Thousands Say NO to Lethal Injection, For a Second Time

Thank you to the thousands of individuals who took action against California’s broken death penalty system by objecting to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s flawed lethal injection procedures. Over 12,000 individuals and a wide range of organizations across the country submitted their objections to the CDCR’s new execution plan, which is part of an effort to kick-start executions in California. This impressive showing of public concern exceeds that during the first comment period when the CDCR first released the proposed procedures in May 2009. Such a remarkable reaction reflects growing public awareness of the disturbing reality that the CDCR has failed yet again to address many of the serious problems with California’s execution procedures and continues to waste the state’s limited resources.

What's Next for the CDCR?

The CDCR must read and respond to all relevant comments that were received by January 20. Some of the objections raised include that the regulations will create a substantial likelihood that the state will violate the constitutional rights of women, continue to treat unfairly the family members of the person to be executed, unduly limit the religious rights of the person to be executed, and leave unchanged current inadequate execution procedures. Click here to see the text of the CDCR’s proposed regulations, and here to see the notice of the proposed modifications. Our press release contains further information about the widespread objections to the proposed regulations.

What's Next for Us?

While objecting to the proposed execution procedures is critically important, it is only the beginning. We must continue our efforts to end the death penalty by making our voices heard by our elected officials in Sacramento. Tell Governor Schwarzenegger that he can save California $1 billion in 5 years by converting all death sentences to permanent imprisonment.

For additional analyses of the reforms necessary in our death penalty system, see these recent articles from the San Jose Mercury News, Long Beach Press Telegram, and the LA Times.