The death penalty is a legal punishment in the US state of California.
This was done 709 executions from 1778 to the decision of the California Supreme Court 1972 at People v. Anderson who hit the state death penalty law.
California voters returned the death penalty a few months later, with Proposition 17 endorsing the death penalty in the state constitution and ending Anderson's decision. Since the verdict, there have been only 13 executions, but hundreds of inmates have been sentenced. The final execution that took place in California was in 2006.
In August 2017, there were 747 death penalty offenders in California, including 22 women waiting at Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, located in Central Valley. Of those, 126 were tortured before the killings, 173 children were killed, and 44 police officers were killed.
California rejected two initiatives to lift the death penalty by popular vote in 2012 and 2016, and it was adopted in 2016 another proposal to speed up the appeal process.
Video Capital punishment in California
Histori
The first known death sentence in California was recorded in 1778. On April 6, 1778, four heads of Kumeyaay from a Mission San Diego area farm were convicted of conspiring to kill Christians and sentenced to death by JosÃÆ'Â © Francisco Ortega, Commander of the Presidio of San Diego; all four were shot on 11 April. However, there is no doubt as to whether the execution really happened.
Four methods have been used historically for execution. Until a little before California was accepted into the Union, executions were carried out by firing squads. Upon entering, the adopted state hangs as the method of choice.
The penal code was amended on February 14, 1872, to declare that the decoration would take place within the confines of county jails or other private places. The only people who were allowed to attend were the county sheriffs, doctors, and District Attorneys of the district, who would elect at least 12 "prominent citizens". No more than two "servants of the gospel" and no more than five persons chosen by the accursed can also attend.
The execution was transferred to the state level in 1889 when the law was updated so that the hanging would take place in one of the state prisons - San Quentin State Prison and Folsom State Prison. According to the California Department of Corrections, although the law does not require court judges to choose a specific prison, it is customary for the recidivist to be sent to Folsom. Under this new law, the first execution at San Quentin was Jose Gabriel on March 3, 1893, for murder. The first hangup at Folsom was Chin Hane, also for murder, on December 13, 1895. A total of 215 inmates were hanged in San Quentin and a total of 92 people were hung on Folsom.
In the previous era, the California Institute for Women placed a death sentence for women.
1972 death penalty
On April 24, 1972, the California Supreme Court ruled in People v. Anderson that the death penalty law is currently unconstitutional. Judge Marshall F. McComb was the only one who disagreed, arguing that the death penalty impeded the crime, noted many great precedents enforcing the constitution of the death penalty, and stated that the legislative and initiative process is the only appropriate way to determine whether the punishment death should be allowed.. The decision of the majority saved the lives of 105 death row inmates, including Sirhan Sirhan (assassin Robert F. Kennedy) and serial killer Charles Manson. McComb was furious about Anderson's decision that he walked out of the courtroom.
After the decision, the California Constitution was soon modified to restore the death penalty, under an initiative called Proposition 17. In 1973 the new law was subsequently enacted, making the mandatory death penalty for a number of crimes including first-degree murder in certain cases, abduction in where a person dies, a train that damages a person's place of death, treason against the state, and an assault by a lifelong prisoner if the victim dies within a year.
The debate on the death penalty is played in a somewhat similar way at the national level. On June 29, 1972, the US Supreme Court issued its decision at Furman v. Georgia , holding all applicable death penalty laws in the United States unconstitutional. On July 2, 1976, the Supreme Court, at Gregg v. Georgia, reviewed the death penalty law in response to Furman's decision to find a constitutional law allowing a jury to pass the death penalty after considering incriminating and mitigating circumstances. On the same date, the Court declared that the law enforcing the death penalty must be unconstitutional.
