“Something clearly has to be changed. The answer, however, is not to speed up the machinery of death, but to dismantle it.” Los Angeles Times
“Fortunately, California has an opportunity to restore, essentially, truth in sentencing, and save money while doing it.” San Bernardino Sun
“Proposition 62 in November would make California the 20th state to abolish the death penalty in favor of life in prison with no chance of parole. It’s time. No, past time. Vote yes.” San Jose Mercury News
“Only one of these initiatives can deliver what it promises, and that’s Proposition 62.” Santa Rosa Press Democrat
“It’s time to end this madness. Vote yes on Prop. 62 and no on Prop. 66.” Bakersfield Californian
These are just a few of the statements newspapers throughout California have made while endorsing Proposition 62, which would repeal the death penalty and replace it with life without parole. In fact, Ballotpedia, the nonpartisan online encyclopedia which covers elections, says it “has not yet found any editorial board endorsements in support of Proposition 66,” a competing measure on November’s ballot that claims it would speed up executions. It’s important to note also that these newspapers cover large metropolitan areas as well as small, rural communities, and have readerships that span the political spectrum.
The entire Southern California News Group has endorsed 62, which is an indication of how broken California’s death penalty system is: southern California encompasses the five counties, Orange, Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside, which have been dubbed the “new Death Belt” by one death penalty expert, and “outlier counties” by Harvard University’s Fair Punishment Project for the number of death sentences they have handed down in the past few years. (See our story, “California’s Killing Counties” in this issue.) Additionally, the Southern California News Group has also urged a “No” vote on Prop 66, which promises to speed up the death penalty process. In all, 27 editorial boards have endorsed Prop 62.
Political leaders, faith and religious leaders, organizations, coalitions, the list of supporters goes on and on. (You can read the entire list here.) What this means is that the majority of the residents of California, and its representatives, are tired of tinkering with a system that is too broken to fix. The state is ready to join the 20 other states, and the 170 countries (officially or in practice) that have abolished the death penalty, and put in its place a more reasonable, moral, and humane system of justice.
