Measure to repeal California's death penalty qualifies for the November ballot

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6T7Wrv-JmT6gLhuIBC8jNKy99J5jFlpnwzNDYc_gqqgRqMmuEIR1slDOVw2-NpW7BHwgC6wRA57gtVuGGsLfDtBlk-A0biXMUpFaPfwuRuHyjxUiaLMy9h0LPDXP3n_0etecIyID9WI/s1600/California+Death+Row_+A+guard+stands+watch+over+the+condemned+prisoners+housed+in+East+Block+during+a+media+tour+of+death+row+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="California death row" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6T7Wrv-JmT6gLhuIBC8jNKy99J5jFlpnwzNDYc_gqqgRqMmuEIR1slDOVw2-NpW7BHwgC6wRA57gtVuGGsLfDtBlk-A0biXMUpFaPfwuRuHyjxUiaLMy9h0LPDXP3n_0etecIyID9WI/s400/California+Death+Row_+A+guard+stands+watch+over+the+condemned+prisoners+housed+in+East+Block+during+a+media+tour+of+death+row+a.jpg" title="California death row" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">California death row</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">California voters will be asked this fall whether to repeal the state's 38-year-old death penalty, as elections officials announced Friday that an initiative to abolish the law has earned a spot on the Nov. 8 ballot.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Backers of the initiative gathered almost 405,000 voter signatures, according to the final tally conducted by county elections officials.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The initiative, championed by former "M*A*S*H" actor Mike Farrell, would eliminate the death penalty for first-degree murder. The most serious punishment would become life in prison without the possibility of parole.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That would include the 743 inmates now on death row, the largest condemned population of any U.S. state and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-ln-death-row/" target="_blank">one beset with cases of extreme mental illness </a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Whether you look at the death penalty from a taxpayer, a criminal justice or a civil rights perspective, what is clear is that it fails in every respect," said Farrell in a written statement Friday evening. "We have to do better in California."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Only 13 inmates have been executed since the current law was enacted in 1978, with none in the last decade after <a href="http://www.latimes.com/la-me-pol-ca-execution-protocol-20151105-story.html" target="_blank">legal challenges against the execution drugs administered by prison officials </a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The initiative would require mandatory work while behind bars for those convicted of murder, with wages going to debts owed to crime victims.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The independent Legislative Analyst's Office has estimated that in the long run, the ballot measure would reduce state government expenses by as much as $150 million a year, due the elimination of legal challenges to death sentences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A similar ballot measure, Proposition 34, <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/11/proposition-34-california-death-penalty.html" target="_blank">was defeated by voters </a>in 2012. A <a href="http://www.latimes.com/la-me-ln-death-penalty-ballot-20151030-story.html" target="_blank">pro-death penalty initiative may also appear on the November ballot </a>, after supporters also turned in signatures last month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">November's <a href="http://www.latimes.com/la-pol-ca-november-ballot-measures-20160516-snap-story.html" target="_blank">field of statewide propositions will probably produce the longest statewide ballot since March 2000 </a>. Besides the two death penalty measures, voter signatures on eight other initiatives are now being checked. The deadline for Secretary of State Alex Padilla to certify the list of ballot measures is June 30.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-measure-to-repeal-california-s-death-1466215480-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>, John Myers, June 18, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

Abolition California Costs LWOP Mike Farrel USA Measure to repeal California's death penalty qualifies for the November ballot

California death row California voters will be asked this fall whether to repeal the state's 38-year-old death penalty, as elections off...

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