In a subsequent decision in 1976, the California Supreme Court re-enacted a state death penalty law is unconstitutional because it does not allow the defendant to include lightening evidence. Another 70 prisoners were sentenced to death after this. The following year, the law was updated to address these issues. Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is also added as a punishment for a capital offense. Further changes to the law were in 1978 after Proposition 7 was passed. It provides an automatic appeal to the California Supreme Court, which will directly affirm or reverse penalties and convictions without going through an intermediate appeal to the California Court of Appeals.
In 1983, The State Bar of California created The California Appellate Project as a legal resource center to exercise its constitutional right to counsel for poor people facing execution. Around the time of his founding, Michael Millman became director of the CAP. Millman served as CAP director for 30 years. CAP oversees efforts to assist private lawyers representing more than 700 people in the line of California deaths.
1986 retention options
On November 4, 1986, three members of the state's Supreme Court were ousted from office by voters after a high-profile campaign citing their categorical opposition to the death penalty.
These include the primary justice of Rose Bird, which is removed by a difference of 67 to 33 percent. He reviewed a total of 64 cases of capital filed in court, in each case issuing a decision to cancel the death penalty imposed on the trial. He joined in his decision to cancel at least three other members of the court in 61 such cases. This led to the criticism of Birds claiming that he substituted his own opinions and ideas for the law and precedent in which a court decision should be made.
Commencement of execution and introduction of deadly injection
On April 21, 1992, the state made its first execution since 1967 by imposing death sentence to Robert Alton Harris for the murder of two teenage boys in San Diego. A series of four pending executions issued by the 9th circuit appeals court postponed the execution, which caused the US Supreme Court to intervene to vacate the stay and ban all other federal courts from further intervention, ruled that lower court decisions led to "abusive delays "" and "attempts to manipulate the judicial process".
The latest method changes were introduced in January 1993, when lethal injection was offered as an option for people sentenced to death. But David Mason chose to die from deadly gas in August 1993, just seven months after the deadly injection was introduced. This was replaced by lethal injection as standard method in 1994. William Bonin was the first person executed by the new law on February 23, 1996. Thirteen people have been executed in California since the death sentence was restored in 1977, although 56 others have died on the death penalty of another cause (14 of them from suicide) on 25 October 2007.
Lethal injection litigation
During the time of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, the state performed two prominent executions in less than five weeks, with Stanley Tookie Williams in December 2005 and Clarence Ray Allen in January 2006.
A month later, in February 2006, US District Court Judge Jeremy D. Fogel blocked the execution of convicted murderer Michael Morales due to a lawsuit against a deadly injection protocol. It is said that if a three-drug injection-lethal injection procedure is given wrongly, it can cause suffering to the condemned, potentially a cruel and unusual punishment. The problem arises from an order made by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which states that execution can only be done by a medical technician who is legally authorized to administer intravenous drugs. This case led to a de facto death sentence moratorium in California because the state was unable to obtain the services of a licensed medical professional to execute.
When the country plans the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown by the end of 2010, judge Fogel refuses to continue doing so, citing all efforts made by the state to abide by previous decisions. But the 9th circuit appeals court disagreed with him and vacated the verdict, which further delayed executions in the state.
Study
The state Supreme Court proposed in 2007 that the state adopted a constitutional amendment that allowed the appeal of capital to the appeal court to alleviate the accumulation of such cases.
Some victims' families testified to the California Commission on Fair Administration in Justice in opposition to the death penalty, explaining that while they suffered heavy losses, they did not see retribution as morally acceptable, and that the high cost of capital punishment prevented the solving of cold cases.
But others who oppose this argument say a greater court fee in which the prosecutor does not seek the death penalty is offset by austerity from dodging the court altogether in cases where the defendant pleads guilty to avoid the death penalty.
The California Commission on Fair Administration in 2008 concluded after a widespread review that under the current capital punishment system, the death penalty is impossible (with very rare exceptions) because the process is "disrupted by excessive postponements" in the appointment of post-convention counselors and "severe backlog" in a California Supreme Court review of death judgment. According to the CCFAJ report, the lapse of death sentence for execution is the longest delay of any death penalty state, and the Commission urges reforms to speed up the appeals process.
