidden Death Tax: The Secret Cost of Seeking Execution in California and Death by Geography: A County By County Analysis of the Road to Execution in California.
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