Assemblymember Marc Levine (D- Marin County) Wednesday led a statewide
coalition of lawmakers in announcing the introduction of Assembly
Constitutional Amendment (ACA) 12, to abolish the death penalty in California.
As introduced, ACA 12 would end California’s failed death penalty in 2020 by
prohibiting a criminal sentence of death and require the re-sentencing of
existing death penalty cases to a sentence of lifetime imprisonment without the
possibility of parole. The constitutional amendment is co-authored by 23
members of the Legislature.
California’s death row is the largest in the United States with 737 condemned
prisoners. Since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1978, California has
executed only 13 individuals, costing taxpayers over $5 billion, nearly 18
times the cost of imprisoning a convicted person for life. African Americans
and Latinos represent 67% of California’s death row population, leading
criminal justice reform advocates to question whether race has been improperly
factored into death penalty sentences. Along with DNA evidence that has proven
the innocence of 150 death row inmates across the nation, there is growing
consensus that the death penalty has failed to achieve its stated public safety
goals and should be abolished.
“California’s death penalty is a failed relic of a failed criminal justice
system,” said Assemblymember Levine. “The death penalty does not deter serious
crime, has been overly applied to minorities and has proven to be an expensive
and flawed exercise in justice. I am proud to stand with many of my legislative
colleagues in calling for an end to the cruel, inhumane and ineffective death
penalty. It is time for California to join a growing number of states and bring
an end to the fatally flawed death penalty once and for all.”
“Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive action today imposing a moratorium on all
state sanctioned executions is a bold, courageous and legally appropriate
decision,” continued Assemblymember Levine. “While the governor’s action will
temporarily halt executions in California, now is the time for the Legislature
and the voters of the state to end the failed death penalty once and for all by
supporting ACA 12. This is a conversation that must include all Californians.”
19 states have abolished the death penalty across the nation.
“Capital punishment is arbitrary, capricious, racist, and routed in systemic
flaws,” said Jessica Jackson, National Director and Co-Founder of #cut50 and
Mill Valley City Councilmember. “We know that people who receive a sentence of
death by capital punishment are overwhelmingly black, brown, and poor — it
epitomizes a 2-tiered system of justice in this country where the rich and
powerful receive leniency while the lives of marginalized people are
undervalued and disposable. Governor Newsom took an important 1st step by
announcing a moratorium on the death penalty in California. I applaud
Assemblymember Levine for taking this important next step to bring a
constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot to abolish this heinous and unjust
practice. I am hopeful that the good people of California will be on the right
side of history as we end this shameful practice in our state.”
If approved by a 2/3 vote of the Legislature, ACA 12 would require voter
approval and appear on the November 2020 ballot.
Source: Pasadena Journal, March 21, 2019
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