Another study released in 2011 found that since 1978 the death penalty has cost California about $ 4 billion. A 2011 article by Arthur Alarcon, the old judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and law professor Paula Mitchell, concluded that "since returning the death penalty in 1978, California taxpayers have spent about $ 4 billion to fund a dysfunctional death penalty system. doing no more than 13 executions. "
Proposition 34, SAFE California Act
A coalition of opponents of capital punishment includes law enforcement officers, family members of homicide victims, and incorrect people sentenced to launch an initiative campaign for "Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Law," or SAFE California, in the 2011-2012 cycle elections. The measure, which became Proposition 34, will replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, requiring a person sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole to work to pay compensation to the victim's family, and allocating approximately $ 30 million per year for three years to the police department for the purpose of completing the open killing and rape. Proponents of the move raised $ 6.5 million, dwarfing $ 1 million raised by Opposition 34's opponents.
The proposition was defeated with 52% against and 48% in favor.
Federal policy decisions July 2014 and November 2015
On July 16, 2014, federal judge Cormac J. Carney of the United States District Court ruled that California's death penalty system was unconstitutional because it was arbitrary and harassed with delays. The state has not executed a prisoner since 2006. The judge declared that the current system violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment by imposing a "jury or rational legislative punishment not allowed by jail: life imprisonment, with a small chance of death. "
However, on November 12, 2015, the US Ninth Circuit Appeal Court panel overturned the decision of the district court in a published 3-0 decision. The three judges stated that the claim could not be justified under the federal habeas corpus.
2015 state demands
In February 2015, Sacramento District Court Judge Shellyanne Chang ruled that state legislation forced the Ministry of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop a way to execute inmates with lethal injections. Later that year a new protocol providing a single drug execution method was developed to comply with the verdict.
This is the result of a lawsuit filed by a family member of the murder victim. Supporters of the death penalty blame the waiting for nearly three years for a new protocol on the "lack of political will" and attempts to make the death penalty "impractical and then argue for deprivation on the basis of practicality".
Propositions 62 and 66
On November 8, 2016, California selected two competing initiatives about the death penalty. Proposition 62 which, like Proposition 34, will abolish the death penalty, rejected by 53-47 margin. Another initiative, Proposition 66, provides a simplification of the capital appeals process, and also requires offenders to work in prison and pay compensation to the families of victims, something they had previously been released. Its size is past 51-49. Its constitutionality was upheld 5-2 by the state supreme court on August 24, 2017, although the court stated that a provision requiring him to decide on an immediate appeal of capital cases within five years is directive rather than mandatory. The court ordered that Prop 66 be valid after this decision became final.
Maps Capital punishment in California
Current law
Legal process
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In the case of a jury hanged during the penalty phase of the trial, a re-trial was conducted in the presence of another jury. If the second or subsequent jury also has a dead end, the judge has the discretion to order a retrial or impose a life sentence.
Under the Constitution of the state, the power of pardon belongs to the Governor of California. But if the perpetrator has been twice convicted of a serious crime, the governor may give a change only on the recommendation of the Supreme Court, with at least four judges agreeing.
The execution was done by lethal injection, but a prisoner sentenced before his adoption could choose to be executed by inhalation gas instead. If either of these methods is invalid, the state is required to use another method.
Legal violations
The criminal law provides the possibility of the death penalty in:
- betrayal of the state of California, defined as the procurement of war against the state, following its enemies, or giving them help and comfort
- first degree murder under special circumstances
- for financial gain (1)
- The defendant was previously convicted of first or second degree murder (2)
- some murders (3)
- is committed to using explosives (4) Ã,; (6)
- to avoid arrest or assistance in escaping from detention (5)
- the victim is a peacekeeper on duty; a federal law enforcement officer or agent; or fire extinguishers (7) Ã,; (8) Ã,; (9)
- the victim is a crime witness and the murder is committed to prevent them from testifying (10)
- the victim is the prosecutor or assistant prosecutor; judge or former judge; elected or appointed officials; jurors; and the killing in retaliation for the official duty of the victim (11); (12) Ã,; (13) Ã,; (20)
- the murder "is particularly vile, terrible, or cruel, embodies extraordinary depravity" (14)
- the killer lay waiting for the victim (15)
- victims are intentionally killed for their race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. (Hate crime) (16)
- the murder was committed during the robbery; kidnapping; rape; sodomy; performance of lewd or lewd acts in children under 14; verbal intercourse; robbery; burning; destructive training; mayhem; rape by instruments; car hijacking; torture; poisoning (17)
- the killing was deliberate and involved the agony of torture (18)
- poison (19)
- the murder was committed using a firearm from a motor vehicle (21)
- The defendant is an active member of a criminal street gang and to continue gang activities (22)
- damage the train leading to someone's death
- Fake oath causes the execution of an innocent person
- fatal attacks by female escaped convicts who are serving life sentences.
In 2008, the California Commission on Fair Administration of Justice criticized the high number of aggravating factors because it gave local prosecutors too much wisdom in choosing cases in which they believed the death penalty was justified. The Commission proposes to reduce them to only five (some murder, torture killings, the murder of a police officer, prison killings, and other crime-related murders). Columnist Charles Lane goes further, and proposes that murders related to crimes other than rape should no longer be a capital offense when there is only one dead victim.
Dying line and execution space
People sentenced to death in California must (with a few exceptions) be detained in San Quentin State Prison, while cursed women are being held at the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla. San Quentin also houses the state execution hall. Women executed in California will be transported to San Quentin by bus before being sentenced to death.
In 2015, 708 men sentenced to death men detained in San Quentin. There are 23 prisoners sentenced to death in California at medical facilities, other state prisons, and in prisons near their trial. In August 2017, there were 22 female death penalty inmates at CCWF.
Public opinion
The Field Research Corporation found in February 2004 that when asked how they personally felt about the death penalty, 68% supported it and 31% opposed it (6% did not offer an opinion). This was a decline from 72% support two years earlier, and increased from 63% in 2000. This poll was asked about the execution time Kevin Cooper stayed hours before his death was scheduled after 20 years in Death Row. When asked if they thought the death penalty was generally fair and error-free in California, 58% agreed and 32% disagreed (11% did not offer an opinion). When the results were broken down by ethnicity, of those who identified themselves as African Americans, 57% disagreed that the death penalty was fair and error free.
A poll in March 2012 found that "61% of registered voters from the state of California said they would vote to keep the death penalty if the death penalty initiative arose in the November 2012 vote." A poll in August 2012 found that "support for Prop 34, which will lift California's death penalty, down from 45.5% to 35.9%. "
A PPIC poll from September 2012 showed that 55% of all adults and 50% of voters tend to choose to live in prison without the possibility of parole on death row when given a choice.
Field Polls in September 2014 showed that 56% supported the death penalty, down from 69% three years ago. Support for the death penalty in California has not been this high since the mid-1960s.
Execution after 1976
The following 13 people convicted of murder have been executed in California after the 1976 Supreme Court decision on Gregg v. Georgia . The first two executions are done by inhaling the gas; all subsequent executions were done with lethal injection. In 1996, a federal court (9th Circuit) ruled that the use of gas chambers in California was unconstitutional.
See also
- The death penalty in the United States
- Crime in California
- California Law
- List of inmates of death penalty in the United States
- Procedure 769, watch the execution
- Last Freedom Day
References
External links
- California Department of Repair and Rehabilitation
- The list of convicts dead
- Inmates Run, 1893 to Attend
- Capital Punishment Information
- a photo of the California execution room.
- Execution in California 1778-1967
- "Two-thirds of California voters support the death penalty, but a sizeable minority believes it has not been applied fairly (PDF)" (PDF) . Field Research Company. March 5, 2004.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